Black Patriots Have Always Existed

Until recently, I was not a big Glenn Beck fan. I felt he was a bright man but acted like a class clown at times. When he gets an issue right, he knocks it out of the park. This is a perfect example. Glenn Beck's Founding Fathers: African American Edition does a very good job in addressing this. He addressed the subject of African American's and the founding of this country. On the panel were two men. One was Daniel Burton, founder of Wallbuilders (http://www.wallbuilders.com/) and the other was Professor Lucas Morel from Washington and Lee University. Each are also authors. Burton wrote "Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black and Right" and Morel wrote "Lincoln's Sacred Effort."




I would challenge anyone to watch this series of 4 videos (teachers especially). As a kid, my parents taught me many of the names mentioned here. After seeing this show, I think those of you who are reading this will see why Black History Month exists. Why? It's names like those mentioned here have been left out (intentionally) by those who control the schools. I see a slow change but still some VERY important people are not being mentioned in schools.



As I think back to the mid-to-late 1980's, the world of Rap took a turn towards learning about history and more of a militant turn (some much more so than others). I can recall Boogie Down Productions "You Must Learn", released in 1989. He mentioned some of the names that this special mentioned and one of the lyrics given here really stood out then as it does now. The verse is somewhat haunting and as I look back that this was not taken seriously. I think THIS was the intention of multi-culturalism at first but somewhere along the way, someone forgot what I feel it was intended to be- show our differences yet understand that our contributions are equal.

 The verse that haunts me is below:
"I believe that if you're teaching history Filled with straight up facts no mystery
Teach the student what needs to be taught 'Cause Black and White kids both take shorts
When one doesn't know about the other ones' culture, Ignorance swoops down like a vulture'
Cause you don't know that you ain't just a janitor. No one told you about Benjamin Banneker.
A brilliant Black man that invented the almanac. Can't you see where KRS is coming at?
With Eli Whitney, Haile Selassie, Granville Woods made the walkie-talkie
Lewis Latimer improved on Edison, Charles Drew did a lot for medicine
Garrett Morgan made the traffic lights, Harriet Tubman freed the slaves at night
Madame CJ Walker made a straightenin comb, But you won't know this is you weren't shown.
The point I'm gettin' at it it might be harsh 'Cause we're just walkin' around brainwashed"

I'll stop now so you can enjoy the videos. My only intention was to get some other frustration off my chest. This series in in 4 parts- the first three are the show itself and the last video was the after-show session (shown only Online). Any thoughts or comments are welcome and appreciated.


Part 1: The ground work. He begins with mentioning Prince Whipple and James Armistead, America's first double-agent/spy among others. I like the groundwork he used to set the table here.



Part 2. Here names such as Wentworth Chessell and Fredrick Douglass are mentioned in great depth. The 3/5th human rule is also featured here, mentioned how it came to be and how the south got suckered!!



Part 3: More on Douglass, Peter Salem, the hero to Bunker Hill, and Bejamin Banneker are among those featured here.



The extras/ post show session with the Beck, Burton and Morel. There is some fantastic dialogue between this panel and a very balanced audience (by race). This was about as productive of a dialogue I have seen on topics like this.