You want to make America great again. What about those who weren’t treated well? | Opinion

I have fond memories of the so-called “good old days.” But I am not one who thinks that all the things we did back in the day – where we lived, who we knew, what we ate — were the best that ever happened to us. Some great things have occurred since I have become an adult.

Still, I am not a great fan of all the new technology, though I do like some of the new stuff.

A few years ago, my brother Adam and his wife Val, gave me a GPS for my then new car. I was delighted that I was smart enough to learn how to use it. Then one day my trusty GPS device let me down. It directed me to go north when I should have been heading south.

After traveling too many miles north, past Wildwood on the Florida Turnpike, before I realized that I was going the wrong way, I called my sister-in-law Val, who gives the best directions. She guided me over the phone, putting me back on the right path. That experience was enough for me to give up the GPS. I just felt like I couldn’t trust the thing anymore.

I went back to the old, give-me-the -directions-please system. While some people laugh at my system, this old way works for me.

Yes, I hang on to some of the old stuff. I still wear panty hose and get frustrated when I can’t find my favorite colors like off white and ivory. And I like pretty slips with lace, and still wear them.

I love dressing up for church like we used to do in the old days. Back then, we were taught that church was a special place; it is where the Lord dwells and we should come before His presence, not only with praise and thanksgiving, but also looking our best.

For many of us, our Sunday best did not mean fancy, expensive outfits. It simply meant that on Saturday, we washed, starched, and ironed the clothes we had, making them presentable for church on Sunday. We polished our church shoes and placed them on the front porch to dry.

As youngsters, my friends and I ironed our hair ribbons that had been dipped in a solution of Argo Starch and water so they would be stiff and “stand up” once they were tied in our cornrowed hair styles.

There were many things about the old days that I loved. I am old now. My family has grown up and moved on. They have their own families to make new memories. But I still cherish the memory of family dinners, especially on Sundays, with everyone seated around the table, while someone – usually an invited guest (like our dear late Sister Tiny) would say a too-long blessing over the food we were “about to receive for nourishment of our body.”

Sister Tiny called the names of everyone she thought was in need of a blessing at the dinner table. Sometimes she forgot a name. At such times she would say:

“… and bless sister ah-rah… sister ah-rah…”. When the name didn’t come to her, she said, “… Oh Lord, you know who I mean. Amen.” At such times, I would have to threaten my boys, with little success, who were doing all they could to stifle their giggles.

Times have brought about many changes. I have lived to see things happen that I never dreamed would take place in my lifetime: the appointment of our first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall; the election of our first Black President Barack Obama; and years later, Kamala Harris, the first Black/Asian /American woman to be elected vice president of the United States. And more recently, the appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Miamian and the first Black woman, to the U.S. Supreme Court.

As Americans, we have come a long, long way. Yet, sadly, there is such a long way to go to achieve unity and equal justice. In spite of the progress we have made, sometimes I feel that in some areas we are taking backward strides.

Segregated schools, scant lessons on slavery

I like saying I am “old school.” But I am ashamed that during my years of attending Miami-Dade County public schools there was little, to nothing in the history books that told of the African Americans’ plight, or contributions as our country was developing. In my 11th grade American History book —passed down from a white school — there were only a few paragraphs that mentioned slavery.

While we celebrated Negro History Week when I was a child, and learned of the accomplishments of Negroes in America, I was never taught in my segregated schools about the real history of slavery. I didn’t know, until much later, hearing from some of our teachers who had the audacity to tell us our history, about the brutal, horrific way Africans were chained in the belly of slave ships and brought to this country.

Still, I knew about segregation and Jim Crow. I grew up in that era. I knew about the separate water fountains — one for whites and one for Negroes or Coloreds as were called back then. I knew that there were stores in downtown Miami that didn’t allow Colored people to try on the merchandise. And I knew that when it came time for a new pair of shoes, Momma had to measure our feet with a piece of string because Miami’s shoe stores wouldn’t let her children try on their shoes.

By the time my first son was born in 1958, there was Elray’s Shoe Store, where Colored children were welcome to try on the shoes that their parents were going to buy. Gradually, we started to see a few changes. But the changes weren’t coming fast enough.

In 1954, thanks to the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled school segregation in America to be unconstitutional. But by the time I graduated high school in 1956, schools in Miami-Dade County were still segregated. They were still segregated a decade and a half later.

Concerns of returning to Jim Crow

Over the years we have taken some giant steps as a country. Now, it seems, that somebody wants to take us back when things in America were separate and unequal. Somebody keeps telling us to help make America “great again.”

What does that mean? Does it mean somebody wants to take us back to slavery or the Jim Crow era when things weren’t so great for people who look like me? It’s sad to say folks, but it seems like we are headed back to those days.

Deleting our history is one way to take us back. Another way is to ban our history books and any book that tells our story. And little by little, bit by bit, we will wake up one morning, run out to take a public bus and there will be a sign telling you to just where to sit. You won’t have a choice.

Like me, I hope you have great memories. It is good to remember the good days, and the bad ones, too. Just don’t paint such a pretty picture that you fool yourself that everything was great back then, and we need to make our country great again.

I have a better idea. Let’s build on what we have already accomplished and: “Let’s Make America GREATER!”

Oratorio concert

We are still in the Easter season, and keeping with that, the Miami Oratorio Society, to celebrate its golden anniversary, will present an Easter Concert featuring Theodore Dubois’ sacred cantata, “The Seven Last Words of Christ”, at 5 p.m. Sunday, April 7.

The concert will be at Sierra Norwood Calvary Baptist Church, 495 NW 191st St. in Miami Gardens, and will feature excerpts from A. R. Gaul’s “The Holy City” and G. F. Handel’s “Messiah.”

Tickets are $30 each for adults and $15 each for children ages 10-17.