{"id":509,"date":"2013-02-28T21:43:17","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T21:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/?p=509"},"modified":"2021-03-14T07:32:20","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T07:32:20","slug":"black-history-the-sad-story-of-subtle-segregation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/2013\/02\/28\/black-history-the-sad-story-of-subtle-segregation\/","title":{"rendered":"Black History: The Sad Story of Subtle Segregation"},"content":{"rendered":"

As February ends, it would be remiss not to mention that it\u2019s Black History month. I\u2019d like to tell you that Black History is an inspirational narrative about societal acceptance and positive change, but often it\u2019s not. Sadly, it\u2019s more of a one step forward and two steps back kind of progression. Although sometimes it\u2019s been the other way around. \u201cThe ASALH [Association for the Study of African American Life and History has dedicated] \u2026 the 2013 Annual Black History Theme<\/a> to celebrating the anniversary of two important African American turning points – the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and the 1963 March on Washington,\u201d reported the Davenport University Library Services.<\/p>\n

In explanation, on August 28, 1963, approximately a quarter of a million people gathered in Washington D. C. There are historical photos of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. waving to the huge crowd. That summer day, the Lincoln Memorial audience heard the Civil Rights leader share his famous, \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech. Dr. King spoke passionately about his vision of an America where one day in the future, his children would \u201c\u2026 not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.\u201d<\/p>\n

I thought about the progression of racial equality, while celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day this past January at the Mount Zion Holy Union Church of God in Sidney, an event organized by Rev. Phil Chilcote. Keynote speaker, 73-year-old Dr. Ervin Smith of Columbus, an emeritus professor of Christian Ethics at Methesco, a Methodist Seminary, explained what segregation in Georgia looked like in his youth. Dr. Smith shared that he couldn\u2019t go into the main library, restaurants, get the same medical treatment, or drink out of the same drinking fountains as whites, solely because of being black. Eventually, the scholar authored his own books including: \u201cThe Ethics of Martin Luther King Jr.,\u201d and \u201cBlack Theology: Toward an Inclusive Church,\u201d among others. Segregation affected Smith\u2019s choice of a college as well. \u201cI couldn\u2019t go to the University of Georgia\u2026couldn\u2019t go to Georgia Tech. Why? Because of the color of my skin,\u201d he said. When the educator who obtained his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in Illinois moved to Delaware, Ohio, in 1971, he thought he had escaped segregation. Yet he met a different kind of segregation in the north.<\/p>\n

Bishop Ernest Wilson, pastor at Mount Zion, says that he could identify with Dr. Smith\u2019s story. <\/b>After all, he was \u201creared in Alabama.\u201d He said, \u201cI\u2019ve been here [in Sidney] 52 years, but I remember where I came from.\u201d For Bishop Wilson many of those memories are painful. He said, \u201cI would talk to my mom\u2026I can\u2019t go around here saying, \u2018Yes, Sir\u2019 and they calling me a boy.\u201d The 72 year old minister told of other serious injustices when he was teenager. Like seeing a friend stabbed for no reason, who \u201c<\/b>walked to the doctor\u2019s offices with his intestines in his hands, only because he was black.\u201d Bishop Wilson defines, \u201cEquality, [as] the state or quality of being equal…we just wanted to be treated fairly,\u201d he said. \u201cOne of the great deceptions I had 52 years ago when I came to Shelby County\u2026 [I] was really surprised some things going on here [concerning racism]. Thought I was leaving those things behind,\u201d said the pastor. During the sixties, he found out that Blacks could only live in certain neighborhoods, and that there were still local businesses where he couldn\u2019t get service.<\/p>\n

I listened as both older African American men portrayed growing up in the segregated south. Escaping to the Midwest, believing they would be accepted for who they were. Although often they were met with a subtle segregation, that was a difficult enemy to combat. In past interviews with Lima\u2019s Black History expert, the now deceased Miss Georgia Newsome, she and her sister, Mrs. Maggie Breaston, also spoke of the subtle segregation they experienced many decades ago moving here from the south. After all, it happened most everywhere.<\/p>\n

Maybe some folks would say, it\u2019s over and we should just forget it. Yet to paraphrase the wise words of late Holocaust survivor, Elisabeth Sondheimer of Lima, Ohio, \u201cIf we bury the past, we are likely to repeat it.\u201d Instead, \u201cWe\u2019ve got to do better,\u201d urged Bishop Wilson. \u201cFifty years after Dr. King made the speech I\u2019m finding out\u2026We\u2019ve got to do better.\u201d\u00a0 But how can we?\u00a0 Dr. Ervin Smith believes there is a remedy to the racism that seeks to destroy communities. The retired educator said, [We have] \u201cGot to work with our children, work with each other\u2026until we all see each other as children of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christina Ryan Claypool is a freelance journalist and inspirational speaker. Contact her through her website at www.christinaryanclaypool.com<\/a>. This column originally appeared in the Sidney Daily News on Feb. 22, 2013.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As February ends, it would be remiss not to mention that it\u2019s Black History month. I\u2019d like to tell you that Black History is an inspirational narrative about societal acceptance and positive change, but often it\u2019s not. Sadly, it\u2019s more … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[204,205,182,190,209,66,207,208],"class_list":["post-509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-asalh","tag-civil-rights","tag-dr-martin-luther-king-jr","tag-integration","tag-methesco","tag-racism","tag-segregation","tag-subtle-segregation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1694,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions\/1694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}