Rebel Flag Part III – A Time for Healing
WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness Declaration of Independence - 1776
Those words, those hallowed words that helped give birth to a nation, what do they mean to you as an individual and as an American? Be you Black or White, Yellow or Red, what do they mean to you? Do they touch your heart, do they make you think? Or are they words that pass your lips and through your mind without thought being given to their importance, to their relevance to the American way of life? Can a certain influential segment of White American's so easily dismiss that which is taught so proudly in the nations schools to children of all persuasions? Can they think that these words apply only to them? Sadly the answer is all too obvious; Yes!
Black Americans have never been thought of by this influential segment of White American's as "real" people, as real citizens deserving of their respect, or worthy of their notice other than in the performance of some service or another, which enriches their life, or when the latest misleading crime and welfare statistics are announced. Fact is the Civil War, hence slavery, has never ended for the American Black, we live with its stigma, its racial overtones, and its connotation of White superiority every day of our lives. What more proof do we need of this than the continued flying of the Confederate Battle Flag above a public forum in South Carolina, despite the obvious deep feeling said flying must engender in the Black American heart.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Preamble to The Constitution of the United States - 1788
Will Americans ever live out the promise of the Preamble? Will we ever unite as one people and truly become "We the People", instead of "We the privileged few White people" and all the rest of you? Will White America ever willingly share this great nation with others? What is it in the mind that prevents them from seeing just a person, just a man, and just a woman, filled with hope and dreams, covered in flesh and coursing with blood just like every other human, when they look upon us? Why must White Americans continually foster the belief that their feelings and their hearts matter more than Black Americans? Is it the lack of respect, the lack of compassion, the overt hatred, the nasty debilitating racism, the stinging contempt, or a glaring combination of all these things?
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