THE 59TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF MAYORS
REMARKS BY MAURICE A. BARBOZA
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, JUNE 19, 1991

I am honored to be with you this morning in the lovely city of San Diego. You -- the mayors of our greatest cities -- are among the men and women who bear America's biggest challenges. We wish you inspiration in your endeavors to improve the quality of life and the cooperative spirit of your communities.

I am here to tell you about a historic memorial to be built on the Mall in Washington, D.C. to the 5,000 forgotten black patriots of the American Revolution. Millions of African Americans are their spiritual descendants -- your neighbors and constituents. We believe strongly that the goodwill that this project can tap would be invaluable to you in creating an affirmative atmosphere in which to solve tangible urban problems.

The Conference's endorsement of this project three years ago came at a critical moment in its seven-year history. My appearance here this morning marks another one of those moments.

So, thank you Mayor Isaac (president of the USCM and mayor of Colorado Springs) and Tom Cochran (executive director of the USCM) for the thoughtful invitation. And thank you Mayor Barthelemy (mayor of New Orleans) for introducing the 1988 resolution, along with your former colleagues, mayors Richard Berkley (Kansas City, MO) and Harvey Gantt (Charlotte, NC). Dick Cherry of the Texas Cities Legislative Coalition deserves heartfelt thanks for his long-time advice and support.

Besides endorsing the memorial site, the Conference's resolution "urges Mayors throughout the nation to lead or coordinate, or otherwise advance, efforts in their respective communities to raise funds for the Black Patriots memorial."

The resolution was approved just a few days before the National Capital Memorial Commission met on the question of whether the memorial warranted a site on the Mall. The Federal government had spent almost four years pondering the question. I want to assure you that your support had a serious impact on the decision.

This is a positive and uplifting project. Part of the reason is that blacks and whites are working cooperatively to make The Patriots Memorial a reality. An example are the letters that citizens of different backgrounds send to us from cities across America. Their inspirational value is more precious than gold. Handwritten notes turn strangers into compatriots.

Whites tell us of Revolutionary war ancestors who served beside blacks. Blacks tell us how filled they are with pride to learn of their people's role in founding the nation. Teachers say that this history is still not taught in the classroom, and should be. Kids write and raise money. Fifth graders in places like Waterloo, Iowa and Bedford Stuyvesant, New York have brought tears to my eyes. This coming Monday, I'll be in Brooklyn to see those kids.

These examples tell us that there could be tens of thousands more silent Americans who share these sentiments -- people you know, people you could help us reach, people who would be grateful to be a part of something that soars high about the level of today's dialogue on race.

Unfortunately, it's not simple to explain the relevance of 200 year old history to those caught up in the relentless problems of the 20th century. However, an array of organizations -- deeply concerned with those problems -- listened carefully and stuck by us:

The AFL-CIO, NAACP, National Urban League, National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, Vietnam Veterans of America, National Black Caucus of State Legislators, Africare, American Bar Association, Prince Hall Masons, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Vietnam Veterans of America, American Jewish Congress, Veterans of Foreign Wars and National Forum Foundation.

The Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution and Society of the Cincinnati make this a confederation few could aspire to recreate. They've marched with us. They've spoken for us. They've given us money so that we could continue to tell the story.

General Motors, Xerox, Norfolk Southern, BDM International and a small black-owned firm in Virginia, Systems Engineering and Management Associates, are raising money. The bottom line is that they see this as benefiting their diverse workers and ultimately profiting America.

Congressional support has been bipartisan. Members' speeches in the chambers and at events -- over several years -- have imbued the memorial's message with ideas and emotions. Presidents Reagan and Bush endorsed the idea and brought us to the White House twice to emphasize the point.

This past February, President Bush called for the nation's support. He said, "think about how much they must have loved this country, how they believed in its dreams. It's an astounding devotion. It's in a league by itself."

Besides the 5,000 black soldiers and sailors of the American Revolution, the memorial will honor the countless slaves who ran away to freedom or petitioned for liberty during that era. The Patriots Memorial will stand on an acre of land, midway between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. Currently, there are only two memorials between those giants.

The site is truly a prize. Around it are the elegant Reflecting Pool and a memorial to the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The popular Vietnam Veterans Memorial is just two blocks away. DAR Constitution Hall is within view.

This is not a remote corner of a ghetto or an isolated spot few will ever see. This is one of the most heavily traveled tourist areas in the nation's capital. More than 5.3 million people, from every city and town, visit there every year. They return home with photographs and memories they share with family and neighbors for years to come.

The Patriots Memorial will be a symbol for our time, for all time and for all people. Former congressman Parren J. Mitchell of Maryland (before the Persian Gulf war) said that on this site, the memorial will remind us that "we've been there fighting and dying, from the Revolution to Vietnam." He meant all of us -- together.

Our architects estimate that this investment in the nation's future will cost $4 million. All funds must come from private sources and must be raised by October 27, 1991. No federal funds may be used.

General Motors chairman Robert C. Stempel and former federal reserve board member Andrew F. Brimmer are heading the "One Nation Campaign." Vice President Quayle, Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder and actor Morgan Freeman are honorary chairmen.

People tell me that the economy is bad -- that it will be difficult to raise money this year. I say that the timing couldn't be better. America needs the national unity that this memorial can foster. Besides, we have no choice. The money must be raised or the site will be forfeited.

Race relations in America are at an all-time low. Blacks and whites coexist uneasily in our cities and towns. Violence and recrimination are commonplace. Mindless brutality can occur in any city at any moment. Demagoguery, suspicion and prejudice obstruct the pathways to understanding. Individual security and national harmony are threatened.

The memorial will challenge stereotypes, improve race relations and add a permanent work of art, and potent message, to the nation's landscape. The memorial seeks to address racial divisiveness by using common history as a tool to promote the concept of "One Nation."

We are the heirs of over 350 years of stereotypes and an incomplete history -- that is not our doing. It's no accident that some whites may discriminate or that some blacks indiscriminately hate.

America pays a high price for bigotry and hatred that dwarfs the balance of trade deficit. If graduates don't learn how to get along with each other before they leave school, they won't do much better at work. This devalues the world's most significant multicultural society in the eyes of our competitors.

We may be in a race against a Congressional deadline. But America is in a race against a wedge of divisiveness being driven irreversibly deeper into the nation's soul.

The Patriots Memorial will not be a piece of marble and granite anchored to the earth to bear witness to the deeds of one people. It was not proposed because there's only one memorial in all of Washington that honors a black person -- out of more than 110. We weren't out to rectify a memorial imbalance or to say do for us what America has done for other Americans.

If we were, we would be trivializing, and breaking faith with, the values, patriotism and selflessness of the people we seek to honor -- the black patriots of the Revolution.

Contrary to popular knowledge most blacks fought side-by-side with whites in all of the major battles, from Lexington and Concord to Yorktown. Amazingly enough, some endured horrible hardships for the entire duration. The heroic First Rhode Island Regiment is an example of one of just a few all-black regiments.

Most slaves volunteered to serve as substitutes for their masters and others in exchange for promises of freedom. Free blacks risked life and limb in the hopes of winning equal rights. They made conscious choices as did thousands of slaves who served as guides, spies, messengers and nurses. There were many heroes.

These black patriots left a legacy. They organized churches and self-help groups that would light the way for future generations. They used the courts to file freedom suits, sought to vote, and pleaded for equal education opportunity. At least one veteran ran for public office in Maryland. They formed family units whose immediate off-spring served America in other wars, including the civil war. They weren't just picking cotton, singing spirituals and waiting for a savior.

When the test came as to whether the slaves who served would be reenslaved, the governor of Virginia asked the legislature for authority to prosecute masters who might back out on their promises. A law was passed that says those black patriots "contributed towards the establishment of American liberty and independence."

What is the value of this history and why are we so intent on seeing it memorialized on the Mall? One of our principal sponsors, Representative Nancy L. Johnson, said it best: "The most powerful weapon against prejudice is the knowledge that our freedom and independence are the consequence of the combined efforts of all Americans black and white. The inaccurate record of American history, neglecting the black role, has helped to perpetuate discrimination based on ignorance."

All of us were taught the same incomplete history. It's no wonder that we treat one another so poorly. But we need not be captives of that history. It would be wrong to condemn any of our fellow Americans to the dark tunnel of bigotry when we have the power to show them the way out.

Many Americans have never been shown a positive image of a black person. When such a person is a respondent in an anonymous poll, he says that blacks don't work as hard as whites, that they prefer to live off welfare; that they are violence-prone; that they are less intelligent and that blacks are less patriotic than whites.

If those who see blacks this way were instead addicted to alcohol or drugs, we would say that they had a disease and that society has an obligation to treat them medically -- and to treat them compassionately. We say, let's treat them with The Patriots Memorial and a massive dose of the truth about America's past.

I have some personal experience in this area. For four years I helped my aunt overcome bigotry to become a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Although only one of my grandparents was born in the U.S., and I am the son of a black immigrant, three soldiers of the American Revolution are my ancestors. I'm honored to be their five-generations-removed grandson, but I wish at least one of them had been black.

When the national controversy about my aunt ended successfully, I decided that a memorial to black patriots should be built within eye view of DAR Constitution Hall -- the place where black opera singer Marian Anderson was barred from performing in 1939. Poetically, the DAR was the first organization to lend support. It is now researching the names of every black and native American Revolutionary war soldier. This incident is a glowing tribute to the meaning of those patriots' lives.

For the most part, the black patriots of the American Revolution were dead and forgotten by the Civil War. If supporters had the power to reincarnate them on the Mall for just one evening, we could raise the memorial's construction funds overnight.

Since that won't happen, the next best thing would be for the mayors of our great cities to help incarnate the spirit of those patriots in your black and white constituents.

Our fundraising drive -- The One Nation Campaign -- has three phases. The Heritage Phase is the most important. It seeks to give individuals a chance to buy both a spiritual and a financial stake in the memorial.

We would be honored and inspired if the mayors of the United States were to implement the Heritage Phase by encouraging communities across the nation to raise a share of the memorial's cost.

Our supporting organizations and others, including black churches, have been asked to encourage their affiliates to work with you. We will ask our corporate supporters and the black broadcast and print media to support your efforts with massive "One Nation" advertising.

We would urge you to announce the campaign on the Fourth of July and to conclude it by October 27, 1991, when all funds must be raised. The amount your city raises is less important than the awareness that your support will create. We welcome any and all contributions -- with equal gratitude. The campaign will be short and painless and a logical extension of the patriotic celebrations surrounding the return of black and white troops from the Persian Gulf.

Thousands of Americans will flock to the site for the dedication -- reminiscent of Marian Anderson's 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial and the 1963 March on Washington. Every mayor will be invited to Washington to announce his city's contribution. Those contributions will be listed forever in a permanent public record of the black patriots.

An impressive plaque -- bearing a likeness of the memorial -- will be presented to your city for installation in a public building, thus linking you and your city to this accomplishment forever.

The potential of your work to do good is immeasurable. When your constituents return home with you after experiencing The Patriots Memorial, they will see black people as if through a new set of eyes. If they happen to be black, the likeness that they used to see in a mirror will be changed forever -- as will their concept of fellow blacks.

Black kids, bombarded by false notions of who they are, will be able to peel back the mask of insecurity and rise to the true level of their potential. When they come to understand that common people can be uncommonly heroic and honorable -- even slaves -- they will be more respectful of their parents, teachers and those around them.

We will learn that millions of black men, women and children had "a dream that was deeply rooted in the American dream" generations before Martin Luther King, Jr. was born -- and that they acted on that dream. We will learn that blacks began seeking freedom and equality more than 100 years before the Emancipation Proclamation.

The bronze relief and freestanding figures of black patriots coming to life on the national Mall will change us forever. No one who publishes books, teaches or makes motion pictures will be able to ignore this history again. The ripples it creates will cause a quiet Revolution.

Americans will come to recognize that while those black patriots were not present to debate the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, they are nonetheless founding fathers and mothers.

After all, it was their vision of America that prevailed.