Image via WikipediaIf you just watch and listen long enough, people reveal who they truly are.  Given  a certain measure of influence and power, humility subsides, and tongues yield revealing anger, hate, and pride.  Conservative Bob Vander Plaats through his organization, Family Leader released a vow on marriage and the family. As complex as our social and economic issues are that we face, he complicated things even further by including slavery:

"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." Learn more.

Now in case you were to assume he would not be able get someone else to sign something so atrocious, Michele Bachmann, GOP candidate for President, wanted to be the first one to step forward to sign!  Either she did not read it, or is just as insensitive herself.  Either way, neither makes her Presidential material. Unfortuately, she believes that "Thomas Jefferson was the exception" as one of the Founding Forefathers who owned slaves.  No mention is made here about George Washington:  Michele Bachmann. I did take the liberty to post this article on her Facebook page, however, she probably is not interested in a open dialog on the subject. They removed my post.  That speaks volumes in and of itself.

If they really cared about the plight of African American children in particular, they would not say they were better off enslaved, neither would they infer that single African American parents are not as equipped to rear their children as slaves were.

If they were really sensitive to the plight of the African American family, they would consider the effects of the evil practices forced upon slave families.   During slavery, the African American male had no say as to what happened to his wife or children.  He was made a breeder and forced to impregnate slave women of all ages who were ready to have children with no regard to whether he was related to the women or not.

At any moment of the day or night, the sanctity of the relationship he had with his wife fell victim to his master and overseer as he helplessly stood by while they had their way.  Many sought wives from different plantations so they did not have to witness these events.  The birth of a daughter brought bought both joy and pain as mothers and fathers feared the approach of a day they could not keep from dawning.

 To insinuate that African Americans were better off during slavery, also implies that they were better off suffering the cruelty and violence that accompanied slavery. Would they dare tell a Jewish brother or sister that the terrible Holocaust was good for them?  I should say not!  I do not have to strain too hard to hear what Martin  Luther King Jr or Malcolm X would have to say today.  Come 2012, let's not be what Malcolm called Chumps!