“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.” ~ Bob Marley, inspired by Marcus Garvey.

I well remember the feeling of guilt after I had done something wrong (something bad!) as a child.  My wrongdoing may have been minor, but at the time the feeling of guilt, of shame, was real.  In one case, I was immediately found out, since my co-conspirator (the actual perpetrator, I was merely with her at the time) swiftly put the blame on me! The crime? Snatching school caps off the heads of boys in the playground (this was in England, I was probably no older than seven) and throwing them up in the air.  One cap landed over the tall brick wall that separated the school grounds from the library next door.  The older girl whose game it was, disappeared, and I was left to take the blame.

The boy whose cap we snatched and lost, was in my class.  He tortured me with threats of what his father (a policeman) would do to me.  I’m sure you can imagine with what fear and trembling I attended school.  In those days, my response to such trauma would manifest as severe stomachache.  I don’t know how long the torture went on, but I well remember having to go to the school Principal (Headmistress, as we called her in those days) accompanied by my parents, along with the contents of my piggybank.  I don’t remember what was said, though I do remember the tone in which it was said.  The price of my punishment was my savings, to be used to purchase a new cap.  The pain was real, especially when, after my money had been handed over, the Headmistress announced that the money would be given to charity, since the retrieved cap had already been returned to the young man.

In my memory, that resolution did not stop the boy in question from continuing to needle me, and it was my great pleasure to be withdrawn from the school as we prepared for our next excellent adventure, sailing across the Atlantic to our new home in Jamaica.

That childhood story taught me another lesson, other than righting wrongs by repayment, or learning that there are consequences to actions, my main feeling was one of injustice.  In the first place, I was left holding the bag (but not the cap) for an older girl’s wrongdoing.  Did I actually participate? Did I also grab caps, or did I watch as she did it?  And did I watch with glee, or did I try to stop her? And then, was it fair for me to pay, since no new cap needed to be purchased?  That injustice rankled for a long time.  And why didn’t my parents object? Why did they hand over my money so willingly? I had definitely learned my lesson, the threats of meeting the policeman had already scared me straight!

The current administration’s anti-woke crusade makes many claims as to the rationale for their actions.  They claim that DEI practices are unfair to straight (cisgender) white men unfairly giving opportunities to those who do not fit into that first category.  It has been reported that, in the Department of Defense, the Secretary has blocked the promotion of more than half of the 40 officers eligible for promotion, disproportionately targeting women, and people of color. 

In their efforts to rewrite history, the administration has ordered that signs be placed outside of the Smithsonian Museum, warning that some of the information posted is ‘inaccurate’, and that renovations will be taking place in an effort to ‘reestablish truth’.  Of course, we understand that the driving force behind this is the establishment of a ‘White Supremacist’ view of the world, one which belittles the contributions and struggles of women, of people of color.  One which glosses over the origins of this country, a nation built on the slaughter of indigenous people; the grabbing of land and resources; the trafficking and enslavement of Africans and subsequent 400 years of enslavement of their descendants; the cruelty and abhorrent treatment of people of color after emancipation; and the systemic racism which has been left to fester since Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Era.

For someone descended from the race which is on the wrong side of history (i.e. me), this history is as painful as if I were a victim.  I admire those who can visit museums and sculptures that outline and commemorate some of these heinous events.  I have previously written of my visit to the Martin Luther King Museum in Memphis, were we arrived about an hour before closing, so had to rush past the scenes portrayed: the more than life-sized exhibits showing the violence shown against non-violent protestors, or scenes of lynchings, those ‘strange fruit’ that Billie Holiday sang about. The haunting sound of Mahalia Jackson singing ‘Precious Lord, take my hand’ played as we walked past the rooms of the Lorraine Motel, preserved as if frozen in time from the day he was assassinated, brought chills to my spine and tears to my eyes. 

The point of bearing witness to atrocities of the past is to ensure that we do not go back to those days, we do not repeat the sins of our fathers.  If we gloss over what happened, if, as apparently this administration is trying to do, if history is ‘white-washed’ (what an appropriate term!) then the society will feel no obligation to correct, to set in place systems to prevent any such thing happening in the future, society will not recognize that, to this day, racism still infects the whole country, and is currently dictating much of the actions of this administration.  It has even been sanctioned by the SCOTUS in the enactment of the current anti-immigrant policies, where it is fine to stop people of color, people who don’t speak English, or speak it with an accent, and detain them (or worse).

The song lyric quoted above is taken from Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption song’ another haunting song, one he performed and recorded shortly before his early death.  He sang of his people being taken, sold, trafficked, enslaved, and he called his cries for freedom his redemption songs.  Yet the people who need redemption, who need to redeem themselves (whether in the religious or social realm) are those who perpetrated the sins.  Over the years there have been calls for reparation, for a monetary reimbursement to compensate for the loss of life, of livelihood, for the descendants of those who were stolen, abused, treated as less than human, for four hundred years.  Recently the UN called the transatlantic slave trade the ‘gravest crime against humanity’, and a resolution calling for reparation and apologies passed with 123 votes in favor, 3 against (United States, Israel, Argentina), and 52 abstentions (including the UK and EU nations). Interesting that those who voted against or abstained carry the greatest burden of guilt for that ‘gravest crime’.

On this Friday morning, I trust that we are all redeemable, whoever our ancestors were, but redemption can only come when we actively pursue a world where all are created equal, where all human beings are valued, where we attempt to correct injustices.  But first we must acknowledge the wrongs committed, we must make amends, we must work towards a more perfect union. And it begins with us.

Have a wonderful weekend, Family!

One Love!

Namaste.