The pony hidden in slavery

Here's a heart-warming tale. A columnist in the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal named Adele Ferguson wrote an article a few days ago bout the problem with black people. (Read a scanned version here -- the paper pulled the article from their site).

She recalls a story from that fun-loving Ronald Reagan about a boy happily shoveling a huge pile of manure. When asked why he was enjoying it so much, he said it was such a big pile, there had to be a pony hidden inside. That Reagan, I'm sorry he's dead.

In her article, Ms. Ferguson goes on to say:

"The pony hidden in slavery is the fact that it was the ticket to America for black people. I have long urged blacks to consider their presence here as the work of God, who wanted to bring them to this raw, new country and used slavery to achieve it. A harsh life, to be sure, but many immigrants suffered hardships and indignations as indentured servants. Their descendants rose above it. You don't hear them bemoaning their forebears' life the way some blacks can't rise above the fact theirs were slaves.

Besides freedom, a job and a roof over their heads, they all sought respect. But even after all these years, too many have yet to realize that to get respect, you have to give it."

She uses this metaphor as a basis for criticizing the lack of support among black people for President Bush (maybe they'd support him if he had more Reagan-esque folksy stories). This, then, runs into an argument against teachers' unions. Awesome. So, here's the message to black America: Stop your whining. Slavery was your "ticket to America." Be thankful, support Bush, destroy the unions.

If you're so inclined, the phone number of the newspaper is 360-876-7900, and the editor’s email address is biznews@wetapple.com. Ms. Ferguson's address is: Adele Ferguson, P.O. Box 69, Hansville, WA, 98340.