A Letter to America the Beautiful
Bishop Darryl Husband, senior pastor of Mount Olivet Church, a multi-cultural, multi-generational church in Richmond, Virginia, released the following:
What language do you use to describe the feeling of utter shame? What metaphor does one us to paint the picture of bitter disgust? I once questioned why I have been in the Commonwealth of Virginia for what is now 37 years. Over the last several years, it has begun to become very clear. My story is not unfamiliar to many African Americans who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. The ugly face of racism was continuously being paraded in our nation and finding pockets of resistance in enough places, that it began to lose its popularity and simply went into hiding. Note this: Hiding is deceptive. It has the appearance of being gone. A generation has arisen, that is much likened to the Rip Van Winkle story. They have been asleep, lulled to it, and missed their history lessons. Therefore, Charlottesville has become a surprise to them, as well as a fuse for many white nationalist groups, waiting for resurrection.
Dormant racism does not mean it’s absent. We spent the past 8 years growing and angry tension in our legislative branches and assumed that it would not be the seed for a horrifying harvest. Charlottesville did not just appear. It was birthed and nurtured. Uncivil war fought in our legislative branches produced the most unconventional candidate for president that our republic has ever seen. While it may be unfair to judge his heart, we must indeed inspect the language he sometimes uses, and call it undisciplined, careless and undoubtedly un-coached. In the time of crises, he has not sternly addressed an ageless problem that far too often has been ignored because to address it fully means to undress our nation at its foundation. It would mean to evaluate the intent of the language used by our founding fathers and those who have carried the burden of implementing its meaning. It would eventually cause us to dedicate ourselves to a total restructuring of our educational system to eradicate the mentality of the privilege of color. It hasn’t been addressed because it would have to face the problem of continuing to allow some (not all) in the majority, ruling class to incite riots, and then blame the victims for using generations of built up anger for their responses. While I do not ever promote violence, I have a question for those who only see violent responses and not violent provocations. Which is wrong, the one who throws the first punch or the one who hits back? Who determines which is more uncivil? More violent?
Monuments and flags are shamelessly waved in the faces of a nation who calls itself “One Nation Under God,” “American The Beautiful.” We remind ourselves, by our silence, that we cannot be the “land of the free…” We are imprisoned by our refusal to speak truth to those who think their history is one to be proud of, even if it promoted the enslavement, murder, rape, disenfranchisement and generational degradation of a race/culture of people. Should those people be forced to honor and celebrate a history that castrated them? That reduced them to 3/5 of human? That saw them as tools for economic gain and sport alone?
This letter is addressed to America “The Beautiful.” You CANNOT be “Beautiful” and be silent about Ugly. You cannot be a Christian nation and ignore the right of any man to be loved, to be treated with dignity and equality. The uproar about Charlottesville must be so violently loud in White American, that it places fear in the hearts of every people group who dare to threaten the peace of our nation with any culturally divisive rhetoric or demonstration. That’s my challenge!
To African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Native Indians and every European American, we will live together as brothers and sisters from One Father, or we will perish as fools, ignorant of our own genetic history. Our colors came from living in regions of the world for centuries. Educate yourselves. Find places to dialogue. Boldly denounce divisive discussions. Refuse to give violent attention to these “fire starters.” They can only start a forest fire, if we give them timber and fuel. Do not give them that. Hatred breeds hatred. The bible is either true or it isn’t. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Some Solutions:
• Form a Racial Reconciliation Group
• Elect Politicians that address the real issues of your heart
• Push Community activism
• Teach history of African Americans in public schools as a part of the core curriculum- not an elective
• Don’t give media attention to ignorance
At His Feet,
Bishop Darryl Husband
Bishop Darryl Husband is the senior pastor of Mount Olivet Church a multi-cultural, multi-generational church in Richmond, VA.
(Source: Christian Newswire)
