Learning about history is important; it helps us to know where we came from even as it can give us warnings of where we could be heading if we repeat the mistakes of the past. We should study history, learning from the good and the bad, for that will give us a better notion of what we need to do to make things better. As we do so, we should honor those who came before us who made major (positive) contributions to society as that will encourage us and others to follow their examples, even as we should be reminded of the bad people have done so we do not end up following them and the destruction they brought to the world.
God’s eternal activity affects history, indeed, connects God with history, even if God’s activity, like God’s nature, transcends all time and space. So long as we understand this as a caveat, we can say that God is as active in and with us now as God is active in the past and in the future because for God, there is no past, present, or future, there is only the eternal now. Nonetheless, God, in God’s interactions with us, understands the way we experience temporal existence, and how we apprehend God’s activity in relation to historical events, so that, over time, we gain a greater sense of who God is by what God has done (or, as St. Gregory Palamas said, through God’s energies).
God wants us to remember what happened before we were born so that we can understand and appreciate our engagement with God today: “remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me” (Isa. 49:9 RSV). God sees all the injustices and hears the cries of those who suffer throughout all time, and in a way, God can be said to react to them, though God does so in a unique, eternal way, in a way which transcends our comprehension. One of those ways is to inspire us to become God’s “hands and feet”; another will be revealed in the eschaton, when God will make all things well. Our experience of history, therefore, includes the apprehension of how God is constantly at work promoting justice and liberating the oppressed; we can either join our activity with God’s activity, with God’s liberating work, or we can find ourselves in the wrong side of history by trying to resist God’s justice. Let us, therefore, listen to those who came before us, those who have already experienced some of God’s work in the world, and learn from them more of God’s ways:
Do you thus requite the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you? Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you (Deut. 32:6-7 RSV).
We need to do more than remember the past, we need to study it. We need to know what happened, listening to the stories of what happened before we were born, both good and bad. We must learn how the powers that be, those in positions of power and authority, have used their power, and honor those who did good, especially because they seem to represent a small portion of those who have held such power. We must, likewise, hear what happened to others, to those who were considered lowly or outcast, and the kinds of oppression they experienced, so that we know the kinds of evil we need to deal with, not just by stop doing those evils, but healing the wounds they have caused upon the world. This is what restorative justice is about, but again, we would not know what we need to do if we do not know what happened in the past. We must not avoid the bad ones, the ones that horrify us, because of the shame we feel. We need to hear them. Even as we need to hear the stories of those who have been oppressed and found a way to gain victory over their oppressors, those who stood their ground and did not break, for we need to learn what allowed them to push on so we can learn to push on in a similar way today.
The more we study the past, the more we will learn how oppression hurts everyone, including the oppressors; an oppressive society is hurt by its evil actions in the same way all sins create their own punishments. Society must do all it can to exorcise its demons from the past and not just pacify them. Society must not flee but rather acknowledge its collective sin. This is why, in the United States, Black History Month is a necessity (and with it, other similar months, such as months dealing with Woman’s History, Hispanic American History, and Native American History). Doing this does not lead us to ignore or reject the rest of history, the history which has normally been taught; rather, it reminds us of those who have otherwise been forgotten, making sure our study of history is comprehensive. If we do not do so, we will fall into the hands of the powers that be, allowing them to silence once again those the powers tried to silence before.
This is why I am more than a little concerned when I see Donald Trump and those in his administration doing all they can to undermine and set back the social advances made in the recent past. It is not surprising, as it is destroying those advances, we find his administration is working to have us forget all the injustices of the past, as well as the contributions made by those who fought against those injustices. This is why we see Trump and his officials actively erasing or undermining the remembrance of Black History; this is why, for example, we have seen the removal of monuments of significant African American heroes, including soldiers, and the stopping free entrance days at National Parks for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth. Forgetting the horrors of Jim Crow laws, and the reasons why the Voting Rights Act was put into law, go hand in hand with the GOP attempt to undermine the Voting Rights Act and restore Jim Crow laws. And, as many of Trump’s supporters and officials fought against Black Lives from mattering, so we should not be surprised, erasing their contributions and suffering in society works to make sure their lives do not matter; they no longer receive the dignity and respect which they deserve, which can be seen in the way the future of their health care is in question.
This is why I find what Trump and his administration are doing as they try to undermine our remembrance of Black History is more than a little concerning. It is not surprising, however, because many of those making such policy decisions in his administration tend to support Christian nationalism and white supremacy. Is it no wonder that Trump still defends sharing a video which mocks Barack and Michelle Obama, using traditional racist imagery by portraying them as monkeys? He either follows a racist ideology or is willing to embrace it if he finds it will help him promote his own authoritarian rule. His administration wants us to forget the past, the way things were, from the horrible conditions slaves experienced, to the glorious achievements of notable African Americans like Colin Powell, because if we forget all that, it becomes that much easier to ignore the dignity of African Americans and then treat them unjustly (as we already see happening). Christian moral teaching, with its promotion of social (and restorative), especially in relation to the preferential optional for the poor and oppressed, can only criticize this erasure of history and what it is doing to society. The fight against “DEI” is and always has been a fight against civil rights, and with it, a fight to find some ways to justify racism.
It’s Black History Month. Let us remember the past. Let us ask our elders, those African Americans who remember the oppression experienced in our immediate past, as well as the challenges they faced to try to create a more just society, to speak and remind us today why it is necessary for us to fight against the erasure of Black History. Let us learn from them so we can better understand what we face today. We must know what is at stake, but also, we must be prepared; resistance to oppression will not be easy, and it will likely require many of to risk our lives for what is right, just as it did in the past. But, knowing what happened before, we will also know there is hope that our resistance is not futile.
* This Is Another Post From My Personal (Informal) Reflections And Speculations Series
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