Making Peace with the Past

Tom DeWolf and I penned an article that has just appeared in the Oklahoma Humanities magazine. The them of the issue is “reconciliation” and our contribution is entitled “Making Peace with the Past.”

Oklahoma was one of the stops on the road trip we took last year to inform the writing of our book. It was a moving experience in many ways. For me, it provided an opportunity to connect with one of my ancestors — Owen Gavin — who lived in Pottawatomie County. His story is told in our article along with an account of the Tulsa race riot and our thoughts about how to use this horrific history to heal.

There are many illuminating stories in this issue and we are proud to be a part of it.

Here is the link to our article: http://www.okhumanities.org/Websites/ohc/images/Magazines/summer_2012/making_peace_with_the_past.pdf

A Provocative Question

Like so many other people throughout America and beyond, I share the grief of Trayvon Martin’s parents. I have no words to express how heavy my heart is in mourning such a vital, well-loved young man whose life was cut so short… for no logical reason I can fathom.

Like President Obama said: “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” Obviously, Newt Gingrich doesn’t comprehend the true gravity of that statement. He responded by saying he found the remark “disgraceful” and “appalling.” Geraldo Rivera cautioned people to change their dress habits, remarkably stopping short of admonishing black people to change the color of our skins.

Well… I comprehend fully the universality of Obama’s comment and deplore the insensitive statements of clueless others.

I have a son — my one and only child — who is now 42 years old and running for the US Congress in New York City. I worried about my baby every day when he was growing up in Chicago, knowing full well the price of being black in America and the dangers that lurked in the “promised land” not so far removed from the South where our ancestors were enslaved. Ironically, my son did not meet his fate until one horrific day in South Africa when he was attacked and almost beaten to death by white policemen. It was an incident that proved that racism is not just extant in America – it is a worldwide phenomenon of racial hierarchy that white people have assiduously constructed to justify heinous proclivities.

I also have two nephews (one a teenager and one in his twenties), and a grandson (who is still a baby). Even though there is no physical resemblance, they all look like Trayvon – young, black, hoodie wearing kids who love skittles and ice tea and walk blissfully unaware (in spite of parental cautions) of what horror might await in the dark of night should one encounter a disturbed man on a mission.

James Craig Anderson was brutally murdered last year in Jackson, Mississippi by a young white man who set out to “kill a nigger” and ran over his helpless victim in a car.

Troy Davis was executed last year in Georgia, declaring his innocence to the end.

There have been countless incidents from then until now….

Every day, more than 10% of the entire black male population of America languishes in prison, a profitable enterprise that supports criminalization of generations and represents an horrific new form of the slavery we thought we had escaped in 1863 with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Flashback to 1955 when Emmett Till, an innocent 14 year old, was beaten, murdered and dumped into a river with a fan tied around his neck in Money, Mississippi. His murderers bragged about what they had done in a national magazine and went free. George Zimmerman is still walking the streets while the person who threw flour on media maven Kim Kardashian was arrested on the spot.

Against this backdrop, the question I have is…. Why has this particular case inspired so much outrage? This type of egregious behavior has gone on for centuries in so many forms in so many different locations. Why this case? Why now? Is this a defining moment that will turn America around? Or is it just another “knee jerk” reaction where people jump on the bandwagon, post pictures of themselves wearing hoodies, and then retreat back into the comfort of their isolated cocoons of social media?

Is it what Fannie Lou Hamer said in 1964: “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired”? Is it because Rev. Al Sharpton made of point of publicizing this case on the broad platform he now occupies on MSNBC? Is it because George Zimmerman is not 100% white and therefore embodies an exculpation of white guilt?

I have written an entire book that exhorts people to “Gather at the Table” to heal from the acrimonious inheritance of our past. In it, Tom DeWolf and I try to deconstruct the paradigm of slavery and racism. We end our book with a call for people to become like “ripples on a pond” – start with oneself and spread the wisdom outward. Is our effort in vain or will it be the call that finally awakes an America sleeping in the comfort of a recently minted belief (coined in 2008, when Obama was elected) in a “post racial” America?

The Mahatma Ghandi said “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Is this it?

I pose my provocative question because — to the very root of my being – it is a question that cries out for an answer. I need to know.

Hilltop Haints

I just returned from the national gathering of Coming to the Table. This is the group that brought Tom and I together in 2008 and led to our collaboration in writing Gather at the Table. The group has grown a lot since then.

Sixty-five inquisitive, motivated souls gathered at Richmond Hill, a location of enormous historical importance. We spent a weekend engaging in dialogue about history, slavery, racism, and healing. As the birthplace of both America and American slavery, Virginia (not to mention Richmond) held deep meaning for us all.

Over the course of the weekend, Tom and I made a presentation about our book to an enthusiastic audience. The many compliments we received for our reading inspired hope that our book can become a best seller. I also led a genealogy workshop to teach people how to do both forward and reverse research to discover linked descendants. During my personal time, I spent several hours at the Library of Virginia, a leading research center for genealogists and historians.

The great irony for me was finding out that the man who gave the city of Richmond its name in 1737 is connected to the family I am researching in Mississippi. William Byrd gazed out over the horizon at what is now Richmond Hill in 1737 and named the town for his birthplace at Richmond-on-Thames, England. One of Byrd’s descendants, Bathia Byrd, married Charles Gavin — the great grandfather of Robert Gavin — the man who fathered 17 children with my GGGrandmother, Bettie Warfe.

It is a small world indeed when one can time travel through centuries and find such profound connections. That idea is even more poignant when considering that Richmond Hill is so near to St. John’s Church, where Patrick Henry delivered his speech that extolled: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” Richmond went on to become the capitol of the Confederate states. Richmond Hill is today an ecumenical retreat center focused on prayer, healing, hospitality and reconciliation.

This experience reminded me once again how powerful ancestral spirits can be. The bright ones stand with us as we attempt to heal from the traumas of slavery and racism. There was a great deal of talk about that over the weekend — along with a heap of praying and reconciling.

My takeaway from all this is the satisfaction of knowing that many people see things the way I do. Our “hidden wound” longs to be healed and there are at least 65 people on planet Earth who are committed to transformation. It was powerful indeed to sit atop Richmond Hill in unity, gazing out at a future we will help unfurl.

After processing my feelings on the long drive back home, I arrived to updated news about the Obama family being eviscerated yet again; women under assault over reproductive rights; growing outrage over the murder of a boy named Trayvon Martin and the impending trial of a soldier who massacred 16 people in Afghanistan.

When Gather at the Table goes on sale on October 9, our greatest hope is to be a beacon of light in a dark and scary world.

Ashay… ashay… to the ancestors who brought us this far.

NEW HOPE

I spent my entire day glued to the television, fully involved in sharing the home going service for Whitney Houston. I could not believe how riveted I was to the drama unfolding on the screen. At many points, there were tears in my eyes and a choke in my throat.

People who know me, know that I am not an overtly religious nor sentimental person. I hardly ever watch television. And I am definitely not a celebrity stalker, even though I have worked with many celebrities in my professional life. So what happened today surprises me more than I can tell you.

What I saw today was something oh so familiar. It was a heartfelt expression of the faith tradition I embraced in high school after early years of being a sedate Catholic. At 15 years old, there was no turning back once I experienced the comraderie of the Liberty Baptist Church family who embraced me; the rousing ministry of music by no less than three choirs (including the youth choir in which I sang); the eloquent and emotional preaching of the Gospel by our pastor, Rev. Abraham Patterson Jackson.

In anticipation of the start of today’s service for Whitney Houston, a commenting minister reminded viewers that it was the African American faith tradition that carried us through the hard times of slavery and the civil rights struggle; that healed us in the wake the bombing of four little girls in Birmingham and, by inference, the murder of our King of Peace (Martin Luther King)  and our shining Prince  (Malcolm X). CNN commentators repeated several times that Whitney’s mother, Cissie Houston, “brought the world to church today.” And indeed she did.

Kevin Costner spoke candidly of the racial dynamic of casting Whitney in her first movie, along with sharing stories of his own Baptist upbringing (surprise!). Dionne Warwick kept viewers on the path to deliverance. Tyler Perry showed us that he is so much more than Madea (and could have a second career as a preacher). Potter’s House pastor T.D. Jakes reminded us that “love is stronger than death.”  Alicia Keys cried out to an angel. Donnie McClurkin urged us to “Stand.”  The maligned R. Kelly sang out his heart with “I Look To You.” And then…. Pastor Marvin Winans extolled us to get our priorities in order. Stevie Wonder put us notice to get our act together “quickly” because the time for change is NOW. Even the pall bearers … when they hoisted Whitney’s stunning platinum casket onto their shoulders…. Ooooooooooooooooo what a moment.   That is not all I saw, just a few of the many extraordinary moments that touched my heart.

Seeing this live, unadulterated presentation of a a real church service — one that is all too familiar to African Americans everywhere — exponentially increased my pride in being black — a member of a cultural community that has always  and incontrovertibly been an incredible example of strength, perseverance, forgiveness and spirituality.

As I digest today’s experience, it makes me think about the work Tom and I are trying to do: Bring people to the “church of reconciliation.”

I can’t help but believe that white people have a lot to learn from us. They need to stop having knee-jerk reactions… stop crucifying our black president for what he is trying to do…. stop trying to find “a great white hope”… stop living in fear that history, as heinous as it is, will come back to hurt them.

Let the world say AMEN!

Change

While going through some old paper files, I came across a clipping from a 2006 Vanity Fair magazine entitled “Special Alert: Horoscope USA.” It predicts “A planetary configuration not seen since 1776 is coming our way, heralding chaos, revolution, and rebirth” — a 20 year span of massive upheaval that will forever change how America sees itself and how it relates to its citizens and the world community. As the article says, “It’s going to be the 1960s, in spades.”

Astrology is one of many subjects about which I maintain an ongoing curiosity. I accept the idea that celestial bodies have an influence on human behavior. Native American prophesies intrigue me. I have read Edgar Cayce, Nostradamus, and the books of Seth. I am inclined to believe something hugely significant will occur on December 21, 2012.  Add into that mix of prophetic resonance the realities of wars, global warming,  food insecurity, water and energy resource depletion.

The convergence of so many huge challenges all at the same time makes it impossible for any thinking person to ignore that things are, indeed, changing — prophesied or not.  They have to.

By the time Gather at the Table is published in October, 2012, who knows what the state of the world will be? The leadership of numerous countries will have changed. The winner of the American presidential election will not yet be known. The EuroZone may no longer exist.  Occupy Wall Street may well have packed up its tents and gone home.  The writings of H.G. Wells may gain new import. Wars may have proliferated. By the end of December, the world as we know it may no longer exist at all.

Whatever does or does not happen, Gather at the Table will enter the public consciousness at a propitious time. A time when people are actively engaged in laying destructive legacies to rest; seeking new solutions to old problems and building new footpaths toward a better world.

It is my fervent hope that, of the 3,000 books published each day, Gather at the Table will find its way to the top of the heap as a beacon of hope in a world of change.