| The Freedom Journey |
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Mecklenburg Ministries Food For Thought 02.12.09 The Freedom Journey When speaking of Black History and Faith we must first own that 20 minutes is not enough time to delve into more than 4 centuries of discussion, however, we can look at a couple of things to get started on what I hope will be a reengagement for some and interesting engagement for others with this journey of power, courage and hope. This is particularly relevant in these trying times When discussing the journey of Black folk in America and our faith, I want suggest it is and has always been a Freedom Journey. When most people think of Black History and Faith what comes to mind is the Black Church. When they say the Black Church, they are usually speaking of Black Christian Protestant churches. The images that come to mind for others are high-spirited environments with dramatic expressions of both the preached and sung word. When you say Black history and Faith, other minds go to the civil rights work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or the prosperity ministries of Creflo Dollar and TD Jakes. The common thread in most of the faith traditions is Freedom. In 1526, forty years before the first European settlements, Spaniards brought the first slaves to the shores of North Carolina. One year later a man named Estevan arrived in Florida as the first recorded Muslim in North America. Nearly 20% of the West African’s who were brought to America were Muslim. In 1619 Captured Africans were first brought to America as indentured servants who were supposed to serve 3-7 years and then be set free and allowed to own land and have all the liberties of any other citizen. That agreement did not last long and soon gave way to the atrocious system of chattel slavery. This system turned Africans into property that would be bought, sold, traded and worked for life with no legal protections. Not only was the slave owned but all of their offspring became property of the master as well. They were also forbidden from speaking in their native tongue, stripped of their birth name, birth rights, community and station in life. Most ships that carried them here, especially those of the later 18th century, were headed by captains who were "tight packers", carrying a huge quantity of slaves and forcing them to lie in spaces smaller than that of a grave. In other cases they stacked the bodies spoon-fashion on top of one another. In addition to extreme overcrowding, there was also inadequate ventilation, not to mention little or no sanitation. The trip was 3700 miles on rough seas, often with little time out of the holding area for fresh air or to stretch their tortured muscles. The stench was so great and threat of disease so real, that ship captains were not allowed to dock in many ports, but instead had to bring slaves to shore in smaller vessels. Those who survived were reviewed and sold like animals. Families were separated immediately and all things familiar removed. Many of the men and women, once on the plantation, were forced into mating situations that resembled our modern day farm breeding programs. They would put the strongest men with the strongest women and even lend the men out as “bucks” or “studs” and the women as “breeders”. They were worked and used to build a nation that would not allow them to share in her wealth nor even recognize them as fully human. The power of faith is the thing that would save many from utter despair. Faith was the thing that enabled them to hold on and hold out. Many slave owners felt it important to have their slaves, who were largely viewed as children, converted to Christianity. Baptist was the primary denomination however the Methodist tradition was also embraced by many. While scriptures were often used to keep slaves obedient to their masters and docile, the stories of Jesus also quietly bought hope of freedom and salvation not just in the bye and bye, but also in the here and now. They saw God deliver Daniel from the lion’s den....they saw the children of Israel freed from the hand of Pharaoh and they saw Jesus come to save the least of these. Jesus was not a lamb, but for many was a lion ready to set them free. From the earliest slave writings, we find that many were deeply spiritual. What is rarely discussed is that they came here spiritual. While their African religion and culture was considered pagan and demonic by their Christian owners, the slaves found ways of integrating those rich traditions and beliefs into their Christian experience. This power, that was inherent in their native religion, found its way into their new Christian experience. It allowed many to find strength in the belief that all things, even freedom, were possible. Later, songs like Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Wade in the Water were used as freedom songs designed to signal in African-inspired ways when it was time to move to the north through the Underground Railroad and other means. Wade In The Water If you don't believe I've been redeemed These songs gave explicit instructions about places and times of day to leave. They effectively aided many in their freedom journey to Canada, Boston and other northern destinations. From The Emancipation Proclamation, which President Abraham Lincoln instituted in 1863, to the Election of President Barak Obama in 2009, Black folk have looked to their faith and continue to look north. We look not to the sky for the stars this time, but to a God who is bigger than racism and all of fears other children. While we were welcome into faith communities after the Civil War, in many instances it was not as equals. The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated segregation in all public facilities, with a "separate but equal" status for black Americans and members of other non-white racial groups. Some examples of Jim Crow laws are the segregation of public schools, public transportation, restrooms and restaurants. The U.S. military was also segregated. It was not until 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education that State-sponsored school segregation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. Generally, the remaining Jim Crow laws were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Most of the accomplishments of this era came as a result of Black folk and their white allies working to let us move closer to Dr. King’s view of the beloved community. While oppressive and unjust, segregation led to strong Black communities and the birth of denominations like the African Methodist Episcopal Church, The National Progressive Baptist Church, The Church of God In Christ and others who took a stand and said Jesus paid it all and so I too am a full heir and joint heir. We will no longer sit in your balcony sections and hear how important it is for us to have our faith keep us docile, we will use our faith to rise up and preach messages that speak to the plight of Black folk in America. The separation also led to other faith groups and organizing efforts like Marcus Garvey's Black Nationalism Movement which blended with his Christian outlook rather dramatically when he claimed that African Americans should view God "through our own spectacles." If whites could view God as white, then blacks could view God as black. In 1924 the convention canonized Jesus Christ as a "Black Man of Sorrows" and the Virgin Mary as a "Black Madonna." Garvey used that image as an inspiration to succeed in this life. He felt African Americans needed to worship a God that understood their plight, understood their suffering, and would help them overcome their present state. " -- National Humanities Center Website on Marcus Garvey The freedom journey also led to the rise of the Nation of Islam which created a form of the Muslim faith that while love and empowerment centered, considered all things Christian and White evil and incapable of viewing all of humanity as equals. Elijah Muhammad's mission was "to teach the downtrodden and defenseless Black people a thorough Knowledge of God and of themselves, and to put them on the road to Self-Independence with a superior culture and higher civilization than they had previously experienced." Written by the wife of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Mother Tynetta Muhammad, March 28, 1996 NOI.org. After one of their leading Ministers, Minister Malcom X returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca with the message that he had seen and peacefully prayed next to Blond haired Blue eyed brothers and could no longer see all white folk as devils. He was assassinated shortly after that epiphany.
God informs us through our faith so that we too can sing. We too can be free. It is because of the strength of my ancestors that I can stand before you today and say “I don’t feel no ways tired..I’ve come too far from where I started from. Nobody told me the road to freedom would be easy but I don’t believe God brought me this far to leave me.” *****
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