The death of Eric Garner on July 17, 2014 and countless other black men were not accidents. Their deaths represent a long history of racially motivated violence towards men of color by misguided authorities. Where does this philosophy of abuse directed towards black men originate? Video recordings, eyewitness’s accounts or clear evidence of their innocence rarely matters. Grand Juries frequently do not indict police for killing young black men. Black men’s lives appear to be expendable to many law enforcement authorities and institutions.
How can this be true in the United States, whose Founding Fathers eloquently stated, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal...”? Unfortunately, imprudent police, misinformed grand juries and corrupt institutions do not apply these words equally to black men.
What would John Emory, a Methodist Episcopal Bishop and namesake of Emory University, say about Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, John Crawford and countless others? Did John Emory believe black men were created equal? No, he did not.
Most of Emory University’s founding fathers were slave owners and supporters of slavery who were influential in causing the North-South split leading up to the Civil War. Emory’s first President of the Board of Trustees, Bishop James Osgood Andrew, owned 20 slaves. Andrew’s ownership of Catherine Boyd (a.k.a. “Miss Kitty”) became the subject of national controversy in 1844. He claimed he inherited her and attempted to free her from slavery when she turned 19 years old. Supposedly she declined to be freed, so he built her a little cottage behind his mansion to accommodate her.
Northern abolitionist Methodists requested Andrew resign from the episcopacy over his ownership of slaves. Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, former Emory president asserted Bishop Andrew was an involuntary slaveholder. In the subsequent uproar over Andrew’s slave ownership, the Methodist Episcopal Church split over slavery in 1844. Black recollections of the relationship between the Bishop and Boyd differ drastically. Many adamantly contend Boyd was a subjugated mistress of Andrew and the “Miss Kitty Cottage” was no more than a prison parlor for his African mistress.
Emory used the Bible to justify slavery. He advocated the beating of slaves. Emory’s legacy and economic foundation were built upon slavery, and slavery is a crime against humanity.
On Feb. 6, 2011 Emory University President James W. Wagner spoke at Old Oxford Church and proclaimed, “Emory acknowledges its entwinement with the institution of slavery throughout the College’s early history. Emory regrets both this undeniable wrong and the University’s decades of delay in acknowledging slavery’s harmful legacy...”
Wagner wept as he stated these words — I know because I witnessed the occasion. I was moved by his emotion thinking he must have experienced heart-felt contrition for Emory’s legacy of hatred and torture of slaves whose dreams, freedom and lives were denied. I thought I was witnessing a man and an institution transformed. Was this “The Wise Heart: The Story of Emory University”? I prayed it was.
However, now I fear I was wrong. As I subsequently read Wagner’s Emory Magazine article on the “1787 Three-Fifths Compromise”, I asked myself, “What was President James W. Wagner thinking?”
Wagner failed to realize the Three-Fifths Compromise is not an eloquent example of compromise for the greater good. The compromise permitted southern states to count their slaves as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of determining taxes and the number of representatives from each state. Clearly, this was a victory on both counts for the southern slave owning states! However, there was nothing perfect about preserving a union where people were enslaved and tortured. To argue for the Three-Fifths Compromise is offensive and represents a lack of sensitivity to black people and freedom-loving people everywhere.
The Three-Fifths Compromise states black people are less than human. The same flawed philosophy as the Founding Fathers of Emory who viewed Africans as chattel slaves.
Wagner cannot legitimately express contrition for slavery on one hand and then subsequently suggest it was ever wise to compromise the wholeness of black souls. Freedom and equality are always our highest aspiration and are never to be compromised. This is America, ”... Liberty and Justice for All.” Liberty and Justice for Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, John Crawford and Emory students, staff and faculty of all cultural backgrounds!
The police who repeatedly murder black men and women suffer from a similar affliction as John Emory’s religious presuppositions of hatred and abuse of slaves. They murder minorities with impunity because they believe they are the law and therefore not accountable to the law.
Eric Garner couldn’t breath because he was choked to death. If his choking were an accident, police would have tried to resuscitate him. Michael Brown with hands up was shot down. Twelve-year-old Tamir Rice was shot point blank by a police officer previously dismissed as not fit for duty, and left to exsanguinate on the playground without any attempt at resuscitation for five minutes!
Injudicious police murder black men and women with complete disregard for their humanity almost daily in epidemic proportions across the United States. One could argue that racists’ police view them as less than equal. Perhaps merely three-fifths of a human?
Emory’s slavery philosophy has blood on its hands. John Emory perpetuated slavery and torture in America. Unfortunately, his legacy continues to flourish in our society and on Emory’s Campus.
Emory students, staff and faculty live in fear on campus. Emory’s campus is a racist institution whose walls are adorned with hanging nooses and lecturers rant with racist language. Swastikas are found emblazoned on fraternity walls, Confederate flags displayed in dormitory windows, Mezuzahs ripped down from doorways and the Dental School’s legacy of abuse of Jewish students reads like a script from Nazi propaganda.
A name brand has power and symbolism. A noble gesture by the Emory Board of Trustees would be to remove the name of Emory. John Emory is an evil brand. Let it follow the swastika and Confederate Flag into the historical archives of nefarious banners. Change the name!
If institutions of higher education do not honestly lead the dialogue in the reawakening of respect and honor towards black people and Native Americans, who sacrificed their lives to build our country, then who will lead? Now is the time for truth and reconciliation at Emory University. The Emory Board of Trustees have a powerful platform to speak out against the genocide that John Emory helped to perpetuate through the religious sanctioning of slavery and torture. If they summon the courage do so, they can help to heal America and stop the senseless violence.
James Scott is a former faculty member of the Emory University School of Medicine.
University Must Confront Its Racist History
Comic by Mariana Hernandez
