When I was young, the flame of my desire to be an artist guttered and died in Los Angeles California. My bride and I had travelled across the country from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania to LA, but I was unable to get a satisfactory position with the companies that I had adored from afar, including Walt Disney’s enterprises. I went to see an employment recruiter and was advised that the test that they gave me made me a good candidate for a company that was looking for African Americans. I interviewed with that company and began what would be a 10-year employment as a branch manager and small loan officer for what was then known as Household Finance Corporation. I learned the rules and requisites for qualifying people for loans, and in the year following my employment, an individual was posted from headquarters to visit the branch offices — mine was in Culver City, California — to explain a legal event.
The company had been sued by the Federal Government for discrimination in hiring and lending — no hire for YOU, Black person — and had signed a Consent Decree. The decree stipulated that the corporation was not admitting to that discriminatory behavior but would correct the behavior anyway. The company spokesperson turned toward the only Black person in the gathering and said: “And now, Clement, even you can aspire to be the president of the company.” Even me? Did that mean that I would not have been in consideration before the company got sued? Once I became a manager, I counseled my staff on how to be fair. But recent trends seem to be dismissive of the concept of fairness.
My six-year-old granddaughter came home from the Irvington Community Elementary School and told her mother that she had learned “all about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr!” This was on the Friday prior to the date this country observes Dr. King’s birthday. When I saw Myah, she was still excited about having learned about Dr. King, whom she said, “fought for our people.” She pointed to one of the many ceramic coasters that her grandmother had made for me that have his picture and various quotes on them and read aloud, his name and his “I have a dream” quote. It damages no one to have Myah learn of all the aspects of American history.
My blood type is O positive, and when I donate blood, I know that in the 1930s, a scientist developed “an efficient method for storing large quantities of blood plasma.” That scientist was an African American man named Dr. Charles Drew. When my two youngest children came from Indianapolis to live with me in St. Louis Missouri, they attended Banneker Elementary School, a school named for the African American mathematician who, in 1790, helped to plat the area that would become the District of Columbia. (I recently saw a man snort when he had to use the term “Commanders” instead of the long-established pejorative for the Washington football team.) I cannot imagine who might be diminished by the inclusion of these important facts about the human beings who were kidnapped and shoved onto ships and brought to this newborn country to be slaves.
Winston Churchill said that “history is written by the victors,” but it can also be revised by those same “victors.” We, the people, should always have fairness as our information goal, and inclusion as well. It is only fair that we include and recognize the contributions of African Americans to this country each February.
cjon3acd@att.net