Essential Historical Penance

Our culture is so highly individualistic that we don’t realize that without repentance for sins of past generations they will be perpetuated for future generations.

Psalm 106:6

Both we and our ancestors have sinned.

Psalm 106:15

(God) gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them.

Psalm 79:8

Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors.

Luke 11:47 (see also Matthew 23:29)

You build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed.

Matthew 3:8; Luke 3:8

Bear fruit worthy of repentance.

http://nstolpewriting.blogspot.com/2020/06/how-are-we-to-remember-ambiguities-of.html

Lament and Celebrate: How Are We to Remember the Ambiguities of History?

Reflecting on Juneteenth, I am pondering the ambiguities of how we remember history. To be sure, Juneteenth rightly celebrates a pivotal milestone in the journey toward justice and liberty in US history. Behind the jubilee remains a painful, persistent injustice and oppression that calls for lamentation. Out of the lament of generation after generation of slavery came the celebration of emancipation. Out of the struggles of living in the unexplored territory of emancipation came the lament of more generations of injustice. Out of that still incomplete endeavor rises the celebration of progress. Taking a cue from the Hebrew Prophet Habakkuk, history may be understood as a relentless rhythm of lament and celebration. Often lament and celebration are a messy muddle.

My observation on this Juneteenth is that we are in the midst of a most messy muddle. Perhaps the momentum of the movement for justice in the face of clearly unjustified killing of Black folk portends a new celebration of justice and liberty. At the same time lamenting civil unrest understandably evokes lament of the loss of peace and security. Mingled in this is the controversy over monuments to people and events of the past that are also tangled between lament and celebration. The movement to remove monuments that celebrate injustice and oppression is met with cries not to forget history but to learn from it. How do we journey from celebration to lamentation? Clearly not everyone is at the same place on that journey.

The juxtaposition of lamentation and celebration is painful. One part of the pain comes from lamenting the injustices and oppression of the past. Another part of the pain comes from a longstanding celebration of people and events that are coming under increased scrutiny and prompting lamentation.

The Auschwitz death camp has been preserved so that horrible history will not be forgotten but eternally lamented. However, no statues honoring Nazi officers stand there. Yet, in the immediate aftermath of World War II, the people of Germany struggled to come to terms with this part of their history, which is still not fully resolved. Yes, lament for the horrors of that time. Yes, celebration of the heroes who resisted and were often crushed in that darkness. I think what the Nazi era celebrated was rising out of lamenting the humiliation of defeat in the Great War (World War I). What followed was not just the defeat in World War II, but the lamentation of a nation divided through the Cold War. Though hardly complete, reunification has echoed with celebration. Still remains the ambiguity of how to lament and celebrate figures such as Richard Wagner who was celebrated by the Nazis and still unsettles in Germany, Israel, and elsewhere.

 Ambiguities are inherent in each of us and our daily lives and in the cultures and societies in which we live. Just the last couple of weeks my Scripture reading has included the story of Abraham in Genesis and the way Paul portrayed Abraham in Romans. Romans makes out Abraham to be an unwavering bastion of faith. Yet, Genesis reveals serious flaws and foibles and floundering of faith. Is Abraham to be lamented or celebrated? I answer, “yes.”  

In US history Thomas Jefferson is just such a confounding amalgam. The one who wrote “That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” also owned slaves and fathered children by Sally Hemmings, a young slave woman he owned. Some have suggested they may have had mutual affection, but the power differential would make that questionable at best. To be sure, Thomas Jefferson was a genius who greatly shaped the founding of the US. Nevertheless, he was a flawed and contradictory human being. So we celebrate his contributions while simultaneously lamenting his inconsistencies. Back in May I wrote my own comparison of Jeffersonian liberty with biblical liberty. http://nstolpewriting.blogspot.com/2020/05/freedom-and-liberty-apostle-paul-and.html

We are all susceptible to the “fish will never discover water” phenomenon. We are so immersed in the context of our lives that we have a very difficult recognizing what to lament and what to celebrate. This seems also to be the point of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 tale The Emperor’s New Clothes. I think that is behind the Psalmists plea to God, “Who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults.” (19:12) This is one reason that those who have experienced injustice and oppression are such important voices. They help us see what easily escapes our notice.

Police Reform – My Take

I have been seeing quite a bit of “only a few bad cops” as a kind of push back on negative input on police in general. I am certainly neither smart enough nor well informed enough to contribute to the discussion of how to accomplish effective law enforcement reform. For the sake of my focus on caring for my wife and my own inner peace, I do not need to get involved in these discussions and debates. Yet I need to give some expression to what is rumbling around in me that is disturbing my peace. I know “bad police” and “good police” is simplistic, but that is the level of the current debate, so I have used it. At this point, I will post it to my Writing Workshop blog but not social media. I have no illusions that my opinions would change anything any way.

My basic response to “most police are good, only a few are bad” is: I would think every “good” police officer would do everything possible to see that every “bad” police officer is held accountable and removed from law enforcement. (I used quotation marks because of the popular discussion, not to suggest the people to whom they are applied are not really that.)

To assert “only a few bad cops” implies that the bad ones must be held accountable and removed from law enforcement, and every good one should be in favor of that. Thus:

·         The law enforcement culture and structure must stop protecting the bad police officers.

·         I have to believe that the reputation of good police officers would be enhanced if they themselves made an effort to head off and eliminate bad officers.

·         Bad officers must be held accountable for misconduct with serious consequences including prison time when applicable.

·         They must be permanently removed from law enforcement.

·         Better screening and hiring practices are needed to limit those who are likely to become abusive police officers.

·         Better training is needed so they are clear about what is and is not acceptable.

·         Better supervision is needed so those who may be headed in a bad direction are corrected.

·         Better internal accountability that contributes to a culture of supporting the best practices and reduces bad practices.

·         Some form of external, independent, civilian accountability. I know that is a sensitive issue, but I know everyone needs to be accountable. In my pastoral profession I was accountable to both congregational governance and to judicatory oversight. I know that doesn’t solve everything, but is essential but may not be fully independent. I know that judicatories have sometimes protected pastors, which is wrong, but civil authorities do come into play as well.

·         Other services (including but not limited to social workers) need to be deployed so some things can be handled in a more constructive way such as (but again not limited to) mental health issues, being under the influence of alcohol or drugs, domestic disturbances.

·         I have purposely put this last but it certainly is not the least significant of these thoughts. We much somehow address racial justice and relationships in our society. This is not simply a matter of personal attitudes of individuals that may or may or may not be racist. Racism is not just embedded in many structures we all live with every day, and permeates the totality of our culture. I think of it something like the proverbial saying that a fish will never discover water. Racism is all around us every day. Recognizing and acknowledging it is essential to addressing it. I strongly suspect that as a white person I am far less aware of the persistence of racism than people of color for whom dealing with it is a daily reality. This goes far beyond policing, but policing cannot escape.

Still Not Healed After a Century and a Half

A friend posted this picture on Memorial Day weekend in recognition of US military personnel who have died through history. I didn't respond to it then as that would have seemed disrespectful at the time, but I did observe that more died in the Civil War/War Between the States than in any other war. (I don't know but I suspect that number included both Union and Confederate deaths.) This struck me as particularly sad as we were fighting each other, not an outside enemy. Having lived in Dallas, TX for 17 years, I am very aware that many (most?) people there do not view that war the same way I grew up and lived with most of my years in CA, MN, IL, NJ, WI. (While I learned a lot and have tried to be sensitive from my time in Texas, I could never hide all of the marks that identify me as a Yankee.) The recent controversies over Confederate monuments and namings suggest that after a century and a half, this nation has not healed from that war. Those who want monuments removed are accused of erasing history. Those who want them preserved are accused of celebrating a dark blot on history. The removers reply that history is not to be erased but interpreted (in museums, etc.) so we can learn from it. The preservers reply that they respect the courage and character of those who defended their homes and lives from outsiders. I am not going to try to sort that out and get distracted from my lament that the conflict that took more lives than any other US war continues not only to divide the nation but take a real toll in and on lives.

What Happens If ... ? part 2

Back on October 13, 2019 I speculated how Donald Trump might respond if he lost the 2020 election, and I updated it after the April 7, 2020 Wisconsin primary election and the effect of Covid-19.

Now, with the nation wide demonstrations (and attendant unrest) following the murder of George Floyd so close on the heals of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, Donald Trump is threatening to send in US Military to quell the rioting and looting. This doesn't seem to distinguish that from the legitimate peaceful protests of the seemingly endless string of harassment, brutalizing, and murdering of Black folk, either by police or with law enforcement turning a blind eye, of which these two recent murders have become symbols.

My speculation turns from what I wrote back in October to speculate again whether this might lead to cancelling or postponing the election and some sort of emergency order to impose military rule across the country. After Donald Trump's speeches this week, I have asked myself if he really doesn't understand how inflammatory they were or if he is intentionally seeking to provoke unrest to justify some sort of emergency order to bypass the election. I am not sure which is more dangerous.

Again, as I wrote in October, I claim no prophetic gift, nor do I want to see any of this take place, but I am posting it to my writing workshop blog as a kind of reality check for the future. I will refrain from posting it in other social media. In fact, as much as I have tried to restrain myself in social media, yesterday I took a whole day off and returned this morning resolved not to engage in these meme battles that do not change people's minds but only deepen the divisions. As my contemplative encounters with the Bible suggest something that might help others on this path, I may share some of that. I need this peace to give priority to caring for my wife Candy with her Alzheimer's and her Dad who in still on lock down in his senior living residence and at 93 seems to be weakening by the day.