"COLUMBUS DAY IN ATLANTA"

“COLUMBUS DAY IN ATLANTA”

            Many people in Atlanta were shocked at the Atlantans’ humiliating demise in the baseball playoff loss to my boyhood team, the St. Louis Cardinals.  I no longer call them the Braves – I call them the “Atlantans” for now, even though they technically do not play in the city of Atlanta.  I’ve pretty much given up on college and pro football – college because they exploit the young adults so much, and pro because the obvious principle is to knock someone else’s brains out.  Yet, baseball still has a hold on my heart, though I do not give it nearly as much spiritual value as I used to.  Being an old guy, I like the slow pace of baseball. I like the fact that there is no clock to tell you when the game is over, but most of all I like that it is so much like life:  the best hitters in baseball fail 70% of the time. 

            But, back to the Atlantans.  It is my prediction that the team known as the Braves will not win any titles until they drop their racist name and antics associated with that name.  There is a reason that teams known as the Redskins, Braves, Indians and others like them have not won big titles.  The sports gods are hearing the cries of Native Americans, and the curse is upon them.  Back in the early days of the Atlantans baseball team, columnist Lewis Grizzard once wrote that the reason that the great baseball teams of Atlanta had not won more titles was that an African-American woman had cursed the pitching mound when her home had been taken by the city authorities to build the Fulton County stadium (which has since been torn down).   For all their great baseball teams over almost 30 years, the Atlantans have one only one World Series title.  Since Fulton County Stadium is gone – and since the current stadium is in Cobb County, I’m now calling it the curse of Cherokee Chief John Ross.

            For those who don’t like or follow baseball (or sports), this approach may seem strange, but it is a segue into Columbus Day, or what should more appropriately be called “Indigenous Peoples Day.”  In 1992 when the culture was celebrating the 500^th anniversary of Columbus’ “discovery” of the Americas, our son David won a DAR award for best citizen at his elementary school.  On the day that he received the award, he wore a T-shirt that began with the saying “How could Columbus have discovered America when there were already people living here?”  I thought that it was a bit much for the DAR folk, but when I asked him about it, he replied: “Dad, where do you think that I learned this?”  No argument there!

            A growing number of communities are celebrating “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” rather than “Columbus Day,” and I give thanks for that.   The idea that Columbus discovered America is pernicious and evil, and many denominations have begun to ask our membership to recognize this evil.  For Presbyterians, here’s the link 

https://www.presbyterianmission.org/wp-content/uploads/Doctrine-of-Discovery-Report-to-the-223rd-GA-2018-FINALIZED-COPY_As-Approved.pdf

One of the great problems for those of us “classified as white” in American culture is that we have the idea of innocence in our cultural memory.  By “innocence,” I mean the idea that our privilege as white people has been earned, that we have worked hard and deserve it.  We cannot acknowledge our history of violence and racism and slaughter and slavery – put this way, who could?  But, it is essential in these days that we begin to come to terms with our real history.  I don’t say this to beat up on anyone or make anyone feel guilty.  I say it because it is the truth, and we must know the truth in order to find our humanity. 

            We are currently seeing the consequences of living out of the lies of our history.  We have a dictator-in-waiting and a 35-40% base of followers who would seem to follow him into hell.  I am hoping that our institutions of democracy - and the idea of equality at the heart of our national life – will prevail, but it seems up in the air right now.  One way to redeem the time is for us to acknowledge and come to terms with the fact that racism and slavery and white supremacy are not unfortunate blots on our national character – they are part of our national character.  So, on this day, let us turn to Indigenous Peoples’ Day and away from Columbus Day.