Founding Fathers of The United States Is A Problematic Term For Me

Founding fathers of the United States is a problematic term for me. When I think of father I think of Man who was my Dad or a Ideal father figure. I also think of our Father God. I just can’t relate to the  fathers of our Country that way. I can’t hold them is high esteem. When The Constitution was written and ratified African Americans were slaves. I just can’t get that warm and fuzzy feeling when I think of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and James Madison.

 All of these men owned slaves. That’s depressing to me. 12 American Presidents owned slaves. President John Adams and President John Q. Adams did not own slaves. Slavery was the “crack” that financed this nation from the beginning. It was not” cotton.” It was slavery.  America was addicted to “slavery.” It meant so much to this economy. That’s why I say that African Americans have always been the “cash cow” for this economy and they are still even today too. America owes the descendants of slave much reparations. I don’t think that The American Reparation Plan will be a panacea but it will certainly solve a lot of problems of today.

The founding fathers of this country started out on the wrong foot. If you are white you have to see the hypocrisy too. Even Stevie Wonder can see this hypocrisy. They were not “luke warm” hypocrites.  We celebrate George Washington and Thomas Jefferson all the time but they were vicious slave owners. Pardon me if I don’t see it that way.  They were well defined hypocrites. How can Patrick Henry speak such great words like “Give me liberty of give me death” on one hand and owned slaves on the other hand. That’s unbelievable. It is no wonder to me that we are still wrestling with racial equality even after the slaves have been set free over a century ago.

I know we cannot undo the past but we certainly can acknowledge the wrongs of the past. Instead we massage the message to fit the narrative we want to convey. It’s time to tell the truth to our children especially. We cannot have slaves in our history books as immigrants. That’s a lie. We cannot have people like Kanye West saying that slavery was a choice and I heard another notable Black person support his statement.  The truth is the right thing no matter how painful. Most Founding fathers of The United States were slave owners. Thank God for those who was not slave owners.

So How Can I Call Them my Founding Fathers When They Owned My Ancestors?

I had this discussion with a conservative talk show host on 750 am WSB Radio in the Holy City of Atlanta. He just couldn’t get the point that I did not consider the Founding Fathers as my founding father too.  I just can’t understand that and I know I am not the only person who feels this way. My ancestors were slaves. They did not have a say in anything about the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederations, nor the Bill of Rights, so how can I call them my founding fathers when they owned my ancestors.

 The talk show host said that “this was a distinction without a difference.” Of course he’s wrong. Walk a mile in my shoes.  Is there another word that African Americans can use as oppose to founding fathers? I am sure we can’t use founding fathers. Do we need to use Slave Masters or slave owners when referring to them? Help me out here.

 It’s not so simple as we try to make it. It has to be confusing to White America too. We need to talk about things like this so we can better communicate. We can’t ignore it and hope it will go away. Just like you can’t keep kicking the can down the road about reparations and leave it for the next generation to solve. It is not feasible anymore. We need people with balls to take on these controversial subjects. I know it is tough to talk about but it is necessary.

Using the term  Founding Fathers is very uncomfortable to me to be honest. I don’t think it is appropriate when referring to the history of African Americans in this country. Honestly I  think that most of the founding fathers were a poor example of a real father. A real father is a pillar of strength, support, and discipline. Knowing what we know now our Founding Fathers missed the mark by a long shot. That’s my reality.