FROM THE BOUNDARY: Buffalo soldier – Part 13
Some last thoughts. The killing of George Floyd led to a global cry for racial justice. It’s been called a kairos moment, the right moment for action with lasting consequences. The arrow of justice penetrated the consciousness of the world and things will never be quite the same. Whenever the heartbeat of racial equality, the true, the pure call for the oneness of humankind is heard, the spectre of George Floyd will be there. We’re all buffalo soldiers now, cavalry and infantry, here “in the heart of the Caribbean” and across continents, ever fighting for the survival of what is honourable and just. It’s the way of love.
Some years ago, when the BLM movement first surfaced, I remember having a conversation with a dear friend at Diocesan House in which I insisted that ‘all lives matter’. That phrase then wasn’t understood as it often is now – the fall-back position of a covert racist. My friend became quite cross with me and spoke as if in some way I was letting the side down. With the murder of George Floyd, I had no scruples in saying what she’d wanted to hear. Now I’m less sure – for now I know the ultimate political intentions of the organisation(s) we know as ‘BLM’. The statement that ‘all lives matter’ is not refuted by asserting that all lives are not treated equally. The evidence is that they’re not. But that doesn’t affect the overarching principle that all lives under God are precious, indeed priceless. And that includes the lives of racists. What other position can a priest meaningfully take? For Jesus, the life of the rich young man was as purposeful and worthy of love as that of any poor man. And from the cross wasn’t it his murderers whom he committed last to the Father’s care: “Father, forgive them…”?
It’s been an odd few months. Protests here began with George Floyd, tinsel toed through systemic racism in Barbados, and then, hobnail booted, the fall of Nelson, but ended with a call for a Republic and showcasing the Ambassador to Venezuela. Was George Floyd ‘used’? And now we’ve moved, with nothing of note in between, from toppling Nelson, to toppling the Monarch courtesy of the ‘Throne Speech’, an Australia ABC interview – and China?
The so-called ‘Pan-Africans’ have been pretty loud. Lots of African print (adire) shirts of course, but silence on the unremitting murder of Christians north of Abuja and the march of Islam. What do Pan-Africanists actually ‘do’?
The language of hate has supplanted love. Christianity is having a hard time. My friend Andrew Bynoe, in an article in another newspaper (9 July), wrote: “That same Bible has been used all over Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean to make black people foolish… the Archbishop of Canterbury … says that Jesus Christ was not white. There topples another belief convenient for the subjugation of black people.” Strong stuff. Well, he’s a poet, so I forgive him. But how do you answer that kind of rhetoric? I don’t think any rebuttal would convince him. It would be like talking to a homophobe. But OK – back to traditional religion and marriage by native law and custom. Multiple wives – yeah! Don’t try it, Andrew! Mrs B will KILL you!
I prefer the language of love. Here’s John Lewis: “We realised the violence all around us offered an uncommon opportunity to perform a great spiritual work. We began as outcasts … but were transformed into a shining army of peace moving in the centre of God’s love.” Was HE “foolish”?
I see racism as a form of bullying. No matter your colour, you pick on the different, the weak. It’s rooted in fear – that maybe you’re not the ‘centre’, the ‘answer’. For God’s sake: “Don’t get your pleasure from my pain. In God’s eyes we’re all the same. One day we’ll all have perfect wings…” So simple. Let it be our heartbeat – all of us.
Go safely, then – until the next time.
John Lewis, from the boundary: “People have asked me, ‘What happened to the dream?’ I say to them and I say to you, ‘The dream is us.’”