The Redemption of America

The American Civil War was at a close. On april 4, 1865 Lincoln walked on foot into Richmond behind victorious Union troops. On his walk he was surrounded by weeping Blacks to whom his name became synonymous with the word, Saviour, and a mere ten days later he was assassinated by a fanatic, southern actor.



On the left, above, Lincoln strolls through Richmond after its fall, signaling the end of the Civil War and above, centre, two weeks later his funeral procession, 141 years ago today, April 19, 1865.

Facts, such as those that follow, are often overlooked namely, that 186,000 Blacks enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War. Some 38,000 loss their lives to defend the Republic and also to end slavery.

Perspective:

Lincoln’s walk through Richmond must have been bitter-sweet, especially after the death and carnage of the war, from which evolved the joy and exultation of the black masses of slaves who for centuries had known none. Imagine yourself in this position and ask yourself: were I in this time and place, were I in Abe’s shoes, would I have had the courage of conviction to do it?

Take your imagination a leap further and ask yourself: were I a slave would I have wanted to murder those who victimized me and my family for so many generations? Would you, in the naked feet of a slave, have had the courage of conviction not to take the lives of white oppressors who had murdered, raped and maimed your family members for generations?

Perhaps this is why the called for reparations is never addressed sufficiently.

For so many generations the lives of Black people, just as today in many parts of this earth, were considered worthless to those who live to take those lives away. What kind of human beings are they who do this? What are they worth to humankind? Would the world be a better place without them?

When, if ever, will the Blacks rise to right this wrong? Will the upheaval occur first, or will the world acknowledge finally that it has wronged the Blacks and move to acknowledge and correct it? It’s a no-brainer for most but for many this acknowledgement takes them back to their ardent, long-held belief in the “Christian Doctrine of slavery”, and no matter how wrong they are they proven to be such people would rather die before they acknowledge their wrong and they may have to do just that.

Still, the life of an assassin is worth more than the countless lives of Black people of peace who were tortured, brutally murdered, raped and maimed long before, and yet after, America became “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” but not to Abe. Through Abe’s death came some redemption and hope of the resurrection, no matter how brief or fleeting, of freedom in America and the acknowledgement of this wrong.

The hope and the despair of America live on and those like us in Canada standby and watch from the sidelines as if that were holy.

As always, Well wishes,

F. Stanley Boyd