It did not take long for the drafter of the Marriage Vow to figure out that it made strange bedfellows with the "slavery passage."

"Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President."


I guess that's what happens when you jump into things without thinking.  They solicited an additional signer in Rick Santorum before dropping the passage which now reads: click here.  Also, without the slavery passage, there is no need to embellish it with the following study which did not support or verify the slavery passage in the first place:  The Consequences of Marriage for African American Families.

I was able to determine this on my own because things are a lot different now than when were in 1860.  I can read, form my own perspectives, and write and share my opinions.  We are the Frederick Douglasses of our day.

Malcolm would be proud.  He once explained that we had become a different people than we were in slavery. We have become more educated, more conscious, and are making better decisions.  Thank you to George Geder for also writing about this topic. See Michele Bachmann Thinks Slavery Times Were Better for Black Children.  I appreciate all my followers on Facebook and Twitter for reading and sharing as well.

I am especially appreciative to Jason Linkins at the Huffington Post who said:

"Didn't want to stay together for the children, The Family Leader? Oh well, it may have disappeared from the pledge, but the internet never forgets." See "The Family Leader Drops Controversial Section From Marriage Vow Pledge."

We have separation of church and state so that no one religious group can force their doctrines upon any citizens of this country.  The false belief that people of a darker race were put on this earth here to serve the others because they were somehow perceived to be inferior or generally less than human and in need of direction of other races is a doctrine used to justify the enslavement of African people for hundreds of years.

It is impossible to form an alliance with anyone who sees you as less than equal.  Years of European and American Colonialism rested in the belief that we needed to be conquered and forced to be subservient to be considered acceptable.  When you begin to exercise your agency which is a purely human characteristic, you are interfering with some who still hold to this old frame of reference, and the reaction will many times be aggression,  control, and contempt.

It is wonderful that the slave passage has been blotted out, however, when will we see the perceptions that put it there in the first place blotted out as well?  Until then, it behooves us not to forget:

Image via Wikipedia

Michele Bachmann, 1st signer of original Marriage Vow

                                     Image via Wikipedia                                                  Rick Santorum,                                   2nd signer of original Marriage Vow