YOU SHOULD GIVE HER THE CAR!

“YOU SHOULD GIVE HER THE CAR!”

            When Inez Giles and I started doing workshops on racism in the mid-1990’s, one of our first efforts was a series of workshops organized by Clergy and Laity Concerned of Atlanta. This group was founded in 1965 to oppose the Vietnam War, and it was at a CALC national meeting that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, first opposed the Vietnam War in public.  It no longer exists on a local Atlanta or national level.  The demise of this peace and justice group resonates now, as we watch the decline of the mainstream American church.  Without the lifeblood of peace and justice flowing through the heart of the life of the church, we eventually dry up, as we are doing now.

            At the end of the first night of those CALC workshops, an older white woman came up to us, and speaking to Inez, she said: “I have a problem that I want to get you advice on.  My husband and I have a colored maid, and when I drive her home, I let her sit in the front seat because I want to acknowledge that we are equals.  But, when my husband drives her home, he makes her sit in the back of the car.  He and I argue about it a lot, but I can’t get him to change.  What should I do?”

            Inez replied: “You should give her the car!”  The woman was so astonished that she said nothing for a long while, and then she replied:  “I can’t give her the car.”  Inez replied:  “Then you won’t solve your problem.”  The woman walked away, looking saddened and chastened.  I was reminded of the powerful rich man who once asked Jesus what he should do to find life, and Jesus replied that he should give away all his possessions and follow Jesus.  The rich man turned away with sadness (Mark 10:17+).

            As I watched the white supremacy gathering in Virginia over the weekend, I was reminded of how strongly those of us who are classified as “white” cling to that central definition of our identity.  It is no surprise that white folks have reacted so strongly to the election of Barack Obama as president, even going so far to elect the quintessential white man as president, Donald Trump.  Every time there are minor gains for people of African descent in our country, the white reaction is harsh and strong.   Whether we are young and right wing as this weekend’s demonstrators were, or whether we are older and liberal as was the woman who talked with Inez and me was, the importance of being white remains powerful and seems to be essential to us.

            In the current atmosphere of white supremacy re-asserting itself publicly, it may seem naïve to talk about reparations, but I want to examine it briefly and look at it more next week: “you should give her the car.”  The word “reparations” comes from the same root as the word “repair,” and its root meaning is to restore something to its original state or relationship.  In regard to “race” in the USA, this process would involve not only monetary payments but also a public acknowledgment of the cause of the brokenness of the relationship, i.e. the idea and the enforcement of white supremacy in American culture, including and especially the marriage of slavery and race in our history.

            In regard to reparations, a main complaint from those of us classified as “white,” is that slavery ended in 1865, over 150 years ago.  So, how can we possibly address those issues from so long ago?   Fortunately, people like Doug Blackmon in his book “Slavery By Another Name” have reminded us that legal slavery did not end with the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution.  It was re-established, especially in the South, under the names of “segregation” and “Jim Crow,” but it wasn’t called slavery for obvious reasons. 

            Doug’s helpful suggestion is that we re-name this period in American history, beginning in 1877, “neo-slavery” in order to get closer to the political and institutional dynamics that actually existed.  With this new definition, he feels that slavery did not end until 1945, but my sense is that it did not end until 1965 with the passing of the Voting Rights Act.  And, of course, it still exists in the 13^th Amendment for those held as prisoners – need more explanation for the kindergarten-to-prison pipeline?

            The revelatory nature of this re-orientation to 1965 is that almost all of us know people who were held in slavery or their direct descendants.   While we’ll explore this more next week, let’s allow this idea to sink in:  slavery did not end in the USA until 1965.  We should give her the car.