Monday, November 27, 2006

Taking it to the Black Man's God

Here's this week's column. Enjoy.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Magnificent psalm Julie. I recommended it.

Anonymous said...

Julie, your psalm was very powerful. Thank you so much for sharing it.

In junior high, I looked to God for my deliverance from sin
so that I might go to heaven
Black Americans looked to God for their deliverance from my sins,
from the sins white people committed against them
that they might know heaven on earth.


Here's my confession:

I grew up in a family where my grandparents had black "help." My dad's nanny was named "Cherry." My nanny was her daughter, "Pretty Pet."

I remember the year that my elementary school integrated. I was in third grade and one of the black boys in my class liked to walk me home. My grandmother worked hard to explain to me why that was wrong.

When I was 14 I fell in love with a black boy who was my next-door-neighbor. We hid our relationship from everyone except my mom and his dad. We rode the bus together to school everyday without talking or even acknowledging each other in any way. We carried on this way for two years before I moved away.

As much as I can tell, these seeds of prejudice did not take in my heart, but they do hurt me to this day.

Until we each own our part in the issue of race, division will remain.