“In art there is compassion, in compassion there is humanity, with humanity there is generosity and love.” ~ Brock Peters.

The ability to read quickly is not necessarily a good thing. In my (former) work life, I often forgot, or even denied, receiving an email, only to find I had not only received it, I had read it and forgotten it! This habit of scanning instead of reading slowly means I can read a book more than once and enjoy the things I didn’t notice the first time.  Then there are the classics, books which are not only good stories, but literature written so well that they deserve to be read more than once, and savored.  As a writer, it is important to take note of how the book is written, how themes are developed, how the story is crafted.

The book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is such a book.  It is interesting to note that this was basically the author’s only book.  She had written a sequel which was only published in 2015, 55 years later, although it was written before her best-selling novel.  Not much is known about the author, since she was famously reclusive.  And yet her book not only captured the Jim Crow south and all its troubling complexities and outright racism, it continues to teach generations about the power of empathy and morality, albeit from a ‘white savior’ perspective.

At a time when the nation is said to be at an ‘inflection point’, a beautiful phrase which suggests that we are poised on the brink, it is good to try to stop and reflect on the history of this nation.  There was a period after emancipation when bold men, calling the phase the Reconstruction Period, dared to imagine a more equitable world.  We note of course that it was only white men that could be so bold, since women were still considered the property of their husbands, and had very little say (or a vote) in anything.  Constitutional amendments (13^th, 14^th and 15^th) prohibited slavery, defined citizenship, and gave African American men the right to vote.  Unfortunately, these progressive steps gave rise to the backlash that created the so-called ‘Black codes’, where southern states severely limited the freedom of emancipated African Americans, made it all but impossible for them to earn a living or exercise their rights.  Jim Crow soon followed, a form of apartheid that included the persecution and lynching of African Americans over any perceived wrong behavior on their part.

We were not taught the history of the United States in high school in Jamaica.  Because of that, many people from the Caribbean who migrate to the US, come without a proper understanding of the way the struggle for freedom and civil rights differed for those descended from enslaved people in the US.  In the Caribbean islands, people of African descent were always in the majority, even when the ruling class was made up predominantly of those descended from the colonial overlords.  ‘Colorism’ and class differences which coincided with the lighter shades of complexion, although still in existence to some extent, were greatly diluted after independence.  The era of ‘Black Power’ and ‘Black is Beautiful’ in the US gave rise to greater self-awareness, self-pride, and children grew up seeing people of all complexions in places of authority and power.  In the US in the 21^st century we are still encountering ‘firsts’, with the election of Barak Obama being the most notable.

It is downright scary to see the current administration declaring war on ‘wokeness’ and policies that try to correct the wrongs of past eras.  The data continue to show the levels of disparity in income, education, opportunities, health outcomes for people of color.  It is deeply disturbing to hear rhetoric that suggests that a true ‘American’ (a term which is in itself sheer arrogance, since every person on both the north and south American continents could be so called) is white, that all others are somehow less worthy.  It is tragic when policies allowing federal agents to target (and gun down) people based on skin color and language are endorsed by the highest court in the land.  It is chilling to see the photo of a young African American woman surrounded by masked white men, men who assert that ‘true Americans’ must be of European ancestry.

This latest manifestation of the White Supremacist agenda is based on gross hypocrisy and ignorance.  I read a phrase this week that I immediately fell in love with (after using Google to make sure I understood it!).  It was uttered by Frank Silvera, a light-skinned Jamaican actor who made it in Hollywood playing characters of many ethnicities (including White, Indian and Latino) due to his ‘indeterminate’ appearance.  He, it is said, noted the world’s ‘intangible obduracy’, a fancy way to say stubborn! But indeed, we seem to be surrounded by people (mostly white) who ignore the way those traditional European values took them around the world, invading countries, claiming them and their resources as their own, and declaring the original citizens (those who survived the invasion and slaughter) as inferior and unworthy.  If those are European values, it is time for some new ones.

I recently reread some of my messages from around a decade ago.  At the time we were in the early stages of the current president’s first administration.  I was hopeful that some of his ugliest tendencies would be matched and exceeded by public outcry, by the voices of reason and morality.  I was wrong, and we saw him get re-elected.  This time around the ugly tendencies are now policy, and the checks and balances appear to be weaker and ineffective.  I still have hope that the new lows to which we have sunk will be matched (as in Physics) by equal and opposite reactions, that we can come out the other side with laws that prevent such corruption and unconstitutional acts from occurring.

But it will take not just a reboot, but a complete rethinking of how we want to live in this country, how we want to live with each other.  And it will take honest conversations, confrontation of the worst tendencies of us all, to have a reboot which takes us into a more just and equitable society.  Brock Peters, quoted above, played the part of Tom Robinson in the movie ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. I am sure we can all recall his portrayal of the Black man wrongly accused of rape, and his (apparently unscripted) tearful denial of the accusations against him.  Although the film received several Oscar nominations, his performance did not.  Peters and Peck remained lifelong friends, both being involved in civil rights advocacy, and Peters was chosen to deliver the eulogy at Peck’s funeral, including the line quoted above.

This Friday morning, I hope we can find and share works of art, literature, drama, that promote compassion and empathy.  I hope we can work through the current acts of destruction and divisiveness to build a country of creativity and inclusion.  And remember, to kill a mockingbird is a sin!

Have a wonderful weekend, Family!

One Love!

Namaste.