The following is a brief and swift account of US history, with slant put on America's "colored history". As this is written, it is down to more or less a day before the much-hyped American Presidential elections.
The first human beings to have reached America as we know it now are people from Asia. This was during the Ice Age, when a land bridge connected Asia (through Russia) and the Northeastern part of American continent (part of what is now Alaska -- note: No wonder Governor Palin can really see the Russians from where she sleeps). The land bridge came to be known as Beringia (the sea that has submerged the land bridge is now called Bering Sea), and the first people who in their effort to go after the games failed to notice that they already crossed another continent were called Beringians. They were later to become the ancestors of the American Indians.
Then, the Norse came (Eric the Red). And the conquering Old World soon followed. The Spaniards made their way from the South. The French and the English made their claims over the new found land.
It was actually the English people who brought the Africans to America. Why? There was a triangular trade in the 17th century involving molasses, rum and slaves in the three continents of Europe, America and Africa -- which netted for the traders a lot of money! Of all the colonies, too, in America, the Southern colonies were said to be the most rural. And, as such, the South needed more and more farmhands to work on the newly opened fields. Unfortunately, these farmhands cannot come from Europe but from Africa. There were migrants who went to America from Europe, but they were considered indentured workers. This means they were considered on contract; that is, they were expected to work only for five to seven years to pay for their transportation costs and then were released with freedom dues -- usually a piece of land -- to start working on for a new lease of life so to speak. The African were never considered indentured workers.
Let us also note that during the war for American Revolution that resulted to their liberation from English dominion the African slaves were even considered "pawns" -- that is, England was thinking that the Southern colonies would remain loyal to the Crown because of its reliance on African slaves. Officials of the colonies in the South even dangled the prospect of freedom as bait to any slaves should the latter fought for the Crown.
The plight of the slaves were not getting any better until the Reconstruction Period, when American tried to rehabilitate itself from the ruins of its Civil War. In this period, a particularly distinct concern was to put an end to slavery. Notwithstanding however the granting of citizenship and voting rights to a good number of black slaves, the emancipation of the Afro-slaves were never complete.
Of course, we have come to know about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. These black people -- together with the other like-minded Afro-Americans of their times -- risked their limbs and lives for the sole purpose of securing for the next generations of black Americans the joys of experiencing full freedom.
And, now, we have seen how an Afro-American senator has beaten a woman-senator to become the Democrats' presidential contender in the time when any association with the Republican President George W. Bush means political kiss of death.
In parting, we cannot but be cognizant of the fact that the Caucasians who have come to rule America since its inception as a nation boast of their tradition of fighting for freedom back in the Old World where they originally came from. They are taking this as a basis for their decisions and actions as they soar ahead in the destination that they have charted for themselves.
The Afro-Americans, as they look back, have memories of their checkered past. Not because of their own doing, but because it was the destiny that was imposed on them by the white Americans since 17th century when the first batch of Africans were transported to Virginia to work for the English company.
All eyes will definitely be on Barack Obama. When he steps into the Oval Office -- which I hope he will -- he carries on his shoulders not only the present, but likewise the past of not only the Afro-Americans but also of the entire America.
