Urban Thought Collective

It was an extraordinary moment. Another reminder of the progress that our nation has made over the last couple of centuries. (Slow, agonizing progress gained at the cost of unspeakable suffering but progress, nonetheless.) Last week, four of the most powerful women in America — First Lady Michelle Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee — united at the U.S. Capitol building to unveil a sculpture honoring one of the most heroic women in history: abolitionist and women’s rights crusader Sojourner Truth. Born into slavery in 1797, Truth could’ve scarcely imagined that a black family would occupy the White House and women would hold positions at the highest levels of the U.S. government.

Mrs. Obama summed up the significance of the day saying, “I hope that Sojourner Truth would be proud to see me, a descendant of slaves, serving as the First Lady of the United States of America…We are all here because, as my husband says time and time again, we stand on the shoulders of giants like Sojourner Truth.”

The Sojourner Truth tribute was highlighted by legendary actress Cicely Tyson’s dramatic rendering of “Ain’t I A Woman,” Sojourner Truth’s legendary 1851 speech that blasted white society for denying black women the privileged treatment that it insisted on for white women:

“That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman?”

Sojourner’s admonition was directed at white men but these days a lot of misguided brothers need to hear what she’s saying. The persistence of the misogynistic gangsta mentality among our young black men, the continued degradation and objectification of black women in song lyrics and music video imagery, and the relative lack of outrage over domestic violence in our communities are sad signs that some brothers need to seriously restructure their attitudes and values where sisters are concerned.

Sojourner Truth and countless other black women gave everything they had to fight racial and gender injustice here in the “Land of the Free.” And they paid a heavy price for their efforts. Our ancestors didn’t go through all of that hell so that their great-great-great grandsons could exploit and dehumanizes their great-great-great granddaughters.

Thanks for listening. I’m Cameron Turner and that’s my two cents.

THINK! IT AIN’T ILLEGAL…YET!

Cameron Turner is a Los Angeles-area native whose editorials, entertainment news features and audio documentaries have appeared on national radio networks, online and in print for over 20 years.