February 2022

Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, John F. Kennedy were the four sitting U.S. presidents assassinated. The other commonality between them needs to be discussed-- whether some were racist or not, each of them advocated, in some form, for the advancement of Black people.

Lincoln may have hated slavery, but he proclaimed, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union…”. However, in 1863, he did sign the Emancipation Proclamation.

Garfield was an abolitionist; Mckinley was the first U.S. president to visit the Tuskeegee Institute; he appointed Blacks to his inaugural committee and government positions. Kennedy made his case for civil rights on June 11, 1963, stating he believed Blacks deserved the same rights as Whites. Five months later, he was murdered. 

Executions in America aren’t limited to presidents who advocate for Blacks, but nearly every high-profile figure in history who supported the disenfranchised, Blacks, and poor people seem to have invited death to their doorstep—Marcus Garvey, Robert F. Kennedy, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and his father before him, Earl Little, Martin Luther King Jr., Fred Hampton of the Black Panthers, and I guess millennials would include slain rapper Nipsey Hustle, for he was attempting to clean up his community. 

I do not wish any harm to President Biden. Still, I do fear for his safety. Mr. Biden has the audacity to appoint an Attorney General, Merrick Garland, who has the audacity to order a “pattern and practice” on police departments in this country that questions their treatment of Black and Brown people. Biden has the audacity to challenge the injustices of voting rights, and now he has the audacity to appoint the first Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson.

This is just a warning I hope President Biden heeds, not a wink or nod to White nationalists. I am genuinely concerned about his safety. He may have too much audacity, so I am requesting his Secret Service be tight.

Silence seemed to be equal to the blood of the lamb for the 44th president. It was reported he received more death threats than all the U.S. presidents combined. His audacity was so subtle he may not have needed security at all.