Afrocity in front of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum.
“Liberty has never come from Government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it. “
-Woodrow Wilson
Because I needed a break from the stress of Obama, I tried not to follow the news while I was away. The idea that I could stay away from Fox News is laughable. In order to succeed, I must remove ALL obstacles to political relaxation…The hotel had cable TV so you can pretty much guess that I was watching O’Reilly, Hannity and Greta just as I would at home.
Sunday was the final day of my American tour. I stopped at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton, VA. The failure to overcome the temptation of following the current news led me to anger at the Obama administration, which led me to quite a few awkward moments among liberals- even those I did not know personally.
Bust of Woodrow Wilson which sits in the museum window for all to see.
It was Father’s Day and I was touring the Woodrow Wilson birthplace with a group of older people with their dads, one of whom was wheelchair bound and in his 80′s at least. How nice of them to bring their fathers to the Wilson museum on Father’s Day, I thought. Our tour guide was very engaging which was more than could be said about my group. There is always a person in the bunch that feels they know more than the tour guide. This really annoys me and I consider it to be rude. There were two of them in my group in time and my ears remained closed while my eyes did a lot of wondering.
Because it was June, there was a display of Wilson family wedding gowns assembled throughout the home. Like the dresses in the James Monroe home, these gowns were intricately crafted and practically sewn on the wearer. I still cannot believe how tiny women were then. In the first part of the home, the foyer, our tour guide explained that there was no electricity or running water during the period. Someone had to carry buckets of water up a long hill in order to get it to the Wilsons. Mostly everyone in my group gasped at the prospect of doing such hard work.
Next what a woman said in my tour group, unnerved the hell out of me:
“That’s what slaves are for.”
She said this looking at the tour guide in a very haughty and unfeeling tone. Since I was the only African American in the group everyone sort of looked at me with disbelief. Her remark was unkind and it was an awkward moment indeed. The tour guide was an excellent sport and said “Yes, the Wilson’s did own several slaves.”
Still this woman’s comment was in my opinion unnecessary and colored (excuse the pun) the remainder of my visit. We went into the Wilson girls room where there were quilted bedspreads, dolls and hairbrushes. Our guide explained that you would never find a chess set in a girl’s room because the game of chess was considered to be too complicated for the female mind.Girls were groomed for their ultimate duty: motherhood.
The following bedroom was the actual place of Wilson’s birth. The very same wooden four post bed that his mother gave birth to our 28th president was still intact and there for us to see. Wilson’s original rocking cradle was also in the room. I imagined Mrs. Wilson’s labor, no light, no running water. The “toilet” was a beautiful delft blue china bowl kept underneath the bed.
Touring these rooms, combined with the kitchen and “servants quarters” brought a strange feeling over me. I looked at the servants beds which were in the basement of the home. They were so low to the ground because of the soot. Only one window was there, which meant no air circulation, no breeze between the soot, smoke and hot kitchen. I began to feel ill. No really ill as if I was in a tight space with no escape. Certainly I was about to faint and i needed air. I apologized to the concerned tour guide, exited and sat in the garden fanning myself with the museum brochure. I felt embarrassed and ashamed. Silly black girl, what sort of slave would you have been? Fainting like a weakling. Would the Wilson’s have made me stay in the kitchen despite my being ill? The gregariousness of the tour guide or the beautiful roses and gazebos in the Wilson garden could not overcome the words of that awful woman:
“That’s what slaves are for”.
View of the Wilson home from the rear, this includes the garden.
Air, give me air. I walked over to the museum where the Wilson archives and exhibits resided. Where there are archives, there is cold, space and air. The scenes of Wilson as president of Princeton University reminded me that he is the only president to have earned a Phd. as opposed to being bestowed an honorary doctorate. Earlier our guide explained that Wilson overcame a great many learning disabilities in order to achieve success. Wilson was very aware of the marriage between appearance and status. His birth name was Thomas but upon adulthood, Wilson felt that the name Thomas or “Tommy” was not befitting of an important leader. He took his middle name which was his mother’s maiden name as his first name, hence Woodrow Wilson. His theory proved to be correct, he became the president of a great university, the 34th governor of New Jersey and of course the “progressive era” President of the United States of America whose term covered World War I.
Panoramic Photograph of an all Negro Regiment During World War I. Wilson Presidential Library
Woodrow Wilson was a Democrat, who owned slaves but what other kind was there right? According to this article in Wikipedia, the following describes Wilson’s position on African Americans:
Wilson was a white supremacist who eulogized pre-Civil War slavery, claiming, for example, that “[d]omestic slaves were almost uniformly dealt with indulgently and even affectionately by their masters.” He also maintained that black political participation during Reconstruction constituted “an extraordinary carnival of public crime,” and called the violent extinction of black voting and office holding in the South “the natural, inevitable ascendancy of the whites.” Wilson also “strongly backed the demands of southern leaders that their states be left alone to deal with issues of race and black voting without interference from the North, ensuring there would be no challenge to the raft of laws passed to disenfranchise African Americans across the region.” In other words, Wilson not only abided but encouraged the rise of Jim Crow.
While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission, preferring to keep the peace among white students than have black students admitted. It was not until 1945 that Princeton started admitting black students, the first of whom graduated in 1947.
As President of the United States, Wilson allowed his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. “His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees.“Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders in political appointee positions, but also appointed a few black Democrats to such posts.
No wonder I went running from the Wilson home in panic. Maybe the ghosts chased Afrocity out.
Judging from this, I find it safe to say that Woodrow Wilson had no love for African Americans, republicans or conservatives. Take a look the following Wilson quotes on conservatives:
“A conservative is a man who just sits and thinks, mostly sits. ”
“A conservative is someone who makes no changes and consults his grandmother when in doubt. ”
“I have long enjoyed the friendship and companionship of Republicans because I am by instinct a teacher, and I would like to teach them something.”
How curious the anti-conservative statements of Wilson become when we consider that a paramount part of his legacy includes post war efforts such as his penning his Fourteen Points, the creation of the League of Nations and aiding in the Treaty of Versailles. How curious when you remember the Wilson quote with which this post began:
“Liberty has never come from Government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it. “
Oh really my dear deceased President Wilson? Please tell me more. I want to hear your liberal philosophy on the subject of war.
“Neutrality is a negative word. It does not express what America ought to feel. We are not trying to keep out of trouble; we are trying to preserve the foundations on which peace may be rebuilt.”
-Woodrow Wilson
Dear President Wilson there is terrible news I must give to you:
Wall Street Journal
June 22, 2009
Obama’s Response Has Its Critics, Defenders
Republicans Want Less-Cautious Support for Iran’s Opposition
WASHINGTON – Some Republicans on Sunday urged President Barack Obama to do more to support protesters in Iran who have been clashing with security forces over election results, underscoring the challenge the president faces in trying to strike the right balance in addressing fast-moving events there.
“The president of the United States is supposed to lead the free world, not follow it,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, on ABC’s “This Week.” He added that Mr. Obama was being “timid and passive.”
Under criticism over his approach to the Iran protests, Mr. Obama met in the Oval Office with advisers on Sunday for about a half-hour before an afternoon golf game. He had multiple briefings and meetings on Iran on Saturday.
Since the protests broke out a week ago, Mr. Obama has taken a restrained tone, saying the election is an internal matter for Iran.
White House officials said Mr. Obama has shifted his rhetoric on Iran as events have changed on the ground. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s speech on Friday declaring that protesters would be responsible for any bloodshed prompted Mr. Obama that day to invoke the word “justice,” a term administration officials said would have more resonance in the Muslim world than “freedom,” the term favored by former President George W. Bush.
On Saturday, the president said in a statement: “Martin Luther King once said, ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples’ belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.”
A senior administration official said the carefully calibrated message was aimed at achieving a sense of steadiness in Washington, not escalation. The president is “determined to not allow reactionaries use the U.S. or him as a foil,” he said. “This is a debate in Iran among Iranians. It is not about us.”
Judging from Obama’s election as POTUS and his wimpish foreign policy stance dear President Wilson, I am afraid that the Democratic Party as you saw it is quite nonoperational. (Evil Emperor Palpatine laugh).
Autographed Letter Signed,
Afrocity
Wrong. I have taken a lot of heat and lost many friends over my lack of support for Obama. I was not against him simply because of Hillary Clinton or his arrogance. 87% of my argument against Barack Obama was his lack of experience as a leader. As a junior senator from Illinois, Obama never authored a single piece of legislation, he voted “present” most of the time. There was nothing for me to work with except his eloquent hope spun and Downey April fresh scented speeches. The way he railroaded Hillary accounted for the remaining 10%, and the Ayers, Wright, kooky radical friends took the last 3%. This suggests that Obama’s inexperience for me at least, was the most influence deciding factor in my decision to vote McCain/Palin. Like the Obamabots of which he is a part, Obama sees his divine God given gift of eloquence and persuasiveness as legitimate proof of his experience and leadership potential.
Dick Morris is not alone in his opinion. Many of Obama’s critics are calling him “weak”. I disagree and would say that Obama’s not weak. For if anyone is not a little innocent Pollyanna, it President Barack Obama. The theory’s premise is understandable and possibly at best, a half truth, however it is equally if not more accurate to say that Barack Obama appears weak because he is inexperienced. There is no room in the U.S. presidency for a man that acts like a deer in the headlights every time foreign policy comes into play. This is why I voted for Sen. John McCain. Remember him? The guy whose grandfather’s name is on the ship that is tracking the North Koreans and their missile which is rumored to be aimed at Hawaii- Obama’s birth state. I was once told by an Obamabot that John McCain was inarticulate, so they voted for the eloquent one. 
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