Night Watch

Night Watch

As a native Washingtonian I am particularly intrigued by December 31^st every year. However this end-of-year celebration is of particular interest as it is the 150^th anniversary of the declaration of the Emancipation of those who were enslaved in the south. I use the word declaration here in place of the word implementation for reasons expressed in the next couple of paragraphs.

As a black man who was born and raised in America’s first African American publicly assisted housing project I have all sorts of assorted emotions about this day. I find myself wondering what it may have been like waiting on the edge of midnight in anticipation of freedom. I can only imagine the vast array of feelings in the diverse enslaved communities. I’m sure the reaction of those enslaved in Louisiana was different from those on the eastern shore of Maryland. I’m certain those working the fields of Alabama peanut farms would have different emotions than those serving supper in the big house of the genteel Tennessee land baron.

I am particularly intrigued when I think about those enslaved families who had been born and raised right here in the Nation’s Capital. How did the offspring of those who laid the foundation stone of the Capitol Building feel about “Watch Night”? What was on the minds of the Stonemasons who built this great empire? How much hope did the Seamstress’, the Sail-Makers, the Blacksmiths, the Harness Makers and the Wagon Makers have as they sat in anticipation of their emancipation. I wonder what the conversations might have been like. What were they discussing? I wonder if they had hopes that their children and their children’s children would one day live to enjoy the freedom that was promised in that declaration. .

As I sit here considering this 150^th anniversary of that fabled night; as a descendant of those who participated in that vigil, I can’t help but feel just a tad bit of disappointment. This disillusion comes after realizing that slavery has never been abolished in America. The 13^th Amendment to the Constitution provided a clause that allows anyone convicted of a crime to be duly enslaved. This disappointment comes from learning that 1 in 9 black people are still enslaved on plantations in these United States.
I'm disappointed because as of this writing these plantations are manufacturing 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, ID tags, bedding, blankets and other miscellaneous materials for state and federal government. I’m appalled that 93% of all domestically produced paints are made on these plantations. 36% of all domestically manufactured home appliances and 21% of all the office furniture fabricated in America is done so by slaves on these industrial plantations.

The United States Prison Industrial Complex is nothing less than a megalithic modern-day industrial slave plantation. America has more people incarcerated (per capita) than any nation on earth. One percent of the 300 million citizens of the United States are behind bars. That is, 3 million people are locked up in this country and that is separate and apart from those who are on probation or parole. That’s 2 times as many as South Africa, 3 times more than Iran and 6 times more than China. There are more 17 year-old black boys on slave plantations in this country than there are on college campuses.

I would posit that the slave trade has not and has never been abolished, but rather, through and by the 13^th Amendment, SLAVERY IN AMERICA HAS BEEN REINVENTED. As a native son who has physically experienced being a twentieth century slave in these United States, I must speak to my ancestors here and say. “I apologize.” I apologize for not pursuing the education you fought and died for. I apologize for not applying the principles you handed down in your quest for freedom and I apologize for not obeying the 5^th Commandment and honoring my mother and my father.  

I would further posit that I am committed to abolishing slavery. I would advance also that I am a 21^st century Abolitionist. As an abolitionist I am suggesting to all those interested that if you are serious about the abolition of slavery. If you sincerely desire to see true equality in America then you must support Kwanzaa. Today is the last day of Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa was created as a result of and as a remedy to the most morally reprehensible and completely inhumane periods in the history of human existence, which is chattel slavery.

If you really want to help, find a black organization and support it. If you sincerely want to make an impact employ the following:

Kwanzaa is the celebration

Where at last our own we salute

Promoting Black kinship

Family and friendship

Connecting our African roots

Umoja reminds the nation

To always strive for unity

And remember the grace

In the African race

Till it flows through our community

In Kujichagulia

We live with determination

To create for ourselves

And make for ourselves

A life full of these celebrations

Ujima ask the collective

To live and labor together

To pool our resources

And collaborate work forces

Whether foul or fair weather

Ujamaa guides our economics

Ask us to cooperate

To destroy slavery’s curse

We must buy from us first

And our own accommodate

Nia reminds us of purpose

And why we were put on this earth

That we are diamonds from coal

That it’s time to unfold

And show the world our true worth

Kuumba calls for creation

And emulation of our Creator

That we create and invent

With deliberate intent

And prosper God’s grand theater

Imani focuses on faith

Faith in ourselves and our God

To know that one day

We shall find the way

Though stony the road we trod

Though stony the road we trod

Gratitude

 An acquaintance says to me, “Black people should be grateful to America for all the opportunities she has provided for them. In spite of all the adversities, you have fared well.”

I gave that statement a great deal of consideration and decided to focus on the upside of it. In spite of all that has happened to black folk getting here, a great many of us are doing well. I focused on the word grateful and his declaration prompted me to wonder how much gratitude my Caucasian friend might have for black people being in America. Surely if I should be grateful for what America has done for me, certainly America should be reciprocal, right?

I can’t recall hearing many stories about white people being grateful to black people for creating so much comfort in their lives. I don’t remember reading many stories about how instrumental black people have been in the creation of wealth in America.

So I thought I’d take this time to remind us all of how grateful we should be to our ancestors…

America’s Meal Ticket-The Enslaved African

Henry Blair – Sewer of Seeds

How would it make you feel to learn that Macy’s, Fruit of the Loom, Martha Stuart, Tommy Hilfiger, General Mills and a host of others owe all their fame and fortune to a black man from Montgomery County Maryland who was never taught to sign his name. Indeed the entire American agricultural industry rest on the shoulders of a little 5’ 5” dark complexioned black man with a green thumb.

If it weren’t for a freed son of an enslaved African, born in 1807 by the name of Henry Blair, most of us wearing designer jeans and multi-colored underwear, sleeping on 400 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets, being warmed under quilted woolen blankets in the dead of winter would not be able to enjoy any of these creature comforts, had not this long forgotten genius loaned us his talent.

This little Black Maryland Farmer only lived to be fifty-three years old but America owes him a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. What is sad is that the admirable contributions he loaned this society and the world have been buried under an avalanche of miss-education, blatant and subtle racism. Hardly any of us know anything about this great man who signed his name with an X because it was illegal for him to read or write.

Henry Blair is the only inventor on record in the U. S. Patent and Trademark office listed as “a colored man.” On October 14^th 1834 he was awarded the patent for the Seed-Planter, which enabled farmers and growers to multiply their harvest many times over and increase the wealth of this country. Two years later, in 1836, he received the patent for inventing the Cotton Planter (http://www.blackinventors.org) which revolutionized the cotton industry.

Mechanics Magazine 1836 (Notes and Notices)
Corn and Planting Machine - A free man of colour, Henry Blair by name, has invented a machine called the corn-planter, which is now exhibiting in the capital of Washington. It is described as a very simple and ingenious machine, which, as moved by a horse, opens the furrow, drops (at proper intervals, and in an exact and suitable quantity,) the corn, covers it, and levels the earth, so as, in fact, to plant the corn as rapidly as a horse can draw a plough over the ground. The inventor thinks it will save the labour of eight men. He is about to make some alterations in it to adapt it to the planting of cotton. - New York Paper.

From: The Mechanics' Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal, and Gazette; Publ. J. Cunningham, London (6 Aug 1836) Vol XXV, No. 661, page 320.
Retyped from copy Digitized by Google (source)

It is important for Black folk, young and old, to consider that this man was forbidden education and not allowed to develop his propensity. He was denied the resources that would have made him a giant had he been recognized. Just think of what Mr. Blair may have accomplished had he been encouraged to pursue his ideas with his ingenuity supported instead of suppressed. Imagine what else he may have invented had the playing-field been level and the color of his skin not been held against him.

A cursory search on Google turned up 166 manufacturers of cotton blankets and another search revealed 17,834 apparel companies, all of which owe Mr. Blair a debt of gratitude. But we need to also consider Delmonte and Green Giant, who sell peas, carrots and corn. The Wonder Bread Company, Kellogg and Post Cereals, Hunt’s Ketchup and Gulden’s Mustard owe Henry for helping them plant all those seeds. The list is as long and the Mississippi River.

The overwhelming majority of Black folk in this country have no clue as to how much their ancestors have contributed. They were taught that Blacks have always been shiftless and lazy. Slaves were beaten in to believing that they have neither the desire nor the capacity to be productive. Far too many descendants of slaves have bought in to being penitentiary patrons and welfare recipients because it is expected. Far too few of us know the truth about ourselves and that America owes virtually all of its wealth to Black’s who provided free labor and genius to American enterprise.

So the next time you’re dining out, wearing that Donna Karan or Armani suit, and the waiter brings you that baked potato or those sautéed onions, remember it was the brilliance of a brother named Henry Blair who sewed the seeds that made it all possible way back in 1834. And when the waiter brings your check, be grateful to almighty God that you can sign it with more than an X.

Ty Gray-EL, the Minister of Poetry, is an author, lecturer, playwright and human rights activist. He is the CSO of Gray-EL Edutainment Media Syndicate, a Cultural Enrichment Company dedicated to raising consciousness and self-esteem among African Americans http://tygray-el.com