Forgiving is not forgetting.

"Forgiving is not forgetting:  it's actually remembering--remembering and not using your right to hit back.  It's a second chance for a new beginning.  And the remembering part is particularly important.  Especially if you don't want to repeat what happened."  Desmond Tutu

The news is filled with stories of white people saying hurtful things about black people.  I’m thinking we have never really dealt with slavery.  Of course none of us were around for it.  For many of us, our ancestors weren’t around for it either.  But we lived in a country where human beings could be owned by other human beings.  There is pain from that war that was never completely remembered.

Another Flash Mob at the Grocery

                              I love these performances.

History's Legacy

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd, is a novel containing the stories of people who fought against slavery in the United States including the black slaves themselves, free black people, and white abolitionists.  The story moves back and forth between narrators, Hetty a slave of the Gremké family of Charleston and Sarah a daughter of the same family.

Both narrators have stories of pain and struggle though of course there is no comparison between the sufferings of the slave and the slave owner's daughter.  Hetty is forced to fight slavery subtlely through acts of quiet sabotage.  Sarah fights slavery more openly but soon finds herself also pushing against the limitations imposed on women.  From their different stations, the women remain allies

A few month ago I also watched the film 12 Years a Slave.  That film was, for me. is the definitive statement on slavery.  More than anything, it made clear the paradoxically limited lives of the slave owners.  The limitations of the owners didn’t compare to the limitations of the slaves but it seems essential that we understand it as it helps to understand the pathology arising from trying to own other humans. The remnants of that pathology exist still today.  Both the book and movie illustrate the bravery of fighting slavery and reënforce the terrible cost of slavery to all participants.  Attempting to own another human is just wrong.  That should be clear, but if it isn’t clear, know that trying to own another human being will ruin you and rob you of your humanity.  That is part of our United States heritage, and I think the pain is still with us.