James Grimaldi’s letter (“Understanding”), printed Feb. 9, was, to say the least, sad. Mr. Grimaldi, February is Black History Month. It’s a chance to learn something new, and unlearn something old.

Judging people in “historical context” is important, but so is telling the truth. I will put George Washington in “historical context” for you. Washington saw the rights and voice of colonial Americans being taken away. A person of Washington’s wealth, in England, would have been consulted and respected, but in colonial America, he was just another citizen to be taxed and controlled. He felt the colonists, especially people of his class, were being treated like slaves.

African Americans fought on both sides of the revolution. Some fought with the colonists, thinking that freedom for whites would mean the same for blacks, while others fought with the British, thinking that freedom would follow. The real irony is the issue of slavery was sacrificed to the political expediency of forming a new nation. Yes, Mr. Grimaldi, there were those, even back then, who realized the hypocrisy of fighting for independence while holding others in slavery.

I don’t know how or why you concluded Washington’s slaves “probably had a higher standard of living than 90 percent of the rest of the U.S. population,” but you’re wrong. Slave owners, no matter how “benevolent,” exercised the power of life and death over their slaves. This includes the “right” to sell you, torture/maim/mutilate you, rape you and tell you with whom you would/could not “breed.” Do you understand the implications of these “rights”— your life and comfort are based on the whims of others. No matter how high the standard of living, the life of an enslaved African American is not his own.

Did you know, Mr. Grimaldi, that there were free African Americans in the mid-18th Century? While I have to commend you for acknowledging the difficulties African Americans faced as “free” (I use the term loosely) citizens, I am appalled that you think mid-18th Century slavery was a better option.

Mr. Grimaldi, you are still early enough in your college career that you can still take a few history classes. Hopefully, you would take an African American history class, and learn more about this subject. After you learn some more facts “in historical context,” you might start to taste the bittersweet irony of the words, “and the land of the free, and the home of the brave.”

Understand now?

Richard Freeman

Adjunct instructor,

Electrical & computer engineering