This past week I've been working my way through "A History of Postwar
Africa" by John Hatch. It is a real eye opener. There is so much history
that I was never taught and it boils my blood to see how poorly people,
God's children, have been treated over the past 60 years. What makes it
worse is that this story is not told. Racism always seemed to be treated as
something from the past in school, something that is long gone. But it was
not so long ago in America and in Africa and around the world that the idea
of racial superiority was national law. An entire section of the book looks
at the Afrikaner ideology in forming South Africa. It breaks my heart to
read about the innumerable injustices white men thrust upon Africans.
The question that I am left with is, where is this going on
today? It seems impossible that people didn't speak out about what was
going on during apartheid, but apartheid stood for 40 years. What
injustices are going on today that we ignore or close our eyes to? Do we
need to repent to our African brothers and sisters for what whites have done
to them? How do we make sure that people hear the story of what happened in
Africa, instead of Africa being the great dark continent? And here I am, in
Kenya, what can I do to repent, to reconcile, and to rebuild over the rubble
of hatred and racism that lived in this land?
For the next three years we will be working for Mennonite Central Committee in Najile, Kenya. We will be collaborating with the Maasai people in developing food security (which means working to limit vulnerability to famine due to drought) and HIV/AIDS prevention and support for those affected by the disease. Steph has also started teaching again in the local primary school. Join us as we continue the adventure of following Christ around the world.
MAASAI PROVERB
"Menya EnkAi enanya tungani"
God doesn't eat the way people eat.
Meaning:
God's ways are higher than our ways.
God doesn't eat the way people eat.
Meaning:
God's ways are higher than our ways.
Keep up on what's happening!
Where in the World Are the Kistlers
Now we know where we are!
3 comments:
Matt,
I'll be honest, I'm not as well-equipped to address this as you are. I actually spent part of my childhood in Kenya, so there was no real question of being racist back then, but I know that there are still parts of my heart that need to be enlightened on this issue.
Still, my feeling is that while there is a place for "racial reconciliation", it seems like we often perpetuate the difficulty by setting it up as a clash between whites and blacks. Really, it is a clash between one set of people who love themselves more than they love Christ, and another set who do the same. Racial reconciliation, in my mind, is brought about just like any other reconciliation...personifying Christ in the day-to-day activities and thoughts and words. I would suggest that trying to apologize for the sins of "our fathers", as if we are responsible for them, perpetuates an unChristian idea that the sons are responsible for the sins of their fathers, and that some sort of grand 'restitution' must be made for all sins. We cannot hope to make restitution for the things we do on a regular basis; what makes us think that we can atone for the sins of the past as well?
I don't mean to sound combative at all. I mean it when I say I'm no expert. =) I just think that my focus is better when I'm focused on loving my brothers, rather than on the 'burden' of having to repent for the sins of others.
Peter,
Thanks for your comments. I think I agree with most of what you are saying. However, I do believe reconciliation sometimes needs to be an active process instead of something that passively happens as an outpouring of our Christian walk. For much of my life, I have been isolated from non-whites and it took (and continues to take) an active process of reaching out to others to recognize and overcome my own brand of racism, as seen through my fear, distrust, and separateness from non-whites. I think we mistakenly believe that racism is over because our schools and bathrooms and buses aren't segregated, but true reconciliation comes through relationship and trust, by Christ's power, and does not happen if we are not intentional about making it happen. Therefore, I think writing off the process of reconciliation as part of "the problem" often is a cop-out people use to ignore the reality of racism today and ignore the Church's role in bringing all people together under the headship of Christ. A great resource about this is the book "More than Equals" which I highly recommend.
As far as apology, I by no means meant that I believed the sins of apartheid are my sins. However, I think the act of apology is very powerful and when carefully used can break down major barriers between peoples. For example, Native Americans feel the effects of American imperialism as much today as 100 years ago. If I had a friend who was native American who had seen these effects first-hand throughout their life, and was hurt by this, I would feel comfortable apologizing for what the white man had done to his people. I don't at all mean that this "fixes everything" but I think there is real power in acknowledging a wrong and releasing the oppressed from that hurt through personal apology.
I like that both of the comments are longer than the original post!
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