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Editorials/Columns
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Whites Helped Blacks In Fight For Freedom
must admit that I was surprised that more whites than Blacks came to the Hillsborough County Commission meeting earlier this month to support the re- moval of the Confederate statue from the old Hillsbor- ough County Courthouse. Not since the Civil Rights marches and sit-ins had I seen so many whites dispro- portionately stand in support
of Blacks.
A sense of déjà vu moti-
vated me to share some facts of how whites helped Blacks fight for freedom and Civil Rights in America during the pre-Civil War era and the post-Civil War era through the 1960s.
Many whites fought alongside Blacks in the 1700s through the 1960s and today, either because they didn’t be- lieve in slavery; they sup- ported voting rights for Blacks; or they believed Blacks had an equal right to use public accommodations. During the Pre-Civil War era, the abolitionist movement in the United States and Britain fought to end slavery and the Atlantic slave trade.
Indeed, 17th Century Eng- lish Quakers and Evangeli- cals condemned slavery as unchristian and forbade their members to own slaves at the same time members of the British Parliament spoke out against the slave trade.
British Parliament mem- ber James Edward Oglethorpe and friends, Granville Sharp, Han-
nah More, and William Wilberforce joined forces to promote anti-slavery sen- timents.
Among popular whites who spoke out against slav- ery during the Pre-Civil War era in America were aboli- tionists William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown, Levi Coffin, (Quaker called the “Father of the Under- ground Railroad move- ment”), and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Quakers and other white abolitionists assisted Black runaway slaves by hiding them in secret rooms, barns, underground passages and attics of their homes. John Rankin, a Presbyterian minister in Ripley, Ohio, is said to have assisted 2,000 runaway slaves for over 40 years in their escape to the North.
Moreover, white Euro- peans raised enough money to pay Frederick Dou- glass’s slave master for Douglass’s freedom so he would not be caught and re- turned to slavery.
Post-Civil War era cham- pions of freedom and Civil Rights for Blacks included many of the 1,297 white peo- ple who were lynched in the South and Midwest for help- ing Blacks, being against lynching or domestic crimes.
Some lesser known whites who helped Blacks were Ruth Standish Bald- win, philanthropic widow of railroad magnate W. H. Baldwin, who helped or-
ganizations that ultimately became the National Urban League between 1910 and 1920.
Another white woman, Mary White Ovington, helped found the National Association of Colored Peo- ple in 1909. Supreme Court Justice John Mar- shal Harlan was the only dissenting vote in the land- mark cases of Plessy vs. Ferguson and the 1883 Civil Rights Act repeal.
In the early 1900s, Anna T. Jeanes, a wealthy Quaker from Philadelphia, and Julius Rosenwald, part owner of Sears, Roe- buck, and Company, and friend of Booker T. Wash- ington, gave a million dol- lars to provide teachers for Blacks in rural American schools throughout the South and 5,000 schools for 663,000 Black students in 15 states by 1932, respectively.
During the 1960s, the names Viola Liuzzo, An- drew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were whites whose names are fa- miliar because they were killed during voter registra- tion drives and the Selma Pettis Bridge March in Ala- bama and Mississippi.
However, Paul Gui- hard, (French news re- porter), William Lewis Moore, (white postman from Baltimore), Rev. Bruce Klunder, Johnathan Daniel, and James Reeb, (religious leaders) were also killed dur- ing the Selma March and voting rights drives.
Finally, we should not forget the 75,000 to 95,000 whites who joined and sup- ported Blacks in the 1963 March on Washington. We must not diminish or forget our white brothers and sis- ters who helped us get free and stay free. Harambee.
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First They Came For The Transgenders...
t is easy enough for us to say what everybody knows.
We are a newspaper, Black owned and primarily dedicated to the issues that confront and represent the Black Community. However, that does not mean we opt to stick our heads in the sand rather than see and re- spond to the victimization of our fellow human beings.
For instance, just the other day, like a bolt out of the blue, President Donald Trump took upon himself the curious trust of announcing to America and the world that transgender individuals were no longer welcome in our nation’s armed forces.
Tweeted Trump, “Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the United States Military – our mil- itary (Who is “our?”) – must be focused on decisive and overwhelming . . . “(whatever he meant, he didn’t fin- ish). But in a follow-up Tweet, he stated, “After consult- ing with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not ac- cept or allow Transgenders.”
Was Trump referring to Secretary of Defense James Mattis who admitted he’d been briefed on Trump’s trick, but was shy about banning all transgender sol- diers, sailors, and Marines from active duty? Needless to say, the world, (which includes thousands of military professionals), is up in arms. Even Canada poked America in the eye by throwing down a welcome mat for any and all transgender soldiers who wanted to join the Canadian military.
Meanwhile, many Americans may continue to con- sider Trump’s tirade as simply another chapter of his Barnum and Bailey/Ringling Bros. circus act. But we caution our countrymen. Remember the poem by Mar- tin Niemoller, which begins, “First they came for the Communists / and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t Communist.” It ends, “Then they came for me/ And there was no one left to speak for me.” Change the word “Communists” to the word “Transgender.”
TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2017 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5
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