How long O Lord?

As we acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's death, and watch as thousands gather in our nation's capital to re-commit themselves (and possibly to inspire others) to work towards a culture that values people rather than color, I have been thinking about the long road traveled by African Americans, few of whom ended up on these shores voluntarily.

I just finished reading Ron Chernow's biography of Ulysses S Grant, and I learned some important stuff about that period of history known as Reconstruction.  Somehow I had missed the stories about thousands of white folk who traveled into the post-war south and set up schools to teach newly freed slaves how to read; many were motivated by faith convictions.  Somehow I missed the number of former slaves who not only voted, but who were elected to state legislatures and both the House of Representatives and the Senate.  Somehow I missed that schools were integrated in some areas. 


And....somehow I missed the level of violence perpetrated on these new citizens by the defeated states of the Confederacy.  Not isolated violence but wholesale, indiscriminate violence - slaughter - and it was either ignored or sanctioned by the formerly powerful white ruling class.  Over the course of his 8 years in office, Grant repeatedly had to reinforce Army troops in areas of the South to both protect the recently recognized citizens and prevent anarchy.  The modern version of the KKK had nothing on the Reconstruction era version where violence was neither hidden nor condemned and lawless groups of men would ride through town before an election and burn out the former slaves, pulling the men into the streets to execute them.  It took my breath away.  General Lee may have surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, but the Confederacy was determined to re-establish the white ruling class and win by the back door. 

There came a time when the North got tired of defending their black neighbors; Northerners wanted to move on and concentrate on business and commerce.  Then the North turned a blind eye and deaf ear to the cries of the oppressed citizens of our southern states and left them to their own devices.  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was not the first time our nation addressed the inequity based on race. Enacted on March 1, 1875, the first Civil Rights Act affirmed the "equality of all men before the law" and prohibited racial discrimination in public places a facilities such as restaurants and public transportation.  The Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional citing a private citizen's right to discriminate against whomever s/he wanted. Thus set the stage for the next 90 years of Jim Crow, poll taxes, segregated schools and a well entrenched second class citizenship for fellow citizens.

All of this is to say, folks we have been at this for a long time.  First we fought the Civil War, then the Reconstruction war, then the Jim Crow war......and now, isn't it time to allow our African American neighbors to simply be our neighbors?  Our fellow citizens?  White America has benefitted from this system long enough.  Isn't it time to do the hard work required of us?  To confront the attitudes and misconceptions that we unconsciously carry in our hearts? 

Isn't it time to follow Jesus?  To heal the Syro-Phoenecian woman's daughter?  To call the Samaritan a hero?  To eat with the outcast?  To heal the Roman officer's slave? 

To look into the eyes of the other and see God?