Three Sticks — Personal Development for Christians

I wanted to give a heads up to an excellent documentary on PBS entitled Slavery in America. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the complete documentary, but from what I have seen it’s really well done. It describes the experience of slavery from the point of view of the slaves. My undergraduate degree is in History with a minor in African and African American Studies so I consider myself to be fairly familiar with the period. Slavery is America’s greatest sin and we are still paying for it.In my opinion we, the people of the United States, have had a number of opportunities to address slavery. The first was the American Revolutionary War in which our new nation could have simply blamed England and the other European nations for slavery and the slave trade, as Thomas Jefferson tried to do in one of the original drafts of the Declaration of Independence. The second was the American Civil War and Reconstruction, there was an historic opportunity for the nation to come together under God with a strong commitment to equality and justice. The last opportunity was the Civil Rights Movement where Americans could have chosen to let go of fear and hate and embrace each other in love (there were examples). In each case, America had an opportunity to purge itself of the hate and distrust brought about by racism. Unfortunately we have yet to overcome this deficiency. The question has become more complicated as America becomes a true melting pot of cultures and races. The country is quickly becoming less non-white and yet the racist notions, stigma pain and suffering left over from slavery is still with us.

I believe that we will overcome our racist attitudes. When I write we, I mean blacks, whites and all others who hold onto negative characterizations of the other people simply because they are different. I think that part of the problem is that so much of what we think and feel is bottled up inside of us. In our politically correct society there is little room to have an unpopular opinion. I wrote about this phenomenon in an earlier post. I think that we need an outlet to express our concerns and fears. I think that America could benefit from something like South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission provided an outlet for those who had been victimized by apartheid. Victims where able to come forward and tell their story in public and everyone had to deal with the truth. The Commission issued proposals for reparations and rehabilitation based on the testimony of victims. The goal was to begin a healing process and integrate two worlds that that had been artificially separated by the racist policies of apartheid.

It has helped tremendously, instead of blacks in South Africa retaliating against whites, there was a relatively peaceful transition of power and the integration of the country. This is not to say that the country didn’t experience some pain and suffering. Even with the difficulties the transformation of South Africa has been remarkable successful. I believe that their success stems from the natural release of tension and anger that occurs when we face our pain and tackle our guilt. South Africa could have been a powder keg instead it has become a model to address the pain an suffering of the oppressed and to allow the oppressors to face their guilt and move on with their lives rather than wallowing in it forever. I’ll say it again, America could learn a thing or 2 from South Africa.

My initial intention for this article was to point readers to the pbs special. However, the article naturally lends itself to announcing my new project. I believe that God must want me to announce it today otherwise I wouldn’t have written as much as I have about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Today, I am announcing the creation of The Black Community Project. The purpose of The Black Community Project is to foster greater understanding between black people and other races and cultures in America. By giving black people in America an opportunity to publicly voice their pain, I hope that whites and other races will have a greater understanding and appreciation of what it means to be black in America. I hope and expect that other races and cultures will create other sites so that we all can learn more about one another. I am also announcing the creation of The World Community Project which for now will serve as a directory of community projects.

I believe that this one of things that God wants me to do as part of my larger purpose. Since I am an obedient servant of God, I go into the unknown with him by my side.

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