Black and White, Slave and Free

Black and White, Slaves and Free

Did you know there is racism in the Bible?  In Numbers 12, Miriam and Aaron attempt a coup d’etat against Moses, a take-over.  He is married to a black woman and they are not pleased. They ask, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses?”  Now Moses is the meekest of men and says not a mumblin’ word against his brother and sister but the Lord takes issue.  He calls them on the carpet, “come out you three, to the tent of meeting” and he proceeds to tell them how much he loves Moses, and when the Lord finishes speaking his anger is kindled against Aaron and Miriam and when the pillar of cloud is removed from over the tent, Miriam is leprous, her skin has been turned as white as snow.  I know there might be some who say, “How come God did not punish Aaron too?"  But remember Aaron is the representative of the entire people of Israel, moreover think what God is conveying here.  It’s as if God is saying, “You want a white woman, I will give you a white woman!”  When Aaron and Moses see Miriam they are horrified.  They plead with God, Moses says “Heal her, O God, I beseech thee.”  Their prayer is granted and Miriam is healed after seven days.  God chastises those whom he loves.  God is teaching his beloved about the evils of racism.  As a white woman myself I have begun to be aware of some of the privileges and rights that I enjoy that my black brothers and sisters do not.  I have never been redlined. Black people came to our region from the south in the early 1900’s but they were not able to buy land on which to create their farms; they were not able to pursue their vocations. Can you imagine? What would you do?And it’s not just in the past: I have very rarely been suspected of shoplifting in a store but I have observed young black girls in the store, people look at them askance. They see it too.  I had no fear of driving at night in Evanston, Illinois where I was a teenager. Black teenagers had this fear constantly. Black moms and dads have to have “the Talk” with their children. It’s not a talk about the birds and the bees, it’s a talk about how to stay alive-how to come back home alive. Put your hands on the wheel, tell the officer before you make any move that you are just going for your wallet in the glove compartment. My mom and dad never had to have this talk with me. I haven’t been sent to jail for shouting and laughing in a mall; many young black men have.   My family and I enjoy the fruit of many generations of being accorded our rights; we have been able to pursue happiness without the roadblocks that have been constantly set in the faces of the descendants of slaves, the builders of this country.  In Anglo-Saxon law a slave is not just freed by proclamation, a slave is freed when he is given three things: land, a mule, and a sword. So with all due respect and love to Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation which I often quote, by my reckoning, slavery never ended since neither the slaves nor their descendants have ever been given any of the above.  Dear readers, God’s word bears fruit (Isaiah 55). His word is the word of liberty, not only for one part of society but also for the builders of this nation, the slaves and their descendants.