×

Freed from burden of bigotry

To the editor:

Recently I read, “I’m tired of seeing President Obama blatantly disrespected, and my soul is weary from having to see him grin and bear it. I’m ready for President Obama to be free from the burden of having to perform for white supremacy — and I’m ready to be free from the burden of having to watch him do it.” This is quoted from the article by Lawrence Ware, a philosopher of race teaching in the Bible Belt.

I heard a tremendous rendition of Amazing Grace bellowing from a wind instrument at a memorial service. It was performed by the very person who years ago professed to me his feelings about President Obama that left me shocked and sad — well before the president even had a chance to leave a legacy.

“How sweet the sound…” of irony, as I recalled the revealing history of that particular hymn as those mournful notes swirled around me… It was written by a British slave trader who became an abolitionist and repented his evil actions through those words.

Soon, this African American U.S. president and exemplary first family will be exiting a historically white house substantially built by black slaves. “How precious did that grace appear…”

The White House Historical Association’s website says that when planners struggled to recruit European labor, they “turned to African Americans — enslaved and free — to provide the bulk of labor that built the White House, the United States Capitol and other early government buildings.”

PolitiFact states: “Slaves were likely involved in all aspects of construction, including carpentry, masonry, carting, rafting, plastering, glazing and painting, the task force reported. And slaves appear to have shouldered alone the grueling work of sawing logs and stones.”

“Slave crews also toiled at the marble and sandstone quarries that provided the stone to face the structure — lonely, grueling work with bleak living conditions in rural Virginia and elsewhere. ‘Keep the yearly hirelings at work from sunrise to sunset — particularly the Negroes,’ the commissioners wrote to quarry operator William O’Neale in 1794.”

I will be especially relieved for President Obama when he makes his final departure from the White House in January.

Joanne Thomas

Allouez

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today