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Obama visit to slave fort steeped in symbolism
From the rampart of a whitewashed fort once used to ship countless slaves from Africa to the Americas, Cheryl Hardin gazed through watery eyes at the route forcibly taken across the sea by her ancestors centuries before.
"It never gets any easier," the 48-year-old pediatrician said, wiping away tears on her fourth trip to Ghana's Cape Coast Castle in two decades. "It feels the same as when I first visited - painful, incomprehensible."
On Saturday, Barack Obama and his family will follow in the footsteps of countless African-Americans who have tried to reconnect with their past on these shores. Though Obama was not descended from slaves - his father was Kenyan - he will carry the legacy of the African-American experience with him as America's first black president.
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RI debates changing state name linked to slavery
George Lima is offended by his state's full official name, and he wants it shortened.
"State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" reminds him of the racial prejudice he encountered as a black man in the U.S. military and that kept him seated in the back of Providence restaurants.
"What's Rhode Island? Just backward?" said Lima, 90. "I mean, are we going to be the last state to give into this idea of trying to get rid of all those things that remind you of slavery?"
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Douglass center in NY up but not running
Passers-by frequently peer into the window at the new center honoring former slave, famed orator and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. And if they knock on the door, they can get a quick tour guided by the Rev. Errol Hunt and his son Gerry.
After decades of failed efforts, the latest venture to create a cultural hub honoring Douglass in the city where he spent his most influential years is close to fruition. All it needs is staff - at least five people to complement the Hunts' nonprofit efforts and run the new resource.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony drew a big crowd to the Frederick Douglass Resource Center over the Fourth of July weekend. The main gallery is adorned with 19th-century photographs, maps and handwritten letters. Down the hall, there's a 130-seat theater, computer lab and library devoted to exploring the life and legacy of the anti-slavery crusader.
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Our historically challenged president
In his recent speech in Cairo, President Obama proclaimed he was a "student of history." But despite Barack Obama's image as an Ivy-League-educated intellectual, he lacks historical competency, both in areas of facts and interpretation.
This first became apparent during the presidential campaign.
Candidate Obama proclaimed then that during World War II his great-uncle had helped liberate Auschwitz, and that his grandfather knew fellow American troops that had entered Auschwitz and Treblinka.
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Coffee Company Combats Human Trafficking, One Cup at a Time
Typically, the coffee artisans at the Seattle-based Storyville Coffee Company have one thing on their collective mind - helping people to brew the perfect cup of coffee at home. It's an obsession that borders on fanaticism.
But recently, Storyville made the radical decision to give away everything earned during the month of May - not just profits, but every penny from every sale - to International Justice Mission (IJM), a human rights agency that rescues victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of oppression. Every purchase was effectively a donation to IJM.
The results? During the "Give It All Away in May" campaign, Storyville raised enough money for IJM - which currently operates in 12 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America - to expand its work into Ecuador.
An apology is a process of healing, especially for Virginia while celebrating its 400-year anniversary. "Nobody now living was involved in slavery" is an ignorant statement. The effects of slavery are still living.
Real Americans appreciate American history and those who shed blood contributing to this nation. History has built wealth, and our Constitution has protected this great nation and its wealth.
Americans should know their history. Know of the indentured servants who came to America from the English society, the African explorers arriving in Hispaniola with Christopher Columbus in 1494. Know that all the slaves in America were not black, some slaves were white. Know that African slaves came from the western nations of Africa. Somalia is on the far east side of Africa. The nations of Africa are not pathetic, I know them as places of great resources such as oil, diamonds and science.
In the 1600s we could add servants to that list. I would reserve the word pathetic, sick or inhumane for the rape of young boys and girls as young as 5 and 6 during slavery.
Shedrick Mills
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