As loving parents, we are responsible to prepare our children for the real world. Yes? We are to guide and teach them — teach them from the simplicity of tying their shoes and brushing their teeth, to driving a car, to themselves becoming responsible individuals. Morally right from wrong is perhaps a given essential as well. The truth should be told.
Much of our history is becoming “unhidden treasures,” giving light to a revealing of a phenomenal intellect and injustice contrary to what is known. Black Wall Street, Emmett Till, Pyrrhus Concer and too much more are part of the story.
Why should students know all the truth? Because to tell only one part of the story (our history) is essentially to lie. A story (our history) is true only when it’s complete.
It takes courage to be enlightened and courage to bring the truth out of the obscured darkness. The courage to hear and tell the whole story, leaving nothing out. The good, the bad and the ugly truth of it all. The courage to say you were wrong. The courage to know we can do better. The courage to take action and not stall with useless planning and discussion. The courage to right a wrong as glaringly painful as it might be, only to cross through the healing river of redemption and forgiveness.
No, we cannot change the past, but we can and must change our blindness to the past. Who should tell the story? A harmonious project of remembering. Remembering the profound contributions with solemn honesty and respect.
Pyrrhus Concer prayers linger over Lake Agawam and Pond Lane. Prayers of compassion for the widows who lost their husbands at sea. Prayers that students will be privy to a great and complete education. (He started a Widows and Educational Fund at the local Presbyterian Church — to date, the Educational Fund is still active.)
Pyrrhus Concer, a former slave, said to be born in Cooper Hall here in the Village of Southampton, taken from his mom at 5 years old to work on the Pelletreau farm, truly represents unrelenting courage and hope in a better future. Courage and hope are intertwined. Courage is an act of hope. And hope is born of courage. Nothing more to the essential spirit than hope.
“Though born a slave, (Pyrrhus Concer) possessed virtues, without which kings are but slaves.”
Let the truth be told.
Brenda Simmons
Co-founder and executive director
Southampton African American Museum
Southampton Village
Shut Him UpFolks: it is time to take Michael Daly at his word(s), unpleasant as that may be. First: glide by his smarmy greeting card calls for “love.” His own words reveal him, above all, and consistently, a purveyor of hate and...
Suffering in SilenceWhen our world gets out of balance, we lose our comfort and security. Too much or too little of anything spikes our fear, and we lose our sense of peace. Those who have what they want and need are comfortable....
Advocate & Adjudicate?The previous administration of [Supervisor Jay] Schneiderman and current board member Tommy John Schiavoni did not give high priority to monitoring appointed public officials for ethical lapses in their private life activities. This laissez-faire policy towards ethics enforcement appears to...
Soil Is CallingIn a book titled “In Old Southampton,” Abigail Halsey reminds us that in the early days of Southampton, “every man was a farmer and a fisherman.” But those days are long gone and most people, today, have no connection to...
A Web of InterestsKudos to Craig Catalanotto [“What Are We Doing?” Letters, April 18] and Barbara Ring [“Tangled Web” Letters, April 18] for their letters to the editor shining a light on the web of special interests, conflicts of interest and misinformation that...
Dates of InfamySeptember 11 and October 7, similar dates of infamy for strong allies with similarly divergent reactions. Now gathered mobs of protesters are cheering on those who cry “Death to America” and call for the complete annihilation and genocide of the...
Your VoiceOn June 25, registered Democrats will go to the ballot box to determine who will represent their ticket for New York’s 1st Congressional District. Although CD1 has recently been held by Republicans, both parties have assumed leadership over the years....
Master ClassI thank Barbara Ring for aptly proving my point. In response to my letter [“An Alliance,” Letters, April 11], which decried the state of civic public discourse in Hampton Bays as being overtaken by misinformation, fear-mongering and conspiracy peddling, Ring...
