Photo By Sgt. Waine Haley | Maj. Reginald G. Williams, Training Officer, 6th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment...... read more read more
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Spc. Waine D. Haley
133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
TIKRIT, Iraq (February 16, 2006) -- Black history month is a time of recognition of the accomplishments, achievements and struggles for the black community -- It's a time to remember past cultures so people can build upon it and become better.
The 96th Aviation Support Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, at Forwarding Operating Base Speicher, Iraq, had Maj. Reginald G. Williams, Training Officer, 6th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment (General Support), as guest speaker at the National Black History Month Observance event.
"Though I grew up at the end of the civil rights movement, I saw a lot of the acts and practices that segregation brings to bear on a community. From then to now, I can say we have achieved a lot but there is still more we have to do," said Williams.
Williams went into detail about his rich cultural background. Coming from a family of sharecroppers and farmers living on the outskirts of Tuskeegee, Ala., he told of the hardships suffered by his family during the time of the civil rights movement in America and how far they have come.
Williams" mother emphasized the importance of education by receiving a Nursing Degree from Tuskeegee University. She then was commissioned in the Army's Nursing Corps as a Reserve Officer and eventually retired having achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
"My mother was from Central Alabama, more specifically Union Town/Selma area," Williams said. "[She] had four siblings; all except one received a college education. Her parents even received a college education from Alabama State University."
Williams went on to say that his father chose to join the Army to make a better life for himself and his family versus receiving a formal education. He always continued to help our family as with all of his siblings and retired from the Army as a Command Sergeant Major.
"A majority of our family today have made significant progress in their lives by placing their faith in God, hard work, self education, and helping each other to overcome hardship as a family," Williams said.
Williams believes he was fortunate to attend Tuskeegee University and receive his commission in the Army as an Aviation Officer. "For a little black boy growing up in the 1960s and 1970s in South-Central Alabama and being able to stand before you today as a Major in the U.S. Army is progress."
The event at which Williams spoke was a product of the Equal Opportunity program. The program allows all cultures to express themselves throughout the year.
"I think the Equal Opportunity program not only allows a culture to reflect upon itself but also allows an opportunity to educate others that don't know what our culture has contributed to the Army and to America," Williams said.
"One of the things I like about President Bush - whether you agree with his politics or not - is the quiet way he made his Cabinet look like America, filling it with Black-Americans, Latinos and Asians without much fanfare," said Williams. "Historians will look back at him and President Clinton before him, and note a change on the racial make-up of their Cabinets signaling a huge paradigm shift."
"Condoleezza Rice is the nation's first Black-American female Secretary of State, which Colin Powell, also a Black-American, preceded her. That's Black-American history, and that's American history. They are one in the same, and indeed they always have been," said Williams.
Williams added that everyone can go away [from the event] a little bit smarter, wiser and understand a little more about the struggles people went through so they might understand why people are a certain way... why they express themselves a certain way.
"We need to bind together and lift up every voiceâ?¦" said Williams quoting from the Black National Anthem, to make sure our past and future histories are not forgotten, not just by us but by every American."
Black History Month came into being in 1976 after a proclamation by President Gerald Ford. However it was originated from Negro History Week in 1926. Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a scholar known as the Father of Negro History, started the celebration of Black accomplishments and contributions.
Carter G. Woodson chose the month of February for some important reasons. For instance, Black History Month marks the birthdays of two men who influenced the black population, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.
In addition, the Fifteenth Amendment was passed on February 3, 1870, which granted blacks the right to vote.
| Date Taken: | 02.21.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 02.21.2006 14:28 |
| Story ID: | 5438 |
| Location: | TIKRIT, IQ |
| Web Views: | 201 |
| Downloads: | 76 |
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