Tag: #Racism

Friday Musing_8-14-2020

Published by mhelbert on August 14, 2020

Indigenous rendering of Battle of Greasy Grass

I’ve often heard folks say, “the writing of history belongs to the victor.”
There are few people who would disagree with that. After all, how many white people in the U.S. were aware of “Juneteenth” before 2020? Does anyone know what the Lakota People call the Battle of the Little Big Horn? (ans.: Battle at the Greasy Grass. You can Google it yourself.)
The inherent danger in the victor producing the main accounts of history, is that there is only One Side accounted for.
We get to see all of the honor and courage of those on the winning side. While, at the same time, the cowardice and shame of the defeated is illuminated.
In every event, whether armed conflict, economic systems, religion, or you insert the name, those whose effectiveness in arms or wealth or prestige are the ones who tell the story.
A case in point are the recent post that I shared on the Civil War. In school we were taught that the war was fought over the issue of slavery. That’s one part of the story. That’s the part of the story that raises the honor of the White government and army so that they are considered “liberators.” The blood shed on the battlefield won a great victory for the benevolent people who had all of the power. See? We’re not all vicious slavers. Not All White People Are Like That!
Yet, while it’s absolutely true that many White Americans had purely altruistic motives, the actual Powers-That-Be were those who controlled the economy. These folks’ sole interest was in expanding their own wealth and influence. Hardly praise-worthy.
But, that’s a part of the story we don’t hear. It places the integrity of the Victors in a negative light. They all want to be known as Lovers of Liberty. Not, the lovers of money that they actually were.
So, that leads me to another saying that has been tossed around by folks.
“Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.”
First, just let me go on record of calling Bullshit on that.
What?
Well, it is!
Again, I would like to throw out the possibility that even this saying is the product of the imagination of the victors.
Of course, they desire that people remember what has gone on before! They, themselves, know all about the circumstances that led to their own acquisition of power and honor. They know all too well about how they had to fight to gain, or retain, the economic and political power they now hold. And, they don’t want their own to forget that struggle. For if they do, they realize that someone else might step into the role that they had and fight for their own power and honor. That would, somehow, diminish them.
The main reason that I call Bullshit on that saying, though, is because it simply isn’t true. History doesn’t repeat. History is literally just part of the continuum of time that has led the World to this point. It only seems repetitive because human nature is always the same. So, we continue to see the same concerns and struggles that have been part of humanity ever since our forebears climbed out of the trees of Africa and built community on the ground. It only seems to repeat because the victors are always fighting the same battles over and over again and recording their victories.
Reality, though, tells a far different story. A story that the victors don’t even realize is alive and well. It is a story that is not only ignored, but in many cases violently subdued.
It is the story that we see embroiling cultures and societies around the globe.
I call it an Affective History.
This is the long, term lived history of people.
An example:
Chattel slavery in the U.S. is a historic fact. It happened during a finite period of time from the first African slaves that were sold in Jamestown 1619 until the 13th amendment to the constitution was ratified in 1865.
What we were never taught in school, and which has only recently appeared on people’s radar, is how almost 250 years of bondage Affected the humanity of African slaves. We heard about Reconstruction, Carpet Baggers and others like them. Most of us probably heard in passing that ex-slaves were promised “40 acres and a mule” upon emancipation. What we didn’t hear was how that promise, like so many others the U.S. government made, never happened. No one ever explained how the Southern states began in 1878 to dismantle Reconstruction and resurrected their power over African Americans through Jim Crow. Yeah, we heard about those things. But, we were never privy to how this Affected those who felt the effects of racial hatred.
The Civil Rights Movement in the 50s and 60s certainly resulted in more legal rights for African Americans. White folks grudgingly gave in to many of the demands of the oppressed. That is until they could find ways to get around them. Jerry Falwell, Sr. is just one example of many who began private schools for whites only in order to exclude people of color. This lasted until 1983 when the Supreme Court upheld IRS rules that removed tax exemptions for those donating to private schools that were segregated by race.
Even that little bit of history, while it appears to put White racism in its place, doesn’t tell how this Magnanimous offering to racial minorities actually Affects those minorities.
I’m sure that if we put our heads together we could add countless examples of how events in history currently Affect people.
Women, Indigenous, African, Hispanic, Jewish, Muslims, and on and on and on.
How have people been Affected by the stories that the victors are privileged to tell?
It’s past time to hear history, and life, as told by these.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Published by mhelbert on July 27, 2020

There are few things in this life that can agitate me to extreme frustration and anger than the misuse of the Name of Christ by those who profess to be ardent followers.
Yeah, I know, I have a particular lens through which I view life. My worldview colors my observations and opinions. This, of course, renders what I think and say of little consequence to any who hold differing thoughts.
That’s ok.
I don’t make any claim to know anything at all, let alone what you or anyone else should think.
That being said, I am at a loss right now to express the sadness and dejection that I feel regarding the Church in the U.S.
I just finished reading the first of three memoirs written by Frederick Douglass. It’s entitled, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.”
I really want to educate myself about the history that none of us who grew up in the bleached whiteness of Northern suburbia ever heard in school. I desire to know the truth that gave breath and life to Douglass and du Bois and King and Malcom. What inspires those who march behind banners of ‘No Justice; No Peace’? How can anyone explain the seemingly wanton destruction of property as a form of justifiable protest?
We are told that the roots of all of this lies in the 400 years of slavery, Jim Crow, Jim Crow, Jr., voter suppression, discrimination, and humiliation.
So, I am looking back in time to those who experienced such breaches of human dignity and enacted atrocities that no civilized culture should ever embrace.
So, I read.
And, in this very first volume of Douglass’ not only do I find the utterly deplorable account of human evil against another eikon of God, I find the Church in the U.S. indicted as co-conspirator.
I grew up in the era when many Protestant denominations began to join hands with those who worked, (and suffered), for equality among races. They, at long last, began to lift their voices in harmony with their African American Sisters and Brothers. Soon, a thing called the “Social Gospel” became evident in the work done by these folks.
Almost immediately, a backlash from other less accommodating churches was unleashed.
I always thought it strange that any church should be against offering a hand to lift those trodden down through no real fault of their own. Excepting the amount of melanin in their skin.
Yet, as I studied church history in seminary I began to see another force at work.
The church of the South was instrumental in propping up the structures of slavery. It served a Balm of Gilead to the harassed consciences of women and men who knew in their hearts that what they were doing was an affront to God. At least, that’s how it looks to me. The slavers needed to know that what they were doing was in some way a just and righteous thing to do. The church of the South provided that assurance.
In my mind, though, I considered the counterparts of these, the church of the North, to be, in fact, righteous! Didn’t they house and protect the runaway? Weren’t their benevolences a means of setting the poor, former slaves on a track of self sustenance?
Well, maybe.
In the appendix to Douglass’ memoir I found in it information about the “Christianity of this land” that seems to include the Church in the U.S. at large.
He set this “Christianity” in contrast to what he named the “Christianity of Christ.”
Of this, he wrote,
“To receive the one [Christianity of Christ] as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked…I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slave holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.”
Pretty strong language.
And, rightly given.
As I reflected on these words I wondered, “what has changed in the 175 years since this narrative was written”?
I looked around, hopefully, to see if there were any, as the prophet Elijah once wondered, if there were any faithful in the land who may be found.
And, happily I saw sparks of hope glittering in the land. I allowed myself a moment to indulge that hope.
Then, I saw that Douglass’ “Christianity of this land” still in ascendancy and power.
For what have we gained as a community of faith when children are still snatched from their families at our southern border? What progress have the faithful made when our cities are still segregated by the remnants of ‘Red Lining’? How can we go to pray to a kind and loving God when our constituents rail against offering a hand to lift our Sisters and Brothers from the chains of ‘White Culture’ that still fetter and bind them?
So, for those who think that I unjustly hold up the dirty laundry of the Church in the U.S. for all to see, please know that I do so only to shine the light of Christ into the darkness of an unjust and cruel community that is complicit in the continued suffering of humans made in the Image of God.
Nor, do I exempt myself from culpability. I have lived my life in the White Light of Privilege that has allowed me to move about freely and without any encumbrance due to the color of my skin. So, before any accuse me of hypocrisy please know that i stand accused and convicted in the systems that have levied such a high cost to our own humanity as we degrade others.
I, too, must work hard to change myself and to see the transformation that God has asked of any who would carry the Banner of Christ.

Color Blind?

Published by mhelbert on July 6, 2020

Last week I wrote how my Dad reacted to the murder of MLK.
My Dad grew up in a small town where there were few, if any, African Americans.
He was a child of his time.
Jim Crow was still the rule of the Land, if not the actual Law.
Blacks were viewed not only as “Other,” but as “Less Than.”
Outside of a few city slicker, bleeding hearts no one even thought twice about it.
Most folks were like my Dad simply trying to get their piece of the American Pie.
They really had no time to think about things like Equal Rights and Red Lining.
Hell, I’m pretty sure my Dad went to his grave having never heard of Red Lining!
No one cared.
Period.
They had their own worries and concerns.
“Blacks? Who cares? Let them worry about themselves. That is, as long as they don’t show up in my neighborhood!”

My first contact with Blacks was when I was a very young child. I lived in a lily-white world. Except, on garbage day.
That’s when the Negroes came down our street with the garbage truck to collect the stuff that we no longer wanted.
The Garbage.
Imagine my young, white mind seeing this.
My dad went to work somewhere magical every day.
Negroes collect garbage.

Of course, my parents never said anything to dispel that thought.
As far as they were concerned my observations were spot on.
Negroes collect garbage.

Throughout my youth I never had any other real contact with African Americans.
Oh, yeah, they showed up on the news fairly regularly.
But, with Dad’s commentary in my ear, there were no positive images seen or understood.

That is, until Music.

I remember the first time I heard “Green Onions” by Booker T. & the MG’s.
Holy Shit!
What was that sound?
Do you feel that?

First the ears, then the eyes Opened!

Later, who’s that guy with the ‘fro?
Jimi Who?
Oh. My. God.
Is that a guitar?

Mind. Blown.

The circuits in my brain began to search for new pathways to describe and explain the cognitive dissonance that I experienced.
I had always heard that Blacks were something, (note “something,” not “someone”), to be at best ignored. They had no talent or ability that would interest a white person.

But, Bloody Hell!
That guy could Play!

I picked up B.B King, and Albert King.
Fats Domino and, of course, the King of Soul…James Brown.
(My Dad had no use for Brown. He referred to him as a Screaming N-R.)

Once on a journey to the hinterland of Cleveland Public Hall to relish the sweet sounds and harmonies of Three Dog Night, I heard nature’s call. When I got to the Relief Portal I found that all of the stalls had a coin slot on them. So, now it costs a buck for a coke and a quarter to get rid of it. They had us coming and going.
However, one young man, about 6 feet tall and ebony of hue, wearing a sheepskin vest and a wide-brimmed hat held the door open for me. “No way someone should have to pay to piss.”

More of the instilled hatred that my Father tried to pass on to me was flushed away.

Yet, my destiny seemed to be in following my white forebears through life. I got a job with a mostly white business. That business busied me for the next 40+ years. I had limited contact with folks who did not look like me.
I found myself engulfed in the cultural tsunami that was Ronnie Reagan.
Yes, I have repented of my youthful foolishness. My back striped from self-flagellation.
But, the mantra of that time was, that nothing was more important than the economy. And, that economy is ‘Color-Blind.’
That meant that everyone and anyone had equal access to the same prosperity. All you had to do was work hard at it.
See!
Color Blind!

Unless, of course, you were one of those Welfare Mothers who became baby factories for no other reason than to suckle on the Government Teet.
Or, you were one of those crack head, absentee fathers who stuck his dark wick into any willing receptacle. Of which, there were apparently an endless supply. (See Welfare Mother.)

No. Racism didn’t die when the laws changed.
White folks thought it did.
That’s why white folks invented the term Color Blind.
You see, Lady Justice wears a blindfold. So, if the Law says ‘Equal,’ then that means that 400 years of oppression suddenly vanishes. Just like that White Jeannie with the skimpy harem outfit and the blink and nod thing. Gone!

Now that I’m older, so much older…
I see that the only color that white folks are blind to is White.
Yeah, I know that technically White is the absence of all color, but play along.

Who was it that affixed the moniker “Red Man” to indigenous Americans?
What group of people colored the Asian “Yellow”?
What enlightened culture labeled an entire continent, “The Dark Continent”?
Oh, you thought that was because of the deep, dark jungle?
Yeah, probably not entirely.

White people, the squeaky-clean, sparkling progenitors of everything good and worthwhile in the world have done more to demean and destroy anyone, or any culture, that may seem to set them in a poor light.
White folks can’t stand to be “Losers” or “Also Rans” or anything less than King of the Hill.

But, in more ways than we care to admit.

We are.

Actually, that pretty much sums this up.

1 Comment

Options

Published by mhelbert on June 10, 2020

Recently there has been a lot of talk about things like “Systemic Racism” and “White Privilege.” Truthfully, I don’t think most folks know what these terms mean, or even care.
I’m not going to try and explain these. There are myriad others who have taken on that task to various degrees of success. Y’all are smart enough and can Google those terms and educate yourselves.

I’m not sure that those terms are even appropriate. They too conveniently separate things that are, I think, truly inseparable.
When we point our fingers at “This” or “That” and pontificate that “THIS IS THE PROBLEM!” we oversimplify and misname what is a very complex matrix of culture, mores, and most importantly, Identity.

What we call Systemic Racism isn’t something that can be fixed. It’s not a true System. Yes, there are many moving parts to racism. There’s overt racism like we see at Liberty University. There were also Jim Crow and Redlining. There’s over-policing in the neighborhoods that were established through unjust housing practices. Health care; education; social support. These and many other things make up what many are calling a “System.”

I think it’s much deeper than that.
I think it’s much wider than that.
I think it’s an issue that reaches to the core of who we are as human beings.
Racism; anti-LGBTQ+; anti-Women; anti-immigrant; anti-Islamic; anti-(you fill in the blank).
These are all part of the very soil from which our many cultures dig their roots into and receive sustenance. We suck up these nutrients and they flow through our cultures and spread out into the branches. They fill the fruit that is born on these branches and become part of the very fabric of the cultures themselves.
No, “system” doesn’t quite get the whole picture.
And, perhaps more concerning, “system” gives the false picture of an object that can be reworked into something that in fact does works.

If this is the case, then the so-called “Two Options” that people are talking about today are moot.
These options are:
1) Racism is a corrupt system embedded into the foundation of the U.S. Therefore, we must rework the system in order to root it out and create a more equitable system.
I think that I already showed that this a losing endeavor.
2) Racism is a hoax. If African Americans would only pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and accept their own personal responsibility to good citizenship then all of these troubles would take care of themselves.
To this I have only one thing to say…Bullshit.

There are some out there that are trying articulate “Third Options.”
I have to give them kudos for looking outside of the obvious.
These include:
1) Those in the majority taking time to listen to African Americans and to their concerns.
2) White Americans using whatever privilege they have in order to uplift and empower African Americans.

These and others sound virtuous. No! They really do!
In our minds we can visualize the problem and develop action plans to do something.
Then, while we’re doing something, we can pat ourselves on the backs and say, “Look at us! We’re Doing Something! Yippee! Yay! Yahoo!”

I think that you can tell that I don’t put much stock in any of that, either.

There is something else that no one seems to be talking about except a man named Mark Charles. Mark is an indigenous Navajo man who writes about racial “conciliation.” Not reconciliation since that word intimates that there was at one time a good relationship that has gone sour. Mark has noted that minorities, or any group that has been labeled as “Other” aren’t the only victims of racial inequality. Those in the majority cannot possibly perform the acts of oppression and violence they have and not be affected deeply themselves. In his thinking, not only do we need to work toward the healing of the oppressed, we must also try to help heal the oppressor as well.
Of course, oppressors are usually neither willing nor able to see their own illness.

All of this leads me to a place where I have to stop and contemplate. As I’ve alluded, there is more, much, much more, to the issue we face today, (and have faced, um, forever?), than the simple fact that racism is evil. Of course it is! But, so is xenophobia, and sexism, and hatred of LGBTQ+ people, and…and…and…

The issues that we face today are as old as the first humans. Perhaps, evolution has conditioned us to be wary of any person or group who we view as “Other.” A natural means of protection and self-preservation. If that is true, then we have a lot of work to do. Human nature doesn’t just change because we want it to.
We’ve tried this approach for aeons. Religion; myth; philosophy; self-help gurus. We’ve tried all of those and then some.

As I gaze about I do see some patterns, though.
Now, remember, I’m not a very smart man. There are many of you out there far better equipped than me. And, Lord knows that there have been many who have come before who have struggled with these very questions and come up empty.
No, I just offer a couple of observations.
Observations that may help us to see a tad more clearly through the haze of our inherited character and maybe see through to a viable Third Option. (Maybe 4th or 5th?)

I will write about some of these in another post.
Today it’s sufficient to simply begin to think.
Think about where each of us fits within our little corner of humanity. Self-reflect on where we’ve been, what has influenced us,
and, maybe, where we would like to see ourselves going.

I know that I am oversimplifying very complex social and cultural issues. But, most of us aren’t going to pursue Ph. D.’s in these studies. We just want to be able to live simply and peacefully with one another.
If you have ideas or concerns, please use the “Comments” to share them.s