Native American Children at the Carlisle Indian Boarding School in Carlisle, PA
Two events from this week prompted the title “The Long Chain of Racism.”
Monday was the national holiday Indigenous Peoples’ Day. It falls on the same day as the previous holiday that most of us grew up with called Columbus Day. Renaming the day lifts up the historical reality that European contact with the Western Hemisphere was not a “discovery” as if there were no human inhabitants or cultures in these lands before Europeans arrived. In fact, the years following European contact started a long chain of racism in which people characterized as white exploited the indigenous people for centuries. The picture posted above depicts Native American children at the Indian boarding school in Carlisle, PA in the early 20th century. In the name of “civilization” and “Christianity,” the children in this and other such boarding schools were taken from their families and banned from expressing their native languages and cultures. We are finally coming to recognize the racism, harm, and abuse suffered by the children and their families.
The second event that reminded me of the long chain of racism was the revelation of long racist email chains over at least seven years that culminated in the firing of John Gruden the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders football team. The video posted below features a panel discussion reflecting on that firing. Beginning at 4:20, the comments of two black participants are especially important to me. The first point is that racist language is an expression of racist intent despite Gruden’s claims in a press conference that he is not a racist and “I don’t have an ounce of racism in me.” Denying racism prevents any progress toward healing and reconciliation. The second point is that he is not an isolated example. As a panel participant put it, Gruden is not “an American aberration.” We cannot simply point figures at individuals who express racist remarks without realizing how deeply imbedded racism is in our history and culture. Even in the situation involving John Gruden, the offensive emails were part of a long and ongoing chain that involved other people who received and participated in the racist, homophobic, and misogynistic expressions. Calling someone a racist is not merely a judgment leveled at those who get caught expressing racist thoughts. In theological terms, racism is a sin that is deeply rooted in our lives as individuals and as a nation. Denial of this reality leaves us stuck in it. Acknowledging, confessing, and taking steps toward repairing the damage caused by this form of sin is the path toward healing the long chain of racism.