There is an innocence that children have when in the throes of learning. May it be the duty of their parents to supply them with a more discerning eye and ear. Essentially you don’t know what you don’t know and children who are the most curious remain the most vulnerable to omission or disinformation. Continually I am reminded that very few of our children are learning the truth of America’s past. Yet and still there are moments of our history that are continually suppressed despite being vital to our development and expansion as a nation.

Here is the problem: We are much more optimistic than we deserve and as a result none of the despicable things from our history even become a lesson. They remain not a cautionary thing but something to be disputed constantly as a subjective occurrence. This is the way we treat our history as many have. There have been many times in the last century when people tired of the upward mobility of black people manufacture some kind of violation of moral law that sets off a riot. One that decimates the black population and confirms the rage and righteousness of the white population. From Wilmington, NC to Tulsa, OK the toll can be seen amongst the neighborhoods long abandoned by businesses and the government alike. There is a certain pain that goes along with the history still trapped in the soil there and under the skin on the people who have bled and died here.

This is the same optimism that believes black people can overcome the continual assault on their humanity. In the same way people have stood in the way of black people getting fair housing for decades. This is so those same folks can stand back and wonder why many neighborhoods have been decimated the way they have. Not giving the systemic slow burn of racism enough credit. History is constantly calling out to us but we will we answer the call. Either that or will we all become those who never look into the future and see a more united world we can help come to fruition. This is the realization that is missing.

Even churches seem to look like their neighborhoods as we walk in lockstep with the principles and practices of an administrative government. While the spiritual state of the people of this nation languishes under the uncertainty of division and violence. I’ve always loved a good historical novel. One that is set with large historical events as it’s backdrop. You know the like A Tale of Two Cities, Les Miserables or even Things Fall Apart. In hindsight there is a rumbling that happens to bring us to each moment and time is that track that all of these events must travel on. can we begin to pay attention to the decisions that made our world, our nation, our state and city? this is the kind of hindsight that leads to foresight and wisdom. So that as the future makes an assessment of our actions, they will find that we acted courageously and full of love but for anyone who has read the Beatitudes, this is not a primrose path full of comfort. We must risk it all or risk losing it all.

Let us be those brave and courageous ones who look back at the totality of our history soberly sidestepping easy narratives on what we have done and where we have come from. Looking at the complexity of our history will allow us to see he future with simplicity. One that provides a way for Love and equity to thrive.