Believe it or not, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. As I looked at my calendar, I thought to myself: “Who can think about love at a time like this?”
On this day that God has made,
Grief tsunamis.
Anger balloons.
Fear drenches.
White supremacy, cloaked as ICE, terrorizes.
White supremacy terrorizes.
Still.
Who can think about flowers and pink candy hearts at a time like this? That isn’t all that is happening this month…in typical fashion, white supremacy intersects - it clashes, really - with Black History Month.
In a climate that demands Underground Railroad-like actions, the urgency for Sankofa recall (reaching back to move forward) has never been greater.
Dedicating time and energy to learning the history of a people who survived the Sheol shackles of slavery seems like a prudent choice. (Pardon me for my frankness, but a philosophy student does not seek a chef for instruction, right?)
Much can be drawn from our stone-trodded journey.
Being considered “the least of these” in Westernized society, African Americans are the flame that refuses to extinguish.
We are a resilient people.
The crime here is that we live in a binary world that conditions people to be single-tasked in their advocacy. I grieve that many believe they have to choose between advocating for their Black OR Brown siblings this month.
Receive this Truth: We don’t have to choose.
Like COVID, we are in a season that impacts us all, regardless of the white supremacy culture that strives to divide us. Contrary to privileged belief, hatred has no winners. We all lose when we fail to allow history to repeat without teaching us.
This is why Black History is American History. We are all impacted; no one is untouched. Its ripple effects are woven into the fabric of our lives. Herein lies tools and lessons for all of us to make different decisions this time around - different mistakes and different choices - in the name of Love.
If it’s truly Love we are after.
Jesus, the embodiment of Love, teaches us that “The truth shall set us free.” (John 8:32.) Reinventing the liberation wheel has never been so redundant as it is when we step off of activated landmines in search of others to deactivate.
We end ourselves.
Thanks be to God for the grace of shifted perspective, the mercy of U-Turns, and the free will to choose Love. Look around you - Love abounds today. Here in Minnesota where I live, I see people coming together, listening to each other, organizing support and sharing food. Truly, love is in the details and in the groceries too. I see folx learning from one another, rebuking evil in unity, and stepping out in faith that this day that God has made, and every gifted day that follows, can be spent in freedom.
That hope, beloveds, is the flame that continues to blaze for the Black community: belief in a better tomorrow for us all, including the shackled and detained “least of these” in society…whom God also created in God’s image.
This month, let us resist evil by facing the hard truth about our history. Let us resist the book bans that effectively promote ignorance. Let us prioritize the Sankofa in each of us - for some, that means finally opening those dusty Black History books we’ve been meaning to read and sharing our learning with our loved ones. Perhaps it looks like uncovering the generational bigotry that is tucked away in family laundry bins, and for others, liberation equates to confessing the bias that we bury beneath our performance-ready makeup.
That beloveds, is Love - and worthy of celebration.
Amen. May it be so.