Olympia’s first Black American Mayor, Dontae Payne, received Thurston County’s African-American History Month proclamation during the Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, February 20.
Thurston County's proclamation for Black History Month this year recognized the significance of Payne's role as Olympia's first Black mayor, building on the progress in the city's recent history.
Payne, also the first openly gay person elected to the post, expressed gratitude for the recognition, emphasizing the importance of reflecting on history and acknowledging the progress made as a nation.
“It's very important that we take a look at where we've come from, how far we've come, and look to the future,” said Payne. "Black History Month is about... remembering that we need to rededicate ourselves to the pursuit of equity and justice for all."
Payne also emphasized the need to recognize the contributions of African Americans across various fields and to strive for a more equitable future.
The county’s proclamation stressed the historical context of African American experiences in the United States, from the arrival of kidnapped Africans in 1619 to the celebration of African American achievements in various aspects of culture and society.
With the theme for Black History Month 2024 focusing on "African Americans and the Arts," the proclamation highlighted the paramount influence of African Americans in visual and performing arts, literature, fashion, music, and other forms of cultural expression.
It also emphasized the ongoing relevance of Black history, stating, "Black history is not just something of the past — it is living and alive, and it's being made every single day."
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Boatyarddog
Thank you Dontae!
Important to acknowledge!
Wednesday, February 21 Report this
Honestyandrealityguy
Prior to slavery, there were "indentured servants" - whites predominantly from Germany, Britain and the Barbary Coast, and blacks predominantly from Africa. One of the indentured servants from Africa, Anthony Johnson ( a black man), after working off his servitude, went to court for the right to own another black man. He became was is commonly known as the first slave owner. Would slavery have ever happened if it wasn't for Mr. Johnson?
The north only allowed slavery for about 10 years. During the civil war, when a white Republican freed the slaves, thousands of black families owned slaves, the natives owned tens of thousands of slaves, and whites and others owned slaves. During the civil war, about 300,000 whites and 25,000 blacks from the north, gave their lives to get rid of slavery.
Barrack Obama's ancestors were slave owners.
Slavery was wrong. I hope we can all agree on that.
Thursday, February 22 Report this
JasonS
To Honestyandreality guy: Since you're clearly a history buff, let's talk about indentured servants in colonial America. Many indentured servants were contracted for by American colonists with the British government for a certain number of men, women or children of various age groups. How these contracts were fulfilled wasn't important. Many quotas were met by kidnapping or duping individuals.
A ******* child of an indentured servant, even if the Master's, could be sold off for up to 31 years and taken from the mother, who would THEN receive 5 more years added to her indentureship for having had the child (despite her almost certainly not the one initiating sexual contact). If families came to the colonies together, any members who died during the voyage were have their indentureships served by the surviving members, and even then those families were often separated, never to see each other again. Those for sale could be made to strip naked, and have every part of their bodies examined like a piece of livestock. Once paid for, they must do whatever task the master asked. Punishments for servants were identical to those of slaves.
Indentured servitude differed very little from formal slavery, and the Transatlantic slave trade as such has been in existence for over a century by the time of Anthony Johnson's case. Incidentally, an earlier case had ended with a black man named John Punch being declared a slave for life as a punishment for trying to escape his indentured servitude. His fellow escapees, who were white, were not punished in this way.) So to answer your disingenuous rhetorical question: Yes, slavery would have happened without Mr. Johnson's court case. It had already been happening.
Thursday, February 22 Report this