Gary Franks: Honoring my great-grandfather, former slave G.W. Petteway

During Black History Month, I frequently think about my great-grandfather, who was born a slave in North Carolina in 1834. I think of how he made education such a vital part of his life, as he was allowed to read when reading was against the law for most Blacks. He shared the word of the Bible with the community, and founded the first school in the area for newly freed slaves.

The one-room Edney Chapel (School) Primitive Baptist Church founded in 1870 not only helped to educate my mother, other relatives and the community but did so well into the mid-20th century. Today a sign stands outside the Richlands, N.C., site with the founder’s name, my great-grandfather — George Washington Petteway.

To be able to accomplish this was no small feat. He had to be the ultimate politician. He convinced the white county officials to give him the land and allow him to build a church and school on the property. The land could not be used for any other purpose.

At nearly the same age that G.W. started the church, his great-grandchild was entering Congress. I had convinced a majority of a 92% white district to elect me, and they did so three times. I am sure he would be proud, as I also recognized that bad white people are a true aberration in society. Most people of all colors try to treat people like they would like to be treated.

G.W. Petteway instilled in his children the importance of education and how it could change your life and improve your community and country. I have three sisters who received doctorate degrees. One brother is one of America’s oldest retired Black Army colonels, and another was a successful coach and grade-school teacher.

My family always knew that not having the skills or an education always could be used to prohibit a Black person from a good-paying job. Unlike most immigrants who came to the land of opportunity, Blacks were denied occupations that would allow them to truly accumulate wealth unless they were services white people did not care to perform.

Congressman George White, a Republican and the last Black congressman in the 19th century, was likely G.W. Petteway’s congressman in North Carolina.

In White’s last speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, he explained many of the jobs Blacks were not allowed by law to hold. Yet despite such overt racism, the Black community pursued and achieved progress.

Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., my idol as a youngster, introduced a bill that would become part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It prohibited any company receiving federal contracts from discriminating against Black Americans.

By law in 1972, the federal government prohibited the disclosure of the Equal Employment Opportunity-1 records depicting the employment practices of all companies over the size of 100.

In their annual reports, they do not have to reveal how well they have been offering fairness to Blacks to anyone other than the Labor Department, which cannot disclose the information either. As bizarre as it may sound, it is against the law to reveal the EEO-1 records of any of the employers in America with 100-plus employees. Why?

The practice and the answer would depress my great-grandfather, as it does me. It is likely suppressed because records are unsatisfactory. It likely would help explain why there is a wealth and income gap in the U.S. between Black and white Americans.

Where there is high employment and good-paying jobs, there is little to no crime. It also helps to ensure better health care, education, housing and race relations. Bad people who do not believe in fairness cause the entire society to pay for the mitigation of the aforementioned problems.

We all know the NFL’s hiring practices for head coaches leaves a lot to be desired. Black coaches with winning records have been fired. We know their employment practices, as we can see the faces of the head coaches each week on television. But the Fortune 500 companies can hide their information or talk in such generalities that their statistics are meaningless. They all will have Black people on their board of directors because they, like NFL coaches, are highly visible.

Voting rights? Blacks have been voting in record numbers. It helps Black politicians. Black politicians should be fighting instead for fair employment practices as they help the entire Black population. My great-grandfather, who fought to help others first, would agree.