Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 21 March 2002 — Page 27

The Muncie Times, March 21, 2002, page 21

WITNESS FOR JUSTICE

Black History belongs to all Americans

February may well be my favorite month, although I am not a winter person. I love it because it’s Black History Month, a time when many of us focus our attention on the contributions of African Americans to this nation and to this world. But every year, it also becomes a time to reflect not just on how far we have come in'this country, but also on how far we have yet to go. This year that moment for a pause came in the town where I live, Cleveland, Ohio. It came in the form of a billboard, which was put up outside Cleveland. It pictured Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. alongside Osama Bin Laden and tried to draw parallels between these

men.

Not only was it hateful. It was about as far from reality as it could possibly be. Indeed, in the last years of his life, Dr. King found himself under attack from some

wonder, how many Americans, no matter what their color, can really name even a dozen African Americans, beyond Dr. King and the Rev. Jesse Jackson and maybe Rosa Parks or Muhammad Ali? Because the reality is, African American history is not just for black people: it is for all people. Until all Americans really know and understand black history, they will forever deny our right to be here in this place. Likewise, we must acknowledge that slave labor helped to build the White House and the U.S. Capitol and much of the capital upon which this nation is built, just as we must acknowledge the myriad contributions of Native Americans, Hispanic Americans and Pacific Islander and Asian Americans. . And we must acknowledge the incredible odds that people of color have had to overcome in order to

Yet, it pulled itselfl back from the brink and ^ through incredible leadership, moved into a democratic country where all people of all colors were equal. Somehow, it escaped Armageddon and moved into the new South Africa. Former political prisoner Nelson Mandela taught the world the path of love and forgiveness. Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu taught the world the ^ path of truth and reconciliation. Now, South Africa is teaching us the importance of a nation knowing its history through its first museum dedicated to the history of apartheid, which recently opened in Johannesburg. Like the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, Ala., the Johannesburg Museum begins with the visitor walking through a whites or non-whites door (in Birmingham it’s facing white and colored water fountains) and takes the visitors on a

Bernice Powell Jackson

nicknamed “hippos” by South African youth. Combined with the opening up of Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for many years, this museum is an opportunity to find out the ugly realities of apartheid, not only for visitors to the new South Africa, but for many South Africans who somehow did not know

was assassinated, neither of these has the funding and the outreach of a government-sponsored

museum.

We have something to learn from South Africa when it comes to setting the story straight. Our nation must take seriously its history of

oppression.

Every school must teach black history to all students. Every church

in his own community get to this place today, journey through the laws

who felt that his message of nonviolence was too passive and would never

lead to real change. But although some of

our elected officials spoke out to set the record straight and to point out the na tefulness of this ugly and untrue message, I had to wonder. Where was the public outrage about this distortion of reality? How many people really know who

But, we’re not very good at acknowledging our past. In that regard, we have something to learn from our .sisters - and brothers in South.Africa. Only a decade ago. South Africa stood on the brink of anarchy and bloodshed After a century of strife, after nearly a half a century of

what was going on during must teach black history those days of horror. to all members. Every Wrote one white community must take South African journalist, black history seriously, if after visiting the we are truly to become museum, “The glue that the land of the free and

of apartheid, the jails of h e M apartheid together the home of the brave.

apartheid and the early history of black people in South Africa before Europeans arrived in the

InOOs.

if is a living history r South Africa, where many of those tortured and imprisoned are still alive. One room is filled

with nooses for each of

apartheid, many thought the political prisoners that South Africa, despite killed dtiring apartheid,

its incredible natural days.

Dr. King really was and resources and its gift of Another has a tank, what he stood for? passionate people, would like those used to patrol And then I began to implode. '

Was a contact adhesive: one part legislation and repression, the other complicity and compliance.” Orumary South' Africans are only beginning to understand what all that meant. This musemn is one way Tor them to begin the

journey.

While we do have the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham and the Civil Rights Museum in

Black history is not just for African Americans, it’s for all

Americans'... Bernice Powell

, Backson is Executive Minister df the United Giiurchfif Christ's-Justice and Witness Ministries. She can he reached at the United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Aoe., Cleveland, Ohio 441151110, or by phoning (216) 736-3700 or faxing (216)