Bryan Cranston is a talented and successful Hollywood. He is best known for his roles in Breaking Bad and Malcom in the Middle.
Last Sunday, Cranston said in in a CNN TV interview CNN that “MAGA” or “Make America Great Again” can be seen as “racist” to an African American. Cranston asked, “When was America ever great for an African American?”
A short answer is “Almost Everywhere Outside the Democrat South! Especially In Atlantic City!”
Above Image: When Alma and Clifton Washington first came to Atlantic City in the 1920’s, they called it “The New Promised Land” for African-Americans. They soon opened Wash’s Inn, a very successful restaurant and bar there. Their story was told in the book Growing Up In The Other Atlantic City by their granddaughter, Turiya S.A. Raheem.
I know because I grew up there. I also know that America at that time was great for almost all Americans in most towns and cities outside the corrupt, one-party, Democrat-run South.
I also know from my parents and grandparents that America was also great there during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s —even during the Great Depression!
America, of course, was never perfect. No nation can be. Every nation is a collection of imperfect humans. There will always be some who are ignorant or hateful.
However, America was great because the great majority of Americans understood and respected our Constitution and culture of liberty that recognized the “unalienable rights” of each individual. Because of that, almost every American was able to work around temporary obstacles caused by a few hateful and ignorant people. That often could not be done in other countries.
Because of this, America brought more wealth, opportunity, and justice to more people than any other nation in history. That is why New Jersey made “Liberty and Prosperity” its motto since 1776.
Those of us who grew up in that America were taught of countless African Americans who achieved spectacular success–even when Democrats brought Jim Crow Laws to most former slave state in the South. Black leaders, educators, and inventors like Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and George Washington Carver achieved national success and recognition. Others were composers, writers, entertainers and celebrities like Scott Joplin, Noble Sissle, Duke Ellington, Marian Anderson, and Duke Ellington. There were countless others.
Above Image: Dr. Albert Forsythe, born in Philadelphia was a successful physician who owned a home near the hospital on North Ohio Avenue in Atlantic City., New Jersey. However, his passion was aviation. He and C. Alfred Anderson, another African-American, flew their airplane, “Pride of Atlantic City” from Bader Field in Atlantic City to destinations throughout North America. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt hired them as her personal pilots to take her to and from Washington, D.C. and to numerous speaking engagements.
Click Here For Link To: Albert Ernest Forsythe – Wikipedia
There were also many successful African Americans in and around Atlantic City. John McKee made millions in real estate development, including one project in Egg Harbor Township still known as McKee City. Sarah Spencer Washington started her multi-million dollar nationwide cosmetics business on Baltic Avenue in Atlantic City in the 1920’s. During that time, Dr. Albert Forsythe flew his own airplane on countless trips throughout North and South America besides practicing medicine in Atlantic City. Dozens of these success stories are told and documented by Ralph Hunter at Atlantic City’s African American Heritage Museum.
Click Here For Link To: Family’s letters, diaries reveal pieces of Atlantic City, black history (pressofatlanticcity.com)
Does Hollywood Actor Bryan Cranston believe that America was never great for Dr. Albert Forsythe in the 1930’s?
At one time, the main purpose of “Negro History Week” in the 1920’s and later “Black History Week” was to tell these success stories. However, in the 1970’s, leftists hijacked it, and turned it into “Black History Month”. That effectively “cancelled” the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln birthday holidays. Then they made Black History Month as “woke” as everything else they taught in our public schools.
Above Image: Atlantic City High School graduating class of 1967. We took the same buses and jitneys and walked safely in any neighborhood day or night. We slept with doors and windows open on hot summer nights. We went to the same schools, worked the same summer jobs, listened to the same music, and had the same opportunities. I’m in the bottom row, second from the left.
America was great for almost everyone I knew when I grew up in Atlantic City. One parent earned enough to comfortably support most families—even if it meant moving into the basement and renting out the upstairs for the summer. Most students knew more after four years of high school than most students today know after four years of college. There were no student loans for those who went to college. That was because a summer of work paid for a year of most colleges.
It was safe and normal for me as a five year old to walk barefoot on the sidewalk in front of my house, roller skate with friends around the block, and take a “jitney”, a ten passenger minibus, Our front door was never locked. Our doors and windows were wide open on hot summer nights. It was safe and normal for anyone of any race or ethnic group to safely walk day or night in almost every part of town.
Atlantic City then was a town of 50,000 in the winter, and several hundred thousand in the summer. It was a microcosm of America. We had people of almost every race, religion, and ethnic group. Most of us went to neighborhood schools until sixth grade, and then to the same public high school and junior high starting in seventh grade. The public education I received was comparable to the education some of my classmates at Duke University received at the best private schools in America.
Many of my best teachers who inspired me the most were black. Back then, there was no teachers union, or “diversity” guidelines. Teachers were hired, assigned, and promoted based on their talent and achievement—not race.
Besides going to public school together, students of all races and ethnic backgrounds to work together. It was normal to get working papers at age 14 and work real summer jobs at the same summer businesses. We made change at arcades. We sold newspapers on the beach and Boardwalk. We often mopped floors, washed dishes, and prepared and served food at the same restaurants. America then was great for all of us.
When I finished college, I was in Atlantic City’s local National Guard unit for six years. We were never activated. I was only there for training one weekend each month, and two weeks every summer. There was plenty of time to sit around and talk. That was where I learned even more Black History.
Our unit had been formed as a “colored” unit in the 1920’s when the U.S. Army was still segregated. Although it was integrated in the 1950’s, most older members were Black. They included our officers and most sergeants. They were all professional, competent and fair.
They sometimes shared stories of the racism and discrimination they faced years before as young soldiers in the old Jim Crow South. They laughed at how they overcame it. None of them showed any signs of resentment or bitterness towards me or any Whites then. Those bad days were clearly in the past. All of them seemed confident, happy and comfortable with themselves, their families, their work, and their lives. Most were married, owned their homes, and had good jobs or businesses.
One of my sergeants was an electrician was always busy. Almost everyone knew he could fix anything electrical. Another was a police captain. One African-American in our unit owned two bars and liquor store. Another had a successful construction business. Others had good jobs in the schools, fire department or the big hotels. In short, they held the same sort of jobs as most of the Whites I knew at the time.
They were also leaders of their churches, fraternal groups, sports clubs and political clubs. Many were Republicans! Again, the day to day lives of the Black members of our unit were pretty much the same as those of my parents and their friends. Our conversations were easy, open, and natural. There was none of the discomfort or tension that too many Blacks and Whites have when they are together today.
America was great for everyone then. That is why the slogan “Make America Great Again” was so popular for people of our generation. Until a few years ago, most Black Americans my age openly agreed with that statement.
Few do that today. Some have been so saturated with “woke” Black History that they believe it, rather than their memories. Others are afraid of being labeled an “Uncle Tom”. Ironically, most Black Americans today who tell me they agree with me and want to make America great again are immigrants from Haiti or Africa.
Click Here For Link To Previous Post: 16 Stories To Refute “400 Years of Racism in America” Lie.
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