Why Samuel L. Jackson was Justified in His Racially Motivated Obama Vote (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | According to the New York Post , skin color played a role in the 2008 election, at least for one prominent black man, actor Samuel L. Jackson.

"I voted for Barack because he was black," Jackson said. Undoubtedly, Jackson's confession will raise the ire of many Americans shouting terms like "reverse-racism." I say good for Jackson.

Sweeping the issue of racism under the rug is pointless. We have to keep talking it through because our nation is still too fraught with racial injustice.

You'll excuse me for using the term "black" instead of "African American." There's been nothing African about black Americans for more than 400 years. Our ancestors were quick to make sure of that and our school system still perpetuates that lost heritage.

You don't believe it? Tell me then why it is that until 1849, when Harriett Tubman drew her first free breath, that black people had no names in our history books but existed only as nameless slaves? Do you remember the section about Askia the Great? Aezana of Axum? Yaa Asentewa? I sure don't. We learned European history but never African.

We teach young Americans that Abraham Lincoln was a hero for his Emancipation Proclamation , but Lincoln didn't draft it for the benefit of the slaves. He ordered it as punishment to rebel slave owners with holdings in the north. He turned out the slaves with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. They had no place to live, no money, no education, no heritage, no jobs and no prospects.

Whereas before Emancipation, slave owners said "Work for me or I wall beat you to death." After Emancipation, the same men said "Work for me or I will starve you to death." It's not enough that Lincoln freed the slaves because in so doing, he didn't also offer any of the blessings or responsibilities that come with freedom. Some hero.

Blacks make up 12 percent of the population and 40 percent of the prison population, but we act as if racism ended in the 1960s. It didn't. Maybe someday we'll earn Jackson's trust. But we're not going to do it by whining about his vote. We have to win his trust.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120213/pl_ac/10961256_why_samuel_l_jackson_was_justified_in_his_racially_motivated_obama_vote

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