Free At Last Pt. 6
The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line. Thus wrote the insightful and prophetic scholar and sociologist Dr. W.E.B. Dubois in the Atlantic Monthly, 1901. His words proved true as America continued to struggle with the contradictory notions of proclaiming and fighting for worldwide democracy while at the same time denying the benefits of said democracy to millions of its citizens solely on the basis of skin color.
The dawn of the 20th century proved to be a most troublesome time for African-Americans. Our situation was dire and precarious to say the least. African-American individuals, families and communities could be terrorized, brutalized and slaughtered at will. Lynchings were a common occurrence and cause for community outings among the dominant society. African-American men who fought valiantly in WWI returned ‘home’ to have their uniforms stripped from their bodies as they waited to be literally burned at the stake.
It is no wonder then the almost the whole of black psychological, emotional, sociological and theological efforts and energy was directed toward the battle for survival, equality and inclusion. For the most part the average American today black nor white cannot fathom the kind of terror that most black Americans faced on a daily basis at the turn of last century. Though technically free American citizens by federal law, millions of black folks lived in fear of a dominant community that for no rational reason seemed bent on destroying every shred of humanity we had. If any people ever had reason to wonder ‘why do they hate us’ it was African-Americans at the turn of the 20th Century.
By God’s grace and power He worked through groups like the NAACP and thousands of brave men and women to bring us to a point where the dawn of the 21st Century presents a much different picture and prospects for black people. But that still doesn’t mean that we’re free. I’m sure most of would agree that we’re in a much, much better position than our brave forebears, yet have a long way to go.
So then, what is the overriding challenge of the 21st Century for the greater black community? For some the issue facing black America can be boiled down to fighting for a better standard of life for Black America. That is the crux behind the book ‘The Covenant With Black America’ which is a work that explores ten pertinent issues faced by African-Americans today. According to the contributors and editors of the book the challenge of the 21st century is to make Black America better, for when Black America is better then all of American is better.
The Covenant with Black America focuses on real life issues that affect the quality of life for a vast majority of African-Americans. Among them are quality health care and education, the criminal justice system, affordable housing and good jobs. Is this our final frontier? Will freedom’s day dawn once we achieve a measure of full equality with the dominant society with respect to these things? Though perhaps there is little doubt that our quality of life will be better would that equate to genuine freedom?
If achieving a better quality of life doesn’t bring freedom then is it worth pursuing anyway? Yes, I believe it is. A saved man is still a man who needs an effective education, a good job and a nice, safe place to live. Yet we would be remiss if we led black folks to believe that 1) their problems begin and end with temporal quality of life issues and 2) if we didn’t address the reality of their main challenge.
That said the problem of the 21st Century may not be the color-line or the quality of life for African-Americans. Should the Lord tarry and continue to show us His common grace the black folks who stride into the 22nd Century may look back on a century of unprecedented progress and truly express thanks that the Covenant With Black America has been fulfilled. But that victory may seem hollow if in winning the battle for quality of life we lose the war over quality of soul. This would be especially distressing if our churches and pastors decided that what we believed about God, Scripture, humanity, sin, salvation, Jesus Christ and the church were issues best left on the back burner to be decided by each individual as best suits his or her needs and wishes.
By then it could be too late to realize that our ultimate challenge of the 21st century was the struggle for the souls of black folks.
To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance