by Dr. E. Faye Williams
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – As a little girl, I remember my mother taking her children’s hands, going into places, and being told, “You can come in,but they can’t.”
My Mom held onto our hands and took us out of the place. I was born in Louisiana, but as a young person, I can remember a lot of situations I now know as racism.In many ways, Louisiana hasn’t changed. Louisiana has always been a place where color matters.
Many in our family are of various colors—but we have always had the One-Drop rule in Louisiana. That means if you had one drop of Black blood, you are Black.The one-drop rule was a legal principle of racial classification that was prominent in the past. It asserted that any person with even one drop of Black blood was Black. Of course, we were called Negro or colored in historical terms. Because my mother had no Black blood, but my Dad is Black, so my Mother’s children were called colored.
That leads me to a story where after growing up, I became the first Black person in the State of Louisiana to run a viable campaign for the U.S. Congress I was named the winner, and had the race called back and told I had lost by a tiny bit. I became known as Louisiana’s Congresswoman in Exile. Cleo Fields won the seat later with some changes in the District he was able to do while he was in the state’s legislature. He didn’t last long before they took the seat from him recently.
I mention that background to say when I ran, I wanted to share with you a bit about how I, a Black woman, was still referred to. One night after speaking for a mixed crowd, a man walked up to me and said, “Young lady, that was the best speech I ever heard, but it must be awfully difficult to have all that education and still be colored.” I thanked him because he was telling the truth, however, he said it. During the same period, a person who knew me said another man told him he never thought he’d have to choose between a “nigger“ woman and a Republican (I’m a Democrat), but he believed he was gonna vote for the “nigger” woman (That’s me!) I appreciated the fact that he would vote for me despite my color! I never learned how the first gentleman was going to vote!
I don’t think Louisiana has changed a lot. I know for the first time there is a Black man who is running for the United States Senate on the Democratic ticket. Just as I ran first for the United States Congress, he is the first to run for the United States Senate. Not that Louisiana has changed a lot, but it sounds like he has a pretty good chance to win. His name is Jamie Davis, so please keep him in your prayers.
Now the point I started to make is that things have changed in some places and some Black people have a real chance of winning important seats—if only we’d come out in great numbers—so please look out for the seats in which Black people are running, but be sure to check out what they stand for. The one Black male on the Supreme Court has been deceptive. With the Black woman, it’s been different. “Just look at the Supreme Court now!” Obviously, I am talking about Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and if she were not on the Court, we wouldn’t have anybody there who votes fairly for us other than Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan. We thank God for them.
Now, in the last Presidential election, too many of our White sisters voted against our interests and theirs, but I believe many are ready to get it right and rebuild what we lost.
Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq. is president/CEO Emerita of the National Congress of Black Women and international president of The Dick Gregory Society, Inc.
