Family Stories: Tasco Delano Thomas

Tasco Delano "TD" Thomas was pretty freaking amazing. Born in St. Mary's County, MD to a black father and Native American mother, he was orphaned at a young age. He later made the long, arduous trip to Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth (aka Manassas Institute, it was the closest school for colored students) for school where he was Treasurer of his class and was described by his track coach as an "iron man" who could run three middle-distance races in a single day at the Penn Relays and win them all. 

Manassas Institute Track Team; TD is standing 2nd from the left

That's all impressive, but he only became more so in the years to come.

After saving his money, TD and his wife Frances (a rather remarkable woman in her own right) decided to buy a business property in which to set up shop. The location on Georgia Avenue in DC was subject to covenants that restricted owners from selling to negroes, but TD found a fair-skinned black man to work as an intermediary. He negotiated the contract, and got the sellers to sign. When TD showed up for settlement, the owner tried to back out, but the owner's lawyer advised him to go through with it because they had already signed the contract. Backing out then would have gotten them into hot water, so TD was able to buy the building and became the first black business owner on Georgia Ave.

Tasco Delano Thomas (foreground) in his 2nd shop on Georgia Ave.

So, how did TD pay for the building? With cold, hard cash. As a youth, TD had put $7 in a bank account, but when he went back to the bank in 1930 to collect his money, the bank told him that fees had eaten away his money, so none of it was left. Dismayed, TD never put money in a bank again. Rather, he kept his money in a steamer trunk in their home. Time to buy a barber shop? Grab money out of the steamer trunk. Pay for his son to attend Yale? Steamer trunk. Help his son and daughter-in-law with cash at settlement for their first home? Bring a paper bag full of cash from the steamer trunk. 

That an orphan from Southern Maryland was able to own his own business and use income from that business to send his kids to college and help with down payments is remarkable. That his son became Secretary of the FTC and his daughter a school Principal, and his grandchildren became educators, social workers, public servants, and business people with a slew of impressive degrees, devotion to public service, and amazing spouses is quite the testament to the example he set (and the amazing woman he married).

Let's Talk About Race: Confederate Monuments

So, as states, cities, and even the federal government renew battles around confederate monuments and place names, it's worth revisiting their history.

Many of the statues at the center of Richmond, VA were erected during reconstruction. A friend of mine who lives in Richmond says this about the massive statues at his city's center:

"... These are "maybe we can still get a do-over" statues. Lee's was commissioned in 1875, went up in 1890, all the others followed shortly thereafter."

But many other confederate statues were built much later. Vox's W. Fitzhugh Brundage brings us I've studied the history of Confederate memorials. Here's what to do about them.

Please read the whole thing, but here are a couple subheadings from the article:

• Most monuments went up not immediately after the war, but as Southerners put Jim Crow in place — and Northerners gave up on racial justice
• Some contemporaries linked the monuments to the defense of white supremacy in shockingly explicit terms

Essentially, most confederate monuments were never about reminding ourselves of our history, but were all about white supremacy.

In The Atlantic, Susan Neiman wrote There Are No Nostalgic Nazi Memorials

Americans could learn from how drastically German society has moved away from the nadir of its history.

"... Monuments are neither just about heritage or just about hate. They are values made visible. That’s why we build memorials to some parts of history and ignore others. They embody the ideas we choose to lift up, in the hopes of reminding ourselves and our children that those ideas have been embodied by brave men and women."

Despite the fact that there are no public statues of Hitler or Eichmann or Himler or their compatriots, nobody will forget who they were. Statuary isn't about remembering history. It's about veneration and continuing to win a lost war. White supremacy, slavery, and secession are not values I think we should lift up. 

Every confederate statue, monument, and place name reminds every black person of the evil that was inflicted on their ancestors, and the injustices they endure every day. They also keep alive the confederate/white supremacist spirit. Defenders will tell you that the confederate spirit is about independence and chivalry and mint juleps on the porch. Really, it's about white supremacy. Every confederate statue and icon represents and empowers Patrick Wood Crusius and Dylann Roof and their ilk infinitely more than Scarlett O'Hara.

I like this idea from The Atlantic: A Solution to the Confederate-Monument Problem: Destroying the statues won’t erase the past. Why not let them deteriorate in a public space instead? So, each state would put its statues in a remote location on public land. I recognize that confederate fetishists will maintain them, but I'm OK with that as long as the statues are in the middle of nowhere, and it's illegal to steal them or build anything around them.

On a related note, James Risen at The Intercept has Why is the Army Still Honoring Confederate Generals? Yes, that's a year old, but it's still completely relevant.

"... The base names were products of the same reassertion of Southern white supremacy that prompted the erection of many Confederate statues and monuments."

I hope the politicians can find the strength to purge our public spaces of these tributes that glorify traitors and embolden white supremacists.