Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 7-7-17

Local Letter To The Editor
The Ashleys, ‘Tampa’s Forbidden Love,’ Is Topic Of Talk
The City of Tampa will celebrate its 130th birthday Monday, July 10, 2017, with the remarkable story of 19th Century’s White City Clerk William Ashley and his de- voted Black companion, Nancy. The talk will be held at3p.m.inOldCityHall Council Chambers, 315 E. Kennedy Blvd. and will be part of the city’s annual Archives Awareness Week celebration.
Local historian Fred Hearns, former director of the City of Tampa Depart- ment of Community Affairs, will discuss the Ashleys and “Tampa’s Forbidden Love,” during this program.
Also, the Honorable E.
FRED HEARNS
J. Salcines will present Treasurer in Tampa’s His- tory. The city will include the release if a new book, The City Clerks of Tampa, as part of the program. The activities
are free and open to the pub- lic and a reception with re- freshments will follow in Old City Hall.
Archives Awareness Week will be observed with exhibits and programs throughout the week, July 9-15, 2017. These programs are free and open to the public.
Exhibits will be held all week long at the Robert W. Saunders, Sr. Library, Tampa Bay History Center, Tampa Museum of Art, John F. Ger- many Public Library, Henry B. Plant Museum, Ybor City Museum State Park, and Old City Hall.
To learn more about Archives Awareness Week visit tampagov.net/aaw.
Confederate Monument: A Constant Reminder, Carved In Stone
BY BISHOP A. J. RICHARDSON, JR., Eleventh Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church
I am very disappointed with the decision of the Hillsbor- ough County Commission to maintain a relic at the Court- house honoring the confederacy, historic though it may be. It is a reminder that, as a divided nation, some fought on the wrong side of history. We can now call it by its real name, 'treason.'
Following the tragic deaths of nine AME Church preach- ers and members, and severely wounding three others in Charleston, it was laudable that the South Carolina legisla- ture would vote to remove the battle flag of the confederacy from the grounds of the State Capitol, where it had previ- ously flown atop the State House. Only "the blood of the slaughtered" had the power to crack through the veneer of commitment to a discredited past.
Years prior, several organizations, including the AME Church, the NAACP, and the NCAA called for a boycott of the state. Not even the loss of substantial revenue was enough to furl the flag until something sad and tragic came along to trump it.
Other southern states followed, including Alabama. Southern cities (New Orleans and St. Louis) began system- atically removing monuments that honored a past that si- multaneously dishonored the lives of people of African descent, nearly five million of whom were enslaved.
Though regularly disputed, slavery was the primary rea- son the war between the states was fought. It was to pre- serve the right, by law, to buy and own slaves, (a way of life, they called it) written into the declaration of Secession de- claring itself to be a sovereign and independent nation. Of course, Florida was the third among those states to secede.
The monument on the lawn of our courthouse is an af- front to me and the constituents I represent. It is indicative of a considerable amount of what is offensive to our sensi- bilities as tax-paying citizens. It celebrates much of what has divided our community, carved in stone. The fact that a recent vote was taken does not mean that the decision has to be forever, as if that vote is also carved in stone. The pro- posed mural, a well-meaning compromise though it may be, does not change the reality for those who must pass it whenever we have business in the Courthouse, an edifice supported by taxpayers.
For nearly seven decades, I have called Tampa my home- town. My high school diploma is signed by the superintend- ent of schools in Hillsborough County, 52 years ago. I have always found it to be a source of both pride and some em- barrassment to have been born and raised in Tampa Bay. Racism was rife during the era of my upbringing. It was painful. The County made a distinction between Black and white students, always in favor of white students.
In 2016, it was my great honor to serve as the principal speaker for the Martin Luther King Leadership Breakfast sponsored by the Tampa Organization of Black Affairs (TOBA). More than one thousand people heard me say that despite the past, I hold out tremendous hope for Tampa's future.
As a property owner and taxpayer in Hillsborough County, I am demanding that the vote to leave the monu- ment standing be rescinded. It is the right thing to do. Find a museum for the monument.
As the Bishop of the AME Church in Florida, I will be asking the component groups and members of the AME Church in Florida to avoid holding Conferences and Con- ventions in the City of Tampa, the attractive County Seat.
I am pleased to stand with Mayor Bob Buckhorn for ex- ercising good judgment and goodwill in his public com- ments on this critical matter. I salute Commissioners Les Miller, Al Higginbotham and Pat Kemp for standing on the side of what I deem to be right and honorable, an action that should be carved in stone.
PAGE 4-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, JULY 7, 2017