‘America is better than that’

“Black Women in American History and Culture” was the theme of this year’s Black History Month celebration held Feb. 12, at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in Manning.

Rep. Kevin Johnson, a member of Ebenezer, introduced the speaker for the event who happens to be Johnson’s seatmate in the South Carolina House of Representatives, Rep. Ronnie Sabb.

“Rep. Sabb has represented the people of Williamsburg County well,” Johnson told the congregation. “He’s level-headed and people in the House often go to him for his opinion. I’m pleased that for the next 10 years he will be a member of the Clarendon County delegation.”

Adhering to the celebration’s theme, Sabb told the attendees that from the American Revolution through present times, black women have played a “myriad of critical roles.”

“They played critical roles in labor and leadership, motherhood and artistic expression,” Sabb added.

Phillis Wheatley, Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks and Rita Dove were just a few of the black women Sabb recognized as strong women who looked to the church for inspiration and belonged to community groups and advocacy organizations.

“African American women never succumbed to victimhood,” Sabb said. “They uplifted themselves and our communities.”

Sabb also talked about Shirley Chisholm who was the first black woman to become a member of Congress and to contend for the office of U.S. President.

Sabb talked about Maya Angelou’s “vast influence on women.”

“She enacted positive change. She fostered literacy and encouraged others to perform good deeds.”

Sabb talked about the contributions of Oprah Winfrey and Soledad O’Brien have made to society.

Sabb talked about a meeting that he attended where O’Brien was the guest speaker.

“She talked about being the daughter of a black Cuban mother and a white Australian father,” Sabb told the congregation. “She told about the obstacles they had to overcome.”

Sabb said that when O’Brien asked her mother why the couple endured the obstacles her mother responded, “America is better than what I experienced.”

“Yes,” Sabb said. “Yes, America is better than that.”

America is better than the prejudices and the obstacles, Sabb reiterated.

The women like Parks, Wheatley, Wells, Dove, Angelou, Clarendon County’s Clerk of Court Beulah Roberts and Manning’s Mayor Julia A. Nelson helped make America better than that, he said.

“Yes, America is better than that,” Sabb said.

Following Sabb’s part in the celebration, he was presented with a plaque from Roberts for his participation in the program.