No, this is not a critique of the award-winning documentary film by former Vice-President Al Gore warning everyone about the global threat for the catastrophic danger from ‘Greenhouse gases’ and carbon emissions, which may lead to the extinction of life on planet Earth as we know it. The concern here is about America’s deplorable history of racial hatred and social injustice. It would seem that the Nation’s first elected African-American President and appointment of a Black Attorney General has brought about a renewed interest in this divisive and uncomfortable subject into a more public focus; no matter how subdued it may appear to be on the surface.
What was only mentioned in hushed tones and secret corridors in the private and personal discourse among the closest and most trusted confidants is slowly rearing its ugly head. The greater question is why the election of Barack Obama has sparked such a continuing interest and curiosity, as though somehow people are still in a state of “shock and awe?” To those who have marched in the Civil Rights protests during the 1960’s and lived through the era of Jim Crow, miscegenation, voting rights violations, lynching, segregation, police brutality and other such abuses, an African-American “First Family” represents the culmination of Martin Luther King jr’s ‘Dream;’ but for many others this is just another step in the long march toward equality, justice, and freedom for all Americans because as MLK once famously quoted, “None of Us are Free until All of Us are Free.”
White people may feel that finally and at last a President Barack Obama will silence the voices of the soldiers who are still fighting the old racial wars of the past and still singing the well-worn out battle hymns of “We Shall Overcome” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (The Black National Anthem). These citizens see America as having not only turned the page on racial disparity and discrimination but rather that this country has essentially closed the book because the growing political, economic, and educational empowerment among quite a number of African-Americans. Indeed, many, if they are honest, believe that America doesn’t need Affirmative Action legislation anymore because of the all the Anti-Discrimination/Harassment enforcement and this country is a ‘Meritocracy’ where if you plan accordingly, work hard enough, get a good education, and do networking, you can be anything that you want to be. The thing is, they also fail to acknowledge that in almost all instances a White Anglo-Saxon Person (“WASP”) still has a “competitive advantage” over almost any other social, racial, cultural, or ethnic group based biologically inherited differences; especially if the individual is a White male.
Again, for African-Americans, it is replaying those old tapes passed down through generations of the oppression, horror, brutality, and dehumanization inflicted upon the ancestors during the period of ‘chattel’ slavery in America. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade helped America become one of the most prosperous Nations in the world and yet there are those who would want to deny its existence, except for the abundance of historical documentation which also preserves the legacy of a people and reminds us all of the depravity and depth of human cruelty as evidenced during the near extinction of nearly three-fifths of American Indians, “The Armenian Genocide” (‘Turkey; 1915’), and “The Jewish Holocaust.” One cannot use the excuse of ‘plausible deniability,’ that is, ignorance is bliss so just sweep it under the rug, pretend these things never happened or are not important today so just go about your day like ‘business as usual.’
So, the answer to solving ‘race’ relations isn’t talking about it, proposing reparations or playing upon “White Guilt;” but rather doing what Nelson Mandela did after being released from almost thirty years in prison; and that is, to “FORGIVE.” Mr. Mandela was a member of the African National Congress (ANC) which was labeled a Terrorist Organization and this activist group was outlawed in ‘Apartheid’ South Africa under President’s Botha and DeClerke at first, and was also recognized similarly in the International community; including the United States for quite some time. After Nelson Mandela was freed from prison due to pressure from the International community and economic sanctions from media exposure to the repressive and ‘racist’ regime of the South African government and amid numerous murderous atrocities and violations of human rights from the White S.A. soldiers and police against the Black South Africans whom their White, Dutch Boer overlords called “kaffirs.”
Anyway, after Mr. Mandela ascended to the presidency in South Africa, he assembled some people in his Cabinet and in other governmental offices who were once his prison guards. Mr. Mandela had come to learn during his incarceration that hatred and revenge is not the answer but that healing of a Nation and reconciliation between people who were once enemies had to include ‘forgiveness.’ This wondrous experiment was displayed before the whole world to see through the camera lens and microphones of the International Press and as it turns out, it seems to have been quite a success and unprecedented anywhere else in the known world on such a large scale. In order to receive forgiveness and in some way absolution (in a personal sense) all the perpetrator has to do is simply confess what evils they did, and that’s all there is to it.
It is so simple, yet profound, and should serve as a beautiful model for America’s huge step out of the darkness of the past into the light of a “New Day.” For too long Black Americans want to visit the “sins of the father’s upon the children,” or want some kind of public apology from the federal and state governments for the injustices of the past along with some other resources for compensation of unpaid slave labor denied to the original petitioners by proxy from their descendants, but even if that were possible, it would not give anyone permanent closure. Perhaps we need to forgive ourselves first, that is, by changing some of our self-destructive behaviors and the accompanying excuses we use to justify such acts before we can ask anyone else’s forgiveness.
America, which by its creed espouses that it is a ‘Christian Nation,’ – “One nation Under God With Liberty and Justice For All;” It is high time that America practices what she preaches and to forgive greatly one has to love greatly. Yes, forgiveness is the balm which will heal our racial wounds and this act is so important that Jesus said if we do not forgive one another, then our Heavenly Father will not forgive us.
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
February 23, 2009
pbks@hotmail.com
