By Sharif Adbullah
All around the world, people are talking about global climate change as the problem and “sustainability” (meaning different things to different people) as the solution.
I consider this to be the “low-hanging fruit” of the global transformation movement. Relatively easy to see, relatively easy to fix.
["What!?! Sharif, are you CRAZY??? Global climate change is EASY to fix??? What have YOU been smoking!?!?"]
(I thought I’d add that comment, to save the rest of you from having to write it.)
I believe that, in the restoring, “Mending” work ahead for us humans, coming to grips with the legacies of the combination of colonialism and slavery will be the deepest, most painful work that we will have to do. The changes made necessary by global climate change will pale in comparison. If we DON’T take on this effort, there won’t be any of us around to do the climate change work.
Think about the Holocaust. The entire world knows about the deprivations and horrors visited upon the minority people of central Europe, including 6 million Jews being put to death. Outside of a few crazies, no one denies that this exists, or minimizes its impact.
However horrible, the Holocaust is an event that occurred over a 4-6 year period (depending on how you mark the start). That’s half a decade. It impacted people who were the minorities in Germany and its surrounds. That’s half a continent.
The period of European colonialism and slavery lasted over 500 years. That’s half a millennia. I can’t think of a single continent, a single country, or a single ethnic group, that has not been negatively impacted by this history. It looms so large on the human horizon, we cannot see it.
I can see it. I am the descendant of slaves.
I can see it. I am the descendant of slaves.
The two-headed monster of slavery and colonialism destroyed more civilizations than we can count. Greed and arrogance decimated African societies, South American societies, North American societies… Wherever the twin institutions of slavery and colonialism existed, the disruption of the fabric of humanity was the result.
And we haven’t figured out how to put it right yet.Every single war raging on this planet right now (70-100 wars estimated being fought right now), every one of them, is a legacy war of colonialism and/or slavery. No one wants to own up to this. However, until we do, we will continue to dance around this major issue, to our collective doom.
Every time a black man looks at a white police officer (or anyone else who is a visible representative of authority), they look at each other over a gulf of half a millennia of oppression, pain and suffering. This gulf will not be crossed by ignoring the problem. This gulf will not be crossed with a weekend workshop or encounter group. We pretend that the gulf does not exist, but our very pretense makes the gulf wider than ever.
I know this to be true. I am the descendant of slaves.
My white friends say, “But I didn’t enslave your ancestors! I would have been an abolitionist. Why is it on me to make things right?” The answer is simple: just like we must deal with the global warming that started in the Coal Age, just like our children will have to come to grips with the mounds of garbage created in the Disposable Age, we must deal with the legacy wars, the legacy economics, the legacy disruptions created during the Age of Slavery-Colonialism.
No, you didn’t create this Mess. You just get to clean it up.
I do not forget that I am the descendant of slaves. Your task is not to forget that you are the descendants of the slavemasters.
I do not forget my heritage. While I recognize on one level we are indeed all One, I also recognize that we were each put upon this Earth, at this time, in these bodies, with these various histories, for a reason. Our job is not to FORGET our history, but to TRANSCEND it.
And, transcend this we will. We will because we must. I think about the numbers of people around the US and around the world who are doing cross-barrier dialog talks. I think about the various inter-religious, -ethnic, -cultural, -social groups that have sprung up over the years. I think about the hundreds of millions of people struggling with the legacy problems created by the European powers meddling with international borders and international people. (I find it interesting that the first act of the fledgling United Nations was to ratify the world’s international borders. The Third World borders were created for the benefit of the colonial powers, created by arbitrary, capricious and arrogant means.)
Yes, the people of the world will seek and give forgiveness. Yes, the people of the world will reconcile. Yes, we will re-do ALL of our national borders, we will offer and receive reparations for our great grandparents activities, and we will end the legacy wars and the legacy oppression of the Second Millennium.
Global climate change is supposed to change the shorelines of the world’s continents over the next 100 years, as oceans rise. Human activity will change the REST of the world map, as all the lines change when we transcend our history of slavery and colonialism.
And remember: global climate change and slavery-colonialism are just TWO of 50-100 symptoms of “the Mess”. We’ve got to roll up our sleeves and get started!
* * *
Every day, consciously or through default, we shape a society that is in line with our values. Therefore, paradoxically, recognizing and accepting our collective responsibility gives us the collective empowerment to make substantive changes in ourselves and our society. ~ Sharif Abdullah
No comments:
Post a Comment