Why Don't They Just Get Over It: A Beginning Conversation

A question that is crucial for me has been in my head and heart for some time now. The question? Why do white people not get the significance of slavery and its impact upon Black people? I realize that that question has a whole slew of answers and answers that correlate with other answers that form some unified whole. Statistical calculations are far beyond the reaches of this blog, so I’ll keep things simple.

Generalizations will follow. Yes, I’m sure that you’ll take issue with all or some of them.

It occurs to me that some people know the answers. Yes, some people already know the answers. I have long believed that Black people know white people better than we know ourselves. Why, you ask? They had to study us to learn how to keep themselves safe around us. They had to know the societal rules and the laws and then they had to know how to negotiate the streets and the highways and the bi-ways with us. To do otherwise, might get them brutalized, even lynched. Check out Environment Justice Initiative’s latest report. It has some compelling things. Lynchings were both a local and an area-wide phenomenon.

We don’t get it, I think, because we have not had to get it. The laws of this country, the structure of things from local government to national government was built by and for us. Yes, I said it.

We don’t get it because our defenses are terribly high. Ask Robin Diangelo in her book, White Fragility, and she has some things to say. Ask Austin Channing Brown in her book, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, and she’ll have some things to say. Read the book, Reconciliation Reconsidered by Tanya Smith Bryce and let her and he co-authors coach you up.

One thing that I hear and have been pondering for some time is stated as “That was a long time ago. Can’t they just forget it and move on?” Sounds defensive? I think so.  Sounds judgmental? I think so. 

So, I thought about how long ago it was for our country and for me given my family tree.

You see, I have three grandfathers who fought for the CSA during the Civil War. My great-great grandfather Joseph R. Vann (1847-1919); a great grandfather James Tyler Creel (1843-1926); and a great grandfather James Ransom Hinson (1842-1928). My father and mother were born in 1913 and 1923. I was born in 1949. I am now 70 years of age. Those soldiers fighting for the CSA were doing that three and four generations ago. That is just 150 years ago. I was being influenced by these matters back on day one in 1949. That would have been some 80 years earlier. 

A bitter irony is that several of the African American farmers I've interviewed through the years have been able to trace their ancestors back to enslavement. While their ancestors were enslaved on the plantations, yearning to be free,  my ancestors were fighting to keep them there. Yes, you heard that right. 

If there is anything to family legacies, with respect to Dr. Murray Bowen and other multigenerational family therapists, then some of those CSA genes reside in my DNA. And they reside in my siblings. They reside there because the enslavement of Black people only happened a few generations back. And since we are southerners, it is no wonder that those monuments get us going. That’s a post for another day.

There were no magical erasures of attitudes toward people of color in any of my family lines that I know of. My people did what was usual and customary. We used the N-word in some settings and not in others. We did have some decorum about ourselves. We told racist jokes in some settings but not in others. We knew when it was not proper and we knew when we could get by with it.

So, one thing that I don’t think we should tolerate is the non-sense that says, “That was a long time ago. Can’t they just get over it?”

It was not a long time ago. And, no, you have no right to tell anyone when to get over what.

Our job is to respect and honor and engage the stories of people of color.

After all, we are all citizens of the USA. Better than that, all of us have had the breath of God breathed into our nostrils. We are all children of God.

Mr. Burger, Relentless, Informed, Working for Justice #3

In the Spring of 2007, my students at Abilene Christian University and its MFT program and I ventured over to East Texas. These students were part of Social Justice Team II. Mr. Burger, a white farmer, and I had arranged for these students to interview several African American farmers who had won their cases or who had lost their cases against the USDA in what is known as Pigford I.  The white farmer had been treated unjustly because he blew the whistle on the county committee. He lost most of his farming operation as a result.  My students and I arrived on Friday night, not knowing when Mr. Burger and Dora Anderson would arrive. Ms. Anderson had won her lawsuit in the automotive industry. It is chronicled in her book, "The Rosa Parks of the Disabled Movement: Plantation Politics." I had met her at the same land loss summit in 2006 where I met Mr. Burger.  

They arrived early Saturday morning just as we were soon to head to a local church to meet the farmers.  I had called and arranged the use of facilities. The preacher was accommodating. We waited a tad so we could all go together.  The students and I interviewed these farmers, wrote summary reports of the mistreatment of the farmers, and with signed consents they were released so that Mr. Burger could have access to them. He was to meet someone in the DOJ's officer there in Dallas, just north of where we met. 

The students' psychological evaluations and summaries of injustices done against these farmers were well done. They showed me that they got it, that some in America were treated differently because of the color of their skin. 

While much of that particular time escapes me, a thing that struck me was that he would drive many, many miles to advocate for the mistreated.  He had a plan.  The plan meant meeting my students and me. It meant taking our reports and giving them to the DOJ's office in Dallas. That he would drive that many miles to meet with a group of farmers and young advocates meant a lot to all of us.

After the morning full of meeting, greeting, and intense interviews, we adjourned for lunch at a local cafe where we could deconstruct the day and its activities. I do not recall the particulars of that meeting. The photos say that we were all there. We obviously ate good food. We talked about things that matter and the plans that would take place under his leadership. The imprints upon our hearts was being made in indelible, relational ink. 

On several other occasions, Burger and I would talk by telephone. We discussed mutual concerns and interests. He was always several steps ahead of me. His wealth of knowledge was far beyond my scope of things.  I had become involved in the movement in 1994, and as an academician, writer, researcher, my scope was limited.  Burger's scope was expansive, deep, and rich.

I still think of him fondly and with much respect. A white guy like me involved in a movement with Black farmers. The two of us, an unlikely pair. 

He may be dead and has met his maker, but his spirit lives on. 

I still miss him to this day.

Justice, Jesus, and Churches: When Is There a Good Time to Speak Out?

In the early morning hours I read sacred texts from the Gospels, the prophets, the Psalms, and Old Testament history. I read of how Jesus treated people, many times the outliers of society, women, poor, demon-possessed, and those with various skin diseases. Their society had declared them untouchables.

Jesus also spoke against and violated the "oral tradition." For instance, He healed the man's withered hand on a Sabbath with a question, all of which amazed the crowds and sent the leaders scurrying off into the distance to figure out how to do away with him.

I am wondering what the "oral tradition" parallel would be for us today? What are the unwritten rules about when, where, how, why to do things or to say things. 

So, I wonder, when is a good time to speak words of grace? When is a good time to stand for righteous causes? Shall we wait until we are through the COVID-19 window of time to speak our hearts and our values and our intentions about race, justice, and reconciliation?

No need to wait, is my opinion. Anytime is a good time to do good things.

Three of our former churches have spoken out publicly about racial injustice and the intent to do better in our world. There may be others. I am moved about these three churches because I know people who are there. 

So, check out their pages and allow grace to capture your heart if your fellowship has remained silent in these times. 

The White Station Church of Christ in Memphis and Dr. John Scott's sermon in response to Dr. King's murder: http://www.cocws.org/real-faith/john-scott-sermon. Dr. Scott was a teacher and mentor of mine during our days in Memphis as a student and as a youth minister. The elders of the White Station Church of Christ speak: https://youtu.be/awhi2J-C6ew. I was on this church staff for five years back in the day. 

The Highland Church of Christ in Memphis, Tennessee speaks these words: https://www.facebook.com/highlandchurchmemphis/videos/270644644000558/ I was part time youth minister at this church back in the day. 

The Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas has these words of encouragement: http://highlandchurch.org/resources/ We were at this church for 20+ years during our journey in Abilene while I was on faculty in the MFT program at ACU. 

As I have pondered for some time now, my question is still, "Why do some restoration movement churches, or why do some churches of Christ speak up in these turbulent times, and why are some of us silent?"  That question haunts me.

Maybe we can all be encouraged, both leaders and followers, both shepherds and sheep, in our churches by what these church leaders have done. Maybe we can be shaped for good by the words of these churches and by their demonstration of how they see themselves in the world. 

I still am moved by the notion that if we want to do justice, "do what Jesus does."  Yes, do what Jesus does. Behave as His hands and feet and eyes and ears.

And His voice.

And His voice. 

And His voice. 

For the sake of the Kingdom.

Prophets Come Wearing T-Shirts and Masks

Dear Lord:

I have a lot to learn. 

I have a lot to discern. 

I have many a thought to share. 

I have many a burden to bear.

So, please hear my yearnings. 

Please listen to my longings. 

Please consider my mental wanderings. 

Please find me under your wing pondering.

So, please if you will. 

Please comfort and my heart to still. 

Please guide me in the better way. 

Please lead me into the light of day.  

That I your face may see. 

That you may offer grace to me. 

That we may behold the lamb of God. 

While upon this land we trod.

Did the prophets receive pushback from their prophetic utterings? Is it true that shalom existed in the garden and that we messed it up? Is it true that we yearn for shalom and that it won’t be delivered until your face we see?

Is it true that prayer is a glance toward heaven? A yearning of the heart? A moment of joy in the midst of trials and tribulation?

Are there prophets upon this land? Do they come wearing masks and t-shirts that say, “Black Lives Matter,” “No Justice No Peace,” “Act Justly Love Mercy Walk Humbly?” Do they come chanting, marching, protesting? Are there people on the sides of the streets hurling curses upon them with ugly words and taunts of injury or ill will?

I think so.

Give me courage to speak the truth even when it is not well received. Give me wisdom and understanding to grasp how best to live and speak and love and hope and pray and wonder and wander and ponder and pray and pray and pray.

Amen

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