Greatest Generation – Contributions from Another Color! Another Gender!

Nearly thirty days ago, my last post referenced the passing of Bernard Boullioun (Uncle Bernie – KK’s side).  While back in Arkansas to commemorate the life and accomplishments of this fine patriot, husband, and father; I met several individuals whom I suspect sat several stools left of me at the ole’ political lunch counter.  While having a nice discussion with one – a prominent Arkansas educational advocate –  the subject of Uncle Bernie’s web post and Tom Brokaw’s book “The Greatest Generation came up in the conversation.  She mentioned that her aunt (great aunt) had been highlighted and pictured in Brokaw’s book.  The lady which she referenced in the book was Martha Settle Putney.   My new acquaintance encouraged me to look into her aunt’s story and learn of her accomplishments.

So upon returning to Georgia, I did.  And I found that during her 92 years of giving, Ms Putney had lived quite the remarkable life – and had completed an amazing resume of service and accomplishments to her country.  In reading of her life struggles and the mountains of opposition she was forced to overcome for herself and others, I understood why anyone would be astounded by her legacy.  But I also fell into a familiar state of confusion which has puzzled me for the last few years.  With all the obstacles, oppression, abuse, and neglect which  Black Americans have faced and overcome since their arrival in this country, why does the Black Community embrace Barrack Obama with such a tenacious loyalty and debt of gratitude?  Their bloodline is not his bloodline.  Their pain and suffering are foreign to him.   The anguished, heartbreaking trail which their ancestor slashed and paid for with their blood, sweat, tears, and lives is not the same course which Obama pursued on his way to the “Promise Land”.

Obama’s American heritage stems from Anglo-American roots.  His ancestral branch on the African-American tree comes in the form of a limb graft  from the Anglo-American tree.  His ancestral linage has no tie to segregation, slavery, or the hardship of the historical generations of Black America.  His great-auntie didn’t work as a servant or cook in an upper-class home in white American suburbia.  She didn’t wait for a segregated bus to carry her back across the tracks to “where she belonged”.  His grandfather wasn’t beaten and left for dead by a night riding party of hooded Klansmen.  His hands never ached or bled from pulling free the ripe cotton bolls from stiff dried hulls of the cotton stalk.   He wasn’t jerried by an angry mob when enrolling  into his private prep school in Hawaii.   A  National Guardsman didn’t stand behind his desk in the classroom – ensuring his safety.

 Obama’s policies are to the Black Community as mistletoe is to the Christmas Season and the might oak.   During the Christmas season,  mistletoe serves as a symbol of love.  But in reality, the plant is a   parasite , which sucks the live from its host – while giving nothing in return.

 But really,  survival is the only thing which is important to one – with a parasitic nature.


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