2 days Ago
The word hero describes someone who performs an outstanding act and has noble qualities. It’s a term that is bandied about today, sometimes recklessly. Joseph Spina, of Amherst, believes that what Black people have endured in history makes them heroic.
When properly used, we are talking about a firefighter plunging into a burning building to save a child, a soldier throwing himself on a live grenade to save others. Sometimes in our society we miss things right under our noses. I propose that there are people who, in their everyday lives, show us heroism.
Turn back to 1619 when native Africans were aggressively rounded up, manacled and forcefully carted off to massive slave ships, where they were forced below deck without space to sit up, ventilation or sufficient water, and began a journey of 80 days. Many grew sick and died before arriving in the New World. Those who survived were paraded down city streets to an auction stage to be sold like chattel.
They were purchased by plantation owners, America’s royalty, who lived lives of grandeur very much like the European kings, lacking nothing for their comfort and pleasure. Cotton was king and the owners became immensely rich on the backs of Black men and women. Did the slaves give up and surrender themselves to death? Some died, but those who survived struggled, adapted, learned the white man’s ways and language.
The flame of freedom burned in their hearts. With the skills they were forced to learn, they were ready when the day came. The Civil War caused the plantation owners to undergo a drastic change.
Is it any wonder why they sacrificed thousands in war to preserve their status? The Emancipation Proclamation declared enslaved people free, but the struggle was not over. Plantation owners were not going to give up without a fight, and a reign of terror and brutality ensued. In 1928, my father, a construction worker, was sent by his company to Columbus, Ga.
, to work at Fort Benning as a foreman. He hired Black and white laborers. He was discouraged when he was advised by white workers not to count on Black workers.
This was not his style. He persisted and was rewarded with good results. My parents were shocked one day when they were walking down the street with their infant son.
Two Black people coming in the opposite direction stepped off the sidewalk into the gutter to let us pass. The war was not over! When hearts and spirits are strong, progress is assured. Despite devious and surreptitious campaigns attempting to put the Black man down, they triumphed.
They could not be denied, surging to become an important part of the American fabric as lawyers, teachers, military leaders and political leaders at all levels. Well, that should be that, but no. My personal experience in the 1940s, as a soldier in the South, if I heard it once I heard it again and again.
A good old boy proclaiming with pride that there were no colored people in my town when the sun went down. The Civil War was not over. Lest we Northerners get smug, let us remember that discrimination exists among us, sub rosa.
Those with ethnic backgrounds know full well what it’s like. African Americans can boast of a history replete with heroes; people who faced impossible obstacles with courage, survived and prospered. Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!.
