Newspaper Page Text
Southern Cross, Page 14
Commentary
Thursday, June 11, 2020
“You must be carefully taught”
Throughout the world people of all walks of life joined in anger and frustration over the death of George
Floyd, a man of color, who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis, MN, while handcuffed and held
prone on the ground with a police officer’s knee on his neck for over eight minutes. Floyd’s death occurred
on the heels of video being released of another person of color being stopped while jogging and shot by
civilians in coastal GA. Above: protesters hold placards during a peaceful protest in Savannah’s Johnson
Square on May 31 - Pentecost Sunday. Photograph by Michael J. Johnson.
I received a text from someone
stating that they were keeping
busy doing spring-cleaning. As
they put it: “I was doing anything
I could to not watch the news.” By
the time this is printed, the news
may have changed, but for now,
our TV screens are filled with
pictures of rioting and protests
in many major cities throughout
the country. The demonstrations
and rioting are in response to the
killing of George Floyd while in
police custody.
The killing of George Floyd is
excruciating to view, and indeed,
the reaction to his murder is also
unnerving but understandable. I
suspect that watching the rioting
and anarchy is unnerving for
several reasons. We are put off
by the chaos and lawlessness. We
are also upset to watch the rage
of a people, suppressed by rac
ism, erupt in violence. Watching
these events unfold, we feel both
offended by the violence, and at
the same time, our consciences
are struck and convicted by the
circumstances underlying these
events.
No doubt, the extreme reaction
to these recent events are fueled
by the killing of Ahmaud Arbery
in the Satilla Shores neighbor
hood in Brunswick in February.
And, if truth be told, these events
are driven by hundreds of years
of racial injustice in this country.
Racism was, is, and will be the
underlying sin and issue confront
ing the people of these United
States. Sadly, our life together is
facing not only a biological virus
that threatens us all, but, we also
face a moral virus, racism, that
has infected us all as well.
Dr. Martin Luther King, more
than fifty years ago, gave his
life to raise the consciousness of
America to its greatest sin. Dr.
King sought freedom and greater
opportunities for minorities, but
he also sought to lift the moral
awareness of the majority. He
sought to arouse the sensibility
of white Americans to the harm
racism was doing to people of all
colors. Dr. King tried to demon
strate that as long as the majority
remains silent and unmoved, the
cancer of racism would eat away
at the moral fiber of the nation.
Dr. King was concerned about
the out and out racist, but he was
even more concerned about the
silent majority, good people, who
remained silent.
Many voices are speaking out
now about the rioting and the
gruesome murder that underlies
these events. In a nation, as divid
ed as ours, politically and racially,
we lack at this time, the leader
ship that can bring us together.
Dr. King came as close as anyone
to a moral vision that challenged
the hatred and venom of white
supremacy and appealed to the
silent white majority.
The rioting and looting is a
catch 22. Without these extreme
measures, nobody pays attention
to the injustice that afflicts us. As
Dr. King wrote, “Rioting is the
language of these who cannot be
heard.” At the same time, this
destruction and pillaging lead
many white folks to say, “See
there, I told you so.” People
are frightened by the outrage
expressed through mob activi
ty. It also mutes the legitimate
non-violent protest that many
were trying to voice.
How do we move forward from
this hellish situation? One import
ant suggestion is that beginning
in our schools, grades 1-12, we
begin to teach the history of racial
strife in this country. There is
a song from the Broadway play,
South Pacific, entitled “You must
be carefully taught.” One line is,
‘You have to be taught to hate by
the time you are seven or eight.”
Education may be the only way
that we can sensitize a new gen
eration to the racism eating at our
souls for hundreds of years. This
history would include not only
the highlights of the civil rights
movement, Rosa Parks and Dr.
Martin Luther King; but, would
also included lynchings, segrega
tion, voter suppression and Jim
Crow laws that have plagued our
nation for centuries.
Education is the road to moral
awareness and sensitivity.
Otherwise, we are going to keep
on living the lies passed down
from one generation to the next.
I was visiting my home town of
Valdosta recently. And I drove
by what used to be the black
Catholic Church, St. Francis. It
is now being used as a social
relief center. Translation: Just
as there were segregated movie
houses, restaurants, schools, and
neighborhoods in my lifetime,
so too, there were segregated
Catholic Churches as well. We
had a whole set of clergy dedi
cated to serving just the black
community. Looking back, not
too long ago, it seems as if black
Catholics were akin to the lepers
of Molokai, out of sight and out
of mind. Somebody said, “Sunday
in America is the most segregated
day of the week.” Sadly, they may
be right.
I began my ministry in the
black community. Starting off
in Savannah at St. Pius X High
School and continuing at St.
Benedict the Moor parish. We
diocesan priests followed the SMA
(Society of African Missioners) in
the Diocese of Savannah. Those
years gave me some of the happi
est memories I hold in my heart.
We must become more sensi
tive to the fear black men and
women have when they jog or
watch birds or find themselves
in the hands of the police. I write
this on the Feast of Mary, the
Mother of the Church. I pray that
the Blessed Mother will help our
nation heal from its sickness and
sin, then wake up to a new day of
freedom and justice for all.
Monsignor Fred J. Nuem is retired and
PASTOR EMERITUS OF SACRED HEART CHURCH,
Warner Robins.