Which President was the “Drum Major for Blacks?”

Lost Black History

By Don Valentine

      To paraphrase a speech from Dr. King, “If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace.” Critically, thinking who was our Drum major? In a recent  poll of 55 people– Black, White, College educated and not, age: 36 – 93 years old, the results were varied. All the Blacks gave a “knee-jerk” pick for President Obama. Let’s explore the other choices.

According to whitehousehistory.org, we can quickly eliminate 12 of the Presidents before Lincoln. Lincoln was the 16th President, thus 3/4 of them owned or used slave labor in the Union’s history.

That list includes Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Johnson and Ulysses S. Grant. Grant was the commanding General of the Union victory. Grant is the prime example of the conundrum for White presidents. Spiritually you could be appalled by slavery, but it was the cheapest tool for the labor needed. Most people know the dangers of fossil fuels, but can’t afford a Tesla!

This was the test that Lincoln failed to pass. From his 7 famous debates with Senator Stephen Douglas historians (battlefield.org, ushistory.org, smithosianmag.org summarized Lincoln’s position as “Don’t rock the boat.” The historians at brittanica.com  summarized the Illinois debate over the expansion of slavery “Lincoln would agree to the current slave holding states keeping their slaves. He was against further expansion of slavery to the new US territories.

Schools paint Lincoln as our great emancipator, who abolished slavery. In reality Lincoln did not have the will to disrupt the status quo. You also have to eliminate Truman, who did integrate the military in WWII. The kinginstitutestanford.edu  notes, “Truman was openly racist when among his Senate peers…” Military desegregation came for pragmatic reasons to not lose the war. LBJ passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964. It is questionable if he was a patron for Blacks. LBJ was notorious for use of the “N” word.

Let’s review most of the respondents’ selection: President Obama.  He without argument broke the ceiling for what  Blacks can achieve politically. The AP noted a prodigious list of things Obama accomplished. For instance: The day Obama took office, the Dow closed at 7,949 points. Eight years later, the Dow was 21,414. General Motors and Chrysler were on the brink of bankruptcy, with Ford not far behind. Obama pushed through a controversial, $8o billion bailout to save the car industry. Note: the entire $80 billion was paid back, with interest.

He reduced the federal deficit from 9.8 percent of GDP in 2009 to 3.2 percent in 2016. He got the passage of the Affordable Care Act and beat back fierce opposition from Republicans. In addition, he served two terms without any personal or political scandal. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Our Drum major taught us “Yes We Can!”