Black History Month?
In the UK, October brings something new to many of us, Black History Month. It is not new. It started in 1987. This year, given the tension in the USA and the ever-present questions around this, I thought it would be helpful for us to explore this whole subject. As Christians, we sell the faith short when we do not grapple matters that may be peripheral to our own lives but part of the national conversation. We cannot and must not say it is not our concern if it is the concern of others.
The phrase “Black Lives Matter” has been difficult for some. It is promoting one section of society over against others. In our inclusive world, should we say, “All lives matter”? One of the things that Black History Month does is to deliberately ask me (and you) to do is pay attention to a part of our nation we may know little about. It is an opportunity to learn about how that community came here, to discover the richness of culture, to listen to the experience of what it is to be a stranger, to be welcomed or to be rejected, to be valued and to be oppressed.
Part of my reading since the death of George Floyd has been around the experiences of black communities and black individuals here in the UK. I fear that little of it has been comfortable. We have an amazing capacity to require the newcomer, the stranger, the outsider, to conform to our outlook, habits, and practices. We are poor at valuing difference or diversity.
In my reading, I have been reflecting on the history of the Church. There I have found this; that the people of faith have had periods when they have been oppressed (Hebrews in Egypt), have had power (Medieval Europe), have worked hard to preserve privilege (the southern Confederate States of America) and have invested in the subversion of evil (Wilberforce and the anti-slavery movement). Centre to my reflection has been Jesus and his constant requirement that we treat each other as those made in the image and likeness of God. Which would all seem to point to the idea that “All Lives Matter”.
Well, they do. But Jesus does something more specific, more awkward, and more radical. Jesus puts front and centre those who are being particularly abused, abused by culture, by religion, by creed, by race; the woman with the haemorrhage, the little child, the blind man, the Samaritan. When he does this, he is challenging those in power, those with all the benefits stacked in their favour. And he is saying this; the godly thing to do is to give these people an equal place in society. And for that to happen, those already in places of privilege need to pay more than lip service to the ideal of equality. And to do that, as God does throughout the bible, appropriate space and voice need to be given to those communities who, at any one time, are going through a dark period of life.
The point Jesus is making is this; that those he spent time with, those who were on the edge, experienced life negatively. Whatever those in the centre said or thought they were doing, those on the edge did not recognise any benefit coming their way. All they felt was yet more oppression at worst and the veneer of being patronised at best. Jesus gives voice to their experience.
Black History Month invites us to listen to the world through different ears. I might read the Exodus as vaguely interesting. Slaves in America read it then and African Americans read it now, as a story of hope and empowerment. It is this sort of insight that makes time spent investing in a different mindset as theologically, pastorally and spiritually enriching. It is an invitation for me (and you) to learn. Black History Month is an invitation to see the world through new eyes.