Abraham Lincoln Was An Asshole!

Posted by Sanaa on Feb 17, 2009 in Politics | 1 comment

 

Seriously, am I the only one who is tired of historical figures who have become icons for being something they’re NOT? Yesterday, Lincoln was rated #1 as Best. President. Ever. What? Get the fuck out of here, the guy was an ASSHOLE! Lincoln, primarily known for the Emancipation Proclamation is constantly peddled as this progressive, freedom-fighting humanitarian.  Too bad it’s not true.

I can’t tell you how many times I cringe every time I hear some mis-educated person tout how every step of progress Black people have made in this country is due to him. (Ala Obama) Let’s get something straight; Black people aren’t free today because Abraham Lincoln was the great emancipator, as Nancy Pelosi recently referred to him. Black people are free today because Abraham Lincoln couldn’t save the union without them. Lincoln NEEDED Black people to win the war. It was pure military strategy thought up by Ben Butler and a few other generals.

As much as Lincoln claimed to be about freedom & equality, he let the Emancipation Proclamation sit on the table for three years before he was forced by circumstances to sign it.

Lincoln said, and I quote, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing ANY slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union…” – Letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862

Lincoln so begrudgingly signed the proclamation that he couldn’t even be bothered to let Black people know. Most Black people didn’t find out they were free until six months later (Juneteenth) and on top of all that, the Proclamation didn’t even free everybody! The most common mis-assumption people make is that the Emancipation Proclamation freed all Black people when the fact is, it only freed the people in the south that could fight for Lincoln’s side. What type of shit is that? Yeah but he is a “great humanitarian” who believed in equality and justice for all. Whatever, if it was up to old Abe, Black people might still be in chains right now today.

Abraham Lincoln was not a hero, he was simply a shrewd opportunist forced to play his hand. Freedom for Black people came as an accidental bi-product of a failing man as he played his last card. The fact that it happened to be a trump card is an act of God’s greatness, not Lincoln’s. I find it difficult to call a man a hero who was so cavalier and flippant about an issue as big as human rights. Yes, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation but make no mistake, Black people don’t have the super-imposed greatness of Lincoln to thank for freedom but rather our own intrinsic value as human beings and the grace of God.