The Law That You Don’t Know Cannot Help You

By Pastor Matthew J. Watts

For Black by God

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed and issued his momentous Emancipation Proclamation executive order. This momentous decree granted freedom to nearly 4 million African Slaves in America who were held in captivity by their slave-holders. However, the western part of Virginia was exempted from the proclamation because it was under northern control. Slaves in West Virginia were not emancipated until 1865 after West Virginia voted to ratify the 13th Amendment.

The Emancipation Proclamation news did not reach Galveston, Texas, until June 19th, 1865, over 2 1/2 years after it had been issued. In other words, the slaves of Galveston, Texas, were technically and legally free 2 1/2 years before they were aware that they had been emancipated. Many people often say that what you don’t know “can” hurt you. I like to say what you don’t know “cannot” help you.

In April of 2012,  the West Virginia Legislature passed and Governor Joe Manchin III signed into law HB-4015 5-26-1,2, which established the Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs. The statue was later amended in 2017 when House Speaker Tim Armstead introduced HB-2724 5-26-1,2,3 – Relating to the Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs on behalf of Governor Jim Justice. The Governor’s Bill passed both Houses of the Legislature with nearly unanimous support and was signed into law on April 7, 2017, by Governor Jim Justice.

The HHOMA statute clearly delineates the role of the Office, which includes: to provide a forum to discuss minority issues, coordinate with other agencies programs and services to address minority issues, identify resources to fund programs to address minority issues, make policy recommendations, etc. The HHOMA Statue allows for the establishment of a Minority Fund to fund projects operated by minority organizations. The HHOMA Statue also allows for the creation of a Demonstration Pilot Project to improve community and population health by addressing poverty, substance abuse, and other social determinants of health through comprehensive community development.

The HHOMA Statue is essence, the one single law designed and intended to coordinate efforts and resources to address all issues negatively affecting minority communities across West Virginia. Unfortunately, in the nearly 13 years that the HHOMA Statue and Office has been in place, it has done very little to fulfill its legislative intent.

There is an eerie similarity between the Black Slaves of Galveston, Texas’ relationship to the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and Black West Virginia’s relationship to the HHOMA laws of 2014 and 2017. The Black slaves of Galveston, Texas were unaware of the Emancipation Proclamation, and therefore, could not claim and experience the freedom that it proclaimed. Whereas many Blacks in West Virginia are unaware of the HHOMA statue and many others are indifferent toward it. Either way, they cannot demand nor experience the benefits, relief and support the statue intended to provide.

What is even more troubling is that many Blacks blindly participate in the Martin Luther King Jr.  Holiday observance coordinated by the HHOMA well as participate in the Juneteenth observance. Both of these observances should commemorate Black people’s ongoing quest for freedom, justice, and equality. They should also serve as fodder to answer the question: Where do we go from here? Unwittingly, Blacks dutifully participate in these activities without raising any concerns or questions regarding the HHOMA’s failure to carry out its legal responsibility. Blacks simply dance right along to the HHOMA sponsored music and festivities as if all is well for Blacks in Almost Heaven West Virginia.

It is past time for Blacks to wake up and read, study, and understand the purpose and potential of the HHOMA Statue. Blacks must realize that this one statue creates an office of minority affairs in the governor’s office. This office should serve as a lever and fulcrum to drive a minority agenda across state government. Blacks must also demand that the legislature fund and that Governor Patrick Morrissey properly execute the HHOMA Statue. It is time for Blacks in West Virginia to wake up and remember the dilemma of the Galveston, Texas slaves. That is, the law that we don’t know and don’t understand, which is supposed to help us, cannot help us if we don’t know and understand how it applies to us.