Instead of my regular blog I am sharing this with you:
After watching a Public TV special today on Slavery History in our country, I'm horrified and disgusted by the behavior of human beings, of those black people in Africa who sold their own people into slavery, of white Americans that bought them and chained them into 500 years of slavery and mostly of Christians that not only turned a blind eye but embraced it as their right. It also reminded me that none of the human beings in history are innocent of these crimes.
This is not to discount the importance of the Black/United States story on slavery. It was the very worse story in our shared common recent history. It was the Black American peoples history of disparity and cruelty, a beginning of ruining an entire captive race, of pride and responsibility and most of all a say in their own future. Stories like this always remind us of our own histories and how lucky we are or aren't depending on the color of our skin.
It was - a tarnished history of greed, malice and contempt belonging to white Americans. This era in the history of our country, if it isn't already - should be served up with a healthy dose of self serving guilt. As Christians - only the Grace of God can forgive those who supplied and served under this horrific time in our joined communal history.
Do not leave me here - I'm not claiming any resemblance to what the black story has been - but perhaps a small insight into a better future.
My mother was born in Germany and came here in 1923 with her German father and Polish mother and older brother. They immigrated here - had their names changed at Ellis Island and found their way to Detroit Michigan. Two other children were born to the family. They settled in East Detroit where there was a Lutheran Church and school. My mother lived most of her life in that area and was buried in the cemetery at that church just prior to her 94th birthday, next to her father and mother, husband and son. They were privileged to be white and have those choices.
My German grandfather had a problem with his homeland. My mother told me he said they would speak English and forget their German history. Something had happened - he wanted to forget. There is a pall on the family, a sadness and an inability to get along with each other. The four siblings grew up and apart. They became tradesmen and blue collar workers. There was very little communication and I often noticed a hostility between them. The next generation, myself and my cousins, struggle to stay in touch. I'm so happy for social media, it is bridging that gap in our estranged family history. Again, I know my relatives, our family history and the choices they made. Many have been deprived of knowing their roots.
My father was born in England from parents that were born and spent years living in Glasgow Scotland. Dad came to Detroit as a teenager and went to Cass High School. My father and his four siblings, also here from Scotland, thrived,and had families that stayed in community together. I can't attest to the entire family but my father was not a bigot. My mother was until the very last year of her life when the deep caring love of her black caregivers in the nursing industry changed her mind. The Scottish side were not practicing Christians. They were not without family scrabbles, but they supported and maintained relationships. My cousins and I from that side of my family stay in touch on a regular basis. I celebrate my Scottish heritage and have visited Scotland twice. Choices I made.
I share this life story from myself for a reason. I don't distance myself from the guilt of those whites guilty of that sad historical time. It was my generic DNA also - people that I am born of that race. I have tried, having lived in the Detroit area all of my life to not be racially profiling - I remind myself, often, that educational and financial resources are a bigger social division than skin color. I choose to be Scottish - non-biased, caring, family oriented and a practicing Christian. I choose a heritage of choices. A lot of black Americans have still not had that opportunity.
My wish for the American black race that I share this country with is that you choose reunion not hate, education and, family over isolation. Be a free person not an ex-slave to your history. Celebrate your culture - your unique life style and choose the better part of your heritage and choose a better life for your future and the descendants you will make. I have tried to be a person that honors the choices others make and believe my daughter, my descendant, will be on your side and that of any person that is deprived of the right to make decisions for themselves.
I pray, with the help of a forgiving God that our futures are better working, sharing and enjoying the United States of America - with each other in peace and joy. That's my choice, I hope it is yours.
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