VCC Magazine Summer 2019

V irginia C apitol C onnections , S ummer 2019 8 Reconciliation: are we making progress? By Jonathan Barton It has now been 154 years since slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. One hundred and fifty- one years since the ratification of the 14th Amendment. Fifty-one years since the assassination of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and still we struggle as people to live into the creed that “All men and women are created equal.” Are we making any progress towards reconciliation? I remember the groundbreaking airing of Alex Haley’s television mini-series “Roots” in 1977, and 40 years later the realization of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The quick answer is yes; we have made progress, but it has been slow and difficult, and we still have a long way to go. When I first arrived in Richmond in 1985, I remember driving down Monument Avenue and seeing the statues. Having grown up in the north and not having traveled through the south, I was perplexed. The Union won the war, but you would never know it by driving down this street. I was even more confused when the dedication of the Lincoln statue brought out demonstrators in period customs and Confederate uniforms. This did seem just a little strange to me. I have now lived in Richmond for as long as I had lived in New Jersey. I have grown to love being here. I have also learned that racism did not end with the war, nor was it confined only to the south. The war may have ended slavery, but racism has been with us since the very beginning even before the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in August of 1619. White supremacy and racism have been around for a long time. It is not just a white and black issue; it is a white and “other” issue. Racism is part of the immigration debate, part of the treatment of native peoples, and it is tied to our Islamophobic fears. Racism is all wrapped up with our fears of the “other,” the one “not like me.”You can find this fear deeply embedded in church history and doctrine, the Doctrine of Discovery in early Papal Bulls giving white, European Monarchs the power to control and subdue the world, to subjugate and enslave other persons in the name of God and their king as if persons of color were not part of the image of God but part of creation that “humans” were given dominion over. We can see it implanted in the rule of law and in our criminal justice system. It is so deeply woven into the fabric of Western Civilization that at times it is very difficult to see, yet it is there. So how so can we address such a deeply entrenched fear? History narrates, the past setting the context for the present and our awareness of social identity, giving a glimpse of where we are headed ideologically. George Orwell said, “Who controls the past controls the future; and who controls the present controls the past.” This tense racial context in which we live today is scary. It calls into question who we are as a people, and who we want to be. We have seen this hate surface in the profiling of young black men, the demonstrations in Charlottesville, the embarrassment of a Governor in blackface, and arguments over those statues. These events have brought renewed calls for healing and reconciliation. The General Assembly even proclaimed 2019 as a year of Reconciliation and Healing. What does it mean to reconcile or to be concile in the first place? Just where do we begin? It seems very clear there is a problem, yet we are not all on the same page regarding the problem. As the head of the Virginia Council of Churches for almost two decades, I know that one of the founding threads of this body was bridging the racial divide. Yet, every time we had a program that was perceived as a white agenda our black churches were not as visible. At the same time when it was a black agenda our white churches were noticeably absent. How can we begin to address these concerns if we are not even willing to sit down together? When I would raise the topic with individuals I would hear (white) “Been there, done that, get over it” you can also often hear the same thing coming from our General Assembly. If I was speaking with our black leaders I would hear “you are not really serious; you really do not understand the depth of the problem.When you are ready to get serious, we are here. Until then we will do our own thing.” So how do we bridge the gap? How do we open a new window that will allow us to have the open and honest conversations to really get serious about what we have been trying to avoid for so long? If we begin by acknowledging there is a problem and that it is not something in the dim past, but very real and very current and that we have a role to play in making a difference that is a good start. If we can share our story, our whole story the “unvarnished truth,” of our past. We must place ourselves in the difficult place of the other. We need to sit down together and, not just in a pulpit, exchange in continuous conversations, regular study groups working together. We have made attempts off and on in the past, and we need to sustain them.We can no longer wait, hoping for the better nature of our angels to do it for us. This 2019 Anniversary is the Commonwealth’s chance to acknowledge our original sin of racism and “white supremacy,” both first codified into law by Virginia’s House of Burgesses and spread across the land. The window of opportunity is open will we get serious in our efforts towards reconciliation? The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Barton, retired Presbyterian minister, served for 18 years as the head of the Virginia Council of Churches, He holds a Doctor Ministry from Virginia Union University, and a Masters of Divinity from Drew University. Prior to his service with the Virginia Council of Churches, Rev. Barton served as Regional Director for Church World Service. Virginia Capitol Connections editor, Bonnie Atwood, consults with team, Hayley Allison, Cierra Parks and Aynae Simmons. We thank everyone who submitted articles for this issue, and once more we invite all legislators to contribute their suggestions on Race and Reconciliation . V