Education key to Black rise

As we celebrate Black History African American Culture and Awareness Month, the 2021 theme is “The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity,” according to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, based in Washington, D.C.

The association has invited us to explore the many meanings of this theme in February and especially through their virtual Black History Month Festival throughout the year (see asalh.org).

First, let us remove completely all of the emotionalism and examine “systemic racism” in America. Black people have ascended to positions of leadership and great authority in this nation. To be honest, we have made extraordinary progress in the nation we call America. A candid look reveals the achievements of Black folks in America, and I want to mention a few.

A Black man was elected for two terms as president of America. A Black woman is presently serving as vice president of America, and many Blacks are members of the U.S. Congress. The first Black man was appointed U.S. secretary of state and the first to lead the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The first Black woman was appointed national security adviser and U.S. secretary of state. The first Black man was chosen as chaplain for the U.S. Senate.

Blacks have been appointed as federal judges. Many major and small cities have elected Black mayors around the nation. Blacks lead police departments, fire departments, serve as school superintendents, city council members, elected state senators and state representatives, lieutenant governors, county judges, county tax collectors, assessors, and justices of the peace.

Blacks are head coaches in professional and college football, basketball, baseball and leaders in track and field.

Blacks are airplane pilots, Grammy, and Oscar award winners, movie stars, news anchors, editors of newspapers, hosts of TV programs. Black people own TV and radio stations and sports teams, head major religious affiliations and lead large law firms. There are many Black millionaires, multimillionaires and billionaires. Most basketball teams are all-Black, including the coach.

The progressive gains by Black folks in a systemically racist nation have been outstanding and very impressive. Let me be clear: I am not so naive as to believe there aren’t pockets of mistreatment, for I have been one to suffer at the cold hand of discrimination, but we should celebrate all year the successes of Black folks.

Now, I ask this question: What is holding today’s African Americans back from achieving success? I believe the major reason for the lack of success in the Black community is education. The drivers of these successes are education, hard work, purpose and focus, which should be the tools for advancement relative to the plight of systemic racism. Black history inspires and gives our children hope for their future.

Consider this: When racism was at its zenith, Black parents didn’t let those conditions become their focus, no matter the environment, no matter how difficult the times were. They refused to allow mental chains to hold them down. Realizing their children could lead a life of their own, far better than the one they had, they pushed education, for they knew education could take them further than anger. Parents faced strong headwinds of structural barriers but did not wilt or turn to anger; rather they turned to God/YHWH for their breakthrough.

African American parents knew that with strong family support, teachers with high expectations who empowered and built students with character-based strengths like integrity and resiliency, a strong sense of personal responsibility and the belief that they could become masters of their destiny through hard work and a desire for a better life, success was attainable.

Two local pioneers, P.K. Miller and U.S. Brown are great examples of self-determination. P.K. Miller was a product of that philosophy, becoming the owner of the first and only casket factory by Blacks in Pine Bluff. He established the first cemetery, the first hotel, restaurant and theater for Blacks in Pine Bluff. The theater was named in honor of his wife, Vester Miller (Vester Theater).

Mr. Miller was also founder and organizer of the Great Protective Burial Association. This company was organized by Mr. Miller in Wabbaseka, Ark., in 1926. The culmination of his dreams came true when the new P.K. Miller Mortuary was dedicated on Feb. 10, 1963, in Pine Bluff.

The building was the largest establishment of its kind in the Southwest and is still utilized today. The approximate cost was $250,000. Born in the late 1800s in Mississippi, Miller was the second child in a family of five children. In 1914, realizing that he would never be able to accomplish much in his childhood environment, he came to Arkansas and settled in Wabbaseka.

Possessing a keen business sense, he was successful as a farmer, a cotton buyer, a postmaster and a storekeeper. Being a carpenter by trade, Mr. Miller was often called upon to make caskets for many families. His sympathy for these low-income families caused him to consider the possibility of organizing a burial association. In 1926 his dream materialized. The business had its birth in a small office in Wabbaseka. The funeral home was organized in 1927.

Ulysses Stanley Brown Sr., aka U.S. Brown Sr., is another Black success story. He was very civic-minded and contributed much and in many ways to the betterment of the community for all people. He organized the first Black Boy Scout Troop in Pine Bluff for Saint Peter’s Rock Baptist Church. He was the first Black to serve as a juror since Reconstruction. He was a life member of the NAACP, a member of Haygood Lodge #407, and a 33rd Degree Mason; and past master of the Masonic Lodge. He served as state grand chancellor of Knights of Pythians State of Arkansas. He also helped organize the Elks Club of Pine Bluff.

Mr. Brown was the first African American appointed to the Arkansas State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, serving 10 years with two as president.

Therefore, let us encourage families to keep their children in school, help them with school work, spend time and have conversations with them on their educational journey, pointing them in the direction of successes. These seeds will produce the fruits of greatness, helping them realize there are no limits to what they can achieve or become.

(Information on Brown and Miller was taken from obituaries.)