Pastor Jim Jackson
Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church
In recent weeks we have heard a great deal of controversy related to preposed public school books. A controversy arose because one book suggests that American slaves learned some salvageable skills from their owners. For some folk that seems to suggest that slavery had a positive side, almost ignoring the cruelty of that infamous institution.
Having heard about that controversy, I began thinking in the opposite direction, concluding that we white folk have actually learned some valuable lessons from those Black victims and their descendants.
What would that mean? I have a few suggestions. Of course we may only learn these things if we are willing.
Those slaves have taught us how to make good and, even, tasty food out of what was not wanted by their owners. I speak of things like the internal organs of beef and pork. Today it’s called soul food, and there are popular restaurants that specialize in it. Of course, not all soul food these days comes from animal left-overs, yet it has a unique and prized flavor for many people of various races. Thanks to those captives for their ingenuity in making something good out of near nothing.
Another example of this ingenuity is found in those beautiful sweet grass baskets marketed these days on sidewalks and roadside stands near Charleston and Savannah. So in the two instances above, there is a lesson for all of us about determination over against despair.
And how about those spirituals sung in many of our churches, both black and white? Music unique to their culture helped slaves endure the injustice, even cruelty, of their time. Once In another culture and time Israelite slaves refused to sing the songs of Zion in a foreign land as demanded by their captives. Instead, the Bible tells us “they hung their harps upon the willows.” Instead of hanging up their harps, slaves made inspirational, heart-warming music. That music just won’t let you stand still, for it moves both body and heart.
Yet more important to all of us than anything I have mentioned, those slaves taught us how dreams can become reality if one trusts our Lord, doesn’t lose heart, and works for positive change.
Yes, it’s costly, having cost the freedom and lives of many.
That lesson emerges from many sources in Black culture.
And one excellent example can be seen in Martin Luther King’s letter from a Birmingham jail.
By the way it was addressed to ministers of the gospel.
He offered them the opportunity to join him in his dream of true freedom. Check it out.
Of course we cannot leave out his speech titled “I have a dream.”
Certainly there are many dark and threatening clouds hanging over our heads these days, but like the slaves of former times, let’s make the best of what we have and keep the dream of a better world alive.
Yes, and let us do it together.