This whole marriage vow business has set off another “who is the racists?” fire storm. Oh how tired I get of this, but I find myself sucked in and wanting to re-direct people. People, we have to focus and focus on the actual issues and not the one the media is trying to dictate we look at. The state of American families is disgusting!
I get so irritated by such inflammatory lies from liberals like here in The Root: Bachmann believes black people were better off during slavery and the in the Grio: Bachmann signs pledge saying black kids better off in 1860.
I would question their reasoning and wonder why they choose to pick on Bachman (Santorum God love him, signed it too) for signing the pledge, but truth be known, what else would we expect? A conservative signing a moral pledge- Oh the horror, the horror, how immoral. I understand the tactic all too well to actually question it, but I would like to address a few things. Both of these articles are attempting to demonize Bachmann as a racist (though the organization that developed the pledge, not so much?). Is it because they want to keep others from even thinking about signing it? Or is it that they’re trying to destroy a conservative woman who lives the talk and didn’t need the feminist’s sleep-with-whoever-and-whatever-to-get-to-the-top motto to accomplish so much?
Bachmann is a longtime defender of traditional marriage and two-parent homes, and she signed a very conservative pledge to protect these necessary institutions if we want our society to survive. The part of the document that has liberals fuming reads:
“Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.”
The focus on that one part of the entire pledge is simply an attempt to denigrate Michele Bachmann, and again, I am sure to discourage any others who might have been thinking about signing it evern though most conservatives are proponents of traditional marriage. The statement, in no way says that she, or any of the other signatories believes black people were better off during slavery. Signing the statement does not show anyone to be a racist, but rather to be sensitive to and that they have a concern for what is happening not just within the black community today but throughout all of America.
Let’s break this down: Was the plight of the black family any better before Obama took office?- NO! But with the unemployment of blacks at a staggering 23%, I can only suppose that in some ways that this is making it harder for the black family to stay together. And the unemployment rate is directly attributable to Obama’s mishandling of an economy that he completely fails to understand.
Could the African American Family Life Education Institute and the four other groups that did the study and offered the pledge to the candidates have termed the part about slavery better and/or without adding reference to Obama? Sure, they could have, but would it have mattered?- NO. Those in charge of shaming Republicans on behalf of liberal blacks would whine either way. That’s what they’re paid to do.
Truth is, any white Republican politician or Republican in general who even mentions slavery gets slammed. Never mind that the Republican party was formed to abolish slavery and that it was their blood shed to free the slaves. Never mind all that. The Democrats have brainwashed generations of people to believe that it was they who fought for such equality, even though every Rebel soldier and every KKK member was a Democrat. Okay, back to the subject at hand.
The Signers of the pledge are showing their dedication to the maintenance of marriage being defined as between a man and a woman. But the pledge isn’t exactly about the black family. But do not get me wrong. The state of the black family is presently at its absolute worst. 72% of Black American mothers of all ages are unwed. This is where we should be standing up, shouting, screaming and fighting for change. During the time of slavery, at least it was the slave owners ripping us apart. Today, we are sadly willingly setting aside the things that brought us through slavery and segregation. Today we talk about Baby mama drama, bi%&h’s and hoes, and the girls proudly brag about how they do not need a man to raise the baby. The slavery portion of the statement is incidental to the pledge http://www.thefamilyleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/themarriagevow.final_.7.7.111.pdf written by The African American Family Life Education Institute, the Full Report here
I understand peoples’ aversion to hearing slavery in this pledge. Slavery has been used to play identity politics for so long that, like Pavlov’s Dog, we, as black people, so automatically overreact that the message gets lost. But I have to wonder, when do we put our foot down and say enough is enough?
I may at first have been able to agree that the statement above is not exactly accurate and it should probably have been written differently. Perhaps it could have been worded: “a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be born to a 2-parent home.” Writing that he was more likely to be raised by his mother and fahter might not be entirely accurate, but I venture to say the statistics are probably too close to be squabbling.
As we can see here in an excerpt of a piece written by Carl Reed https://www.facebook.com/notes/carl-reed/bachmann-believes-black-people-were-better-off-during-slavery/249503105075719?notif_t=note_tag
The historical evidence suggests that the statement is correct. Probably the most definitive work on the black family during slavery was by historian Herbert G. Gutman in his book, “The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925. Gutman concludes that “from the earliest days of slavery until the Great Depression, the black family was surprisingly close, strong and intact.
By analyzing slave registers, marriage records during Reconstruction and later census data, Gutman found that the two-parent household and long-lasting marriages have been typical among blacks for most of their American experience. In the slave quarters, marital fidelity was highly regarded and defended, but premarital sex was tolerated, and no stigma was attached to illegitimacy. Except when marriages were broken by the sale of one spouse, the clear tendency was for stable, long-lasting slave marriages. In some cases, marriages even survived successful escapes by one spouse. Gutman quotes a Natchez, Miss., slave overseer who said that slaves who outran the owners’ dogs would usually stay in the vicinity and risk recapture to see their families again.[1]
Jennifer Hallam, found that slaveowners had an incentive to preserve slave families.
By the early 1700s, however, planters in both the Chesapeake region and in the Southern low country were becoming aware that they could profit economically by promoting the families their slaves were struggling to create. Marriage, they reasoned, would make slaves content and therefore docile. What is more, stable unions would lead to reliable reproduction cycles. This idea of a self-renewing slave labor force was exploited on a grand scale for the first time on the plantations of late eighteenth century America, increasing in intensity after 1807 when Congress outlawed international slave trade. [2]
Larry Hudson, in “To Have and to Hold: Slave Work and Family Life in Antebellum South Carolina,” skilled slaves were the least likely to be separated from their families.
In a second chapter featuring extensive and painstakingly-developed slave family genealogies, Hudson finds that those families possessed of the greatest proportion of skilled, hard-working, healthy members were most likely to thrive economically, most likely to be commercially active, and least likely to suffer separation by sale. Selling a member of a large and productive family might significantly worsen morale and lower production in the slaveholders’ fields; hence, wise masters sought to avoid such actions. In contrast, isolated individuals were highly vulnerable to sale. [3]
Finally, Mark Thornton, Mark A. Yanochik, and Bradley T. Ewing confirmed the economic incentive in their article,
“Selling slave families down the river: property rights and the public auction.”
Slave owners had an economic interest in maintaining stability in slave families and plantation societies in order to minimize the number of runaways. Security was the most important consideration of slave ownership because slaves represented a highly valuable but risky asset. Maintaining extended families with young children and elders suppressed the likelihood of runaways. Breaking up families, in contrast, encouraged runaways. [4]
Those who are denigrating Michele Bachmann for signing the statement clearly don’t know their history. More often than not, they weren’t going to support her in the first place, which they have indicated in their posts on facebook. Those of you who had been planning on supporting her, don’t be swayed by this blatant piece of deception.
Notes:
[1] http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914677,00.html#ixzz1RZAUwWul
[2] http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/experience/family/history.html
[3] http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=1941
[4] http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3316/is_1_14/ai_n32106779/
How is it then that we are not taking this opportunity to force the left to talk about how far we have slipped and how broken our homes are? Why do we insist on stooping to the level of calling people racists just so they will either shut up or be shut up.
When will we let go of the experiences and hold on to the lessons? I am not saying forget our history or anything close to that, but not one of us has experienced the physical slavery that we get so up-tight about. Perhaps we should try taking a good lesson from the times of physical slavery during these times of mental slavery and say: “Hey, I am going to hold onto my family like there is nothing without them.” Perhaps we can look at how they fought for one another and loved each other during a time of crisis and say: “Hey, we need some of that.”
Maybe we can even look at some of the stories in scriptures from Job and the Jews in the Old Testament to Jesus and the disciples on how to turn inaccurate accusations around to point to heaven. If we never let go of the past, we will never be anything but slaves in one form or another. Maybe we could forgive the past and live in the present in order to build a future for out children.
Digital Publius pointed out a few great things in the article he wrote “Take These “Mental” Chains From My Heart” about this subject. One of them was this:
“Just as Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt by his own brothers, so too were Africans sold into America by theirs. Josephʼs slavery ended up being a blessing to his brothers and the people he came from. Not by wallowing in self pity or lamenting his predicament, but by being what God ordained him to be even in bitter bondage. And because of that attitude, Joseph was able to overcome dire circumstances and rise above them based on his character and faith in God. As a result, Joseph became second only to Pharaoh in Egypt.
Black folks have spent so much time looking to the modern Democrat party to be a latter day Moses, holding our hands as we wander blindly through the wilderness, we have forgotten the earlier example of Joseph who was, who he was, whether he was free or in bondage.
The biggest difference is the latter day Democrat Party/Moses simulacrum, is not doing Godʼs work. The Democrats are leaning on their own understanding and leading Black folk, as well as the nation, at large, into disaster, not the Promised Land.
”
Conservatives, as well as my black brothers and sisters, better get with it and stop pounding nails into the coffin of our culture. The issue of the black family of today is getting lost. I’m sure that’s what the liberal media and the race hucksters want, but to argue over the plight of the black family in 1860 is not as important as offering solutions to the awful situation that the black family finds itself now.
What I find most disturbing is that too many people lack the discipline to discuss the fact that the Family Unit in America, especially the black family unit, is in shambles, and no one is talking about it. They kick dust in your face about some “racist” tidbit whenever it’s brought up. Instead of talking about how to alter current behaviors and attitudes in order to correct our current family crisis based on the possible reality that Black families were more stable under slavery, we see people squabble about the audacity of people who bring it up. Whatever happened to having an “honest discussion”, as Attorney General Eric Holder called it? Can’t we say: “Hey, sure there is some truth to that study, and we should be appalled by it.” But instead we get, “How dare these racists who signed this pledge to fight for traditional marriage compare the state of the black family today with that of their ancestors during the atrocities done to black folks during slavery.” Again, I say how dare we, as a people, continue to allow it to be so bad that a study can be done that shows it’s even close.
One of the reasons I became a conservative is that conservatives actually had these real conversations. This whole he/she is white so they cannot say that stuff has always been a problem with those on the left. The people say they want honesty, but then someone says something so raw and honest that the sensitive people want their heads. Well, the truth hurts, and it’s not as if the pledge said: “Hey, lets make blacks slaves again so their lives can be better…” The liberals who are suggesting that that is what Michele Bachmann pledged are being dishonest. But then dishonesty is their currency. It’s also what helps them avoid looking at themselve in the mirror with objective eyes.
It is time we start to fight the right battles. Don’t let the liberals pick the battles. That puts us on the defensive. We need to pick the battles and put them on the defensive. We have a wonderful opportunity to force not only the main-stream media to talk about this issue but also to force ourselves to. Instead to many blacks choose to let their feelings get so hurt over the slavery comparison that they fail to talk about the real situation of the black family. But that honest discussion might be too close for comfort. I say we need to be more Politically Direct NOT Politically Correct (www.TFDF.org). Then we will see some real positive change.
Mediate on this
We are in a battle and that is not always going to be pretty but if we remember the Lord in all we do He will be by our side. We have to remember that yes a soft word turns away wrath and we need also to remember When we do what we know is right and say what needs to be said God will be with us, even if it is uncomfortable
Joshua 1:9 Have not I commanded you? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be you dismayed: for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.
Deut 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD your God, he it is that does go with you; he will not fail you, nor forsake you.
God has promised to protect His own, bless them, and fight for them in the O.T and Jesus made the same promise. Matthew 28:20 when he says “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Josh. 1:5 There shall not any man be able to stand before you all the days of your life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will not fail you, nor forsake you.
1 Kin. 8:57 The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:
There is a balance in all things we say and do but truth is truth and just because we do not want to hear the truth or admit it does not make it any less true.
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