Margaret Kimberley: George Washington, Slave Holder

19.2.11

Margaret Kimberley: George Washington, Slave Holder: "By MARGARET KIMBERLEY

It is ironic that February, the month designated to celebrate black history, is also the birth month of George Washington. Washington remains among the most respected presidents, still known as 'the father of our country.' But black people must always be wary of joining in the lionization of white figures in American history. There are far more lies told about this nation than there are truths, and black Americans are always at the epicenter of the lies.

If white Americans are to be held up as paragons of nobility, then black Americans must by necessity be excluded from those narratives. The truth of our history in this country is too awful to be told if white supremacy is to be accepted without question.

As revealed in historian Clarence Lusane's recently published book, The Black History of the White House, Washington was among the quarter of American presidents who were slave holders. Those who were not did nothing to end this horror, and in fact were subservient to the slave holders' political power. The decision to create a capital city in the midst of slave holding states is evidence of that fact."