I can sing that song in three verses
As I was heading down a country road this morning, I came across a farm. As I looked out in the field I noticed a lot of cows scattered over the horizon. The cows were of all different colors. There were brown cows, black cows, white cows, and spotted cows. Then I noticed the strangest thing and I don’t think I have even seen this before. But on this morning I saw it. All the white cows were gathered together in one part of the field away from all the other color cows. I drove by later in the afternoon and all the cows were mingling together then.
James Weldon Johnson was born in 1871 in Jacksonville, Florida. His mother, Helen, was born in Nassau, Bahamas. His great grandmother had escaped from Saint-Domingue during the revolutionary upheaval in 1802. His brother, John, became a composer.
James participated in Teddy Roosevelt’s 1904 Presidential campaign. TR appointed him as United States consul at Puerto Cabello, Venezuela from 1906 to 1908 and to Nicaragua from 1909 to 1913. James Weldon Johnson passed away in 1938.
You have to go way back in Jewish history if you want to understand this one and even then I’m not sure it makes too much sense. You have to start with the Twelve Brothers (sons of Jacob) or the Twelve Tribes, as they are called. One of the Twelve Tribes was Joseph’s family. You know, the guy with the coat of many colors. When they were dividing things up his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, got equal shares with the other eleven brothers. It is claimed, that from these two sons of Joseph, they were descendants.
The great dispute was where the holy city really was. The Jews claimed it was Jerusalem. The other group claimed it was Mount Gerizim. They claimed that Mount Gerizim was the Holy Place of Israel from the time Joshua conquered Canaan. They also claim that they are the true descendants from “The Ten Lost Tribes” taken into Assyrian captivity. Neither group was allowed to talk with or have any contact with the other group. It was even frowned on to cross into the other group’s territory. Their relationship has never healed.
The United States has struggled a long time with internal race relations. I imagine if you were looking at it from the outside, it would appear we weren’t even talking the same language. How can two different societies have such polar opposite views on the same events? Yet, here we sit in 2014 and things keep coming up to remind us that we still have a long way to go before we can understand one another better.
One of the issues in the clash of racial relations seems to be the income disparity. Breaking the cycle of poverty is a very hard task, especially in the inner cities. Generations of family members are often forced to live together to meet the budget requirements of paying a mortgage and other family expenses. The father is often missing. Those children who do try their best to improve their conditions are often ostracized by their peers. An “us versus them” spirit swells in the community. Soon, it is thought, everyone is out to get them because no matter what they do, they cannot escape this trap. They feel they have had no part to play in making the rules and that justice rules against them because of who they are, not because the rules are fair.
On the flip side, you have a society that has had things handed down to them from one generation to the next. Opportunities, education, and stable families seem to be a fixture in most of these communities. Hard work is thought to be the trait that helps you move ahead, even though contacts in the establishment are more readily available to them than the other group. Jobs handed to someone outside their circle, especially immigrants, make them feel uncomfortable. They follow the rules and expect everyone else to follow them, too.
It was a very long trip and he was very tired. He was also very thirsty. He came upon a well but didn’t have anything to dip the water out of the well. There she sat beside the well. He was a Jew. She was from the other group we talked about earlier, the dreaded Samaritans. He was in her land, which was bad enough. Then He did the unthinkable, He talked to her. He not only talked to her, but He asked her to get him a drink. Not only was she a Samaritan, but she had had five husbands and was messing around with the sixth. But the differences did not stop Jesus from trying to heal the great divide that separated them. Jesus knew that heaven wasn’t a place of differences, but heaven was a place of love despite the differences.
James Weldon Johnson was one of the first African American to be chosen executive secretary of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). He is probably better remembered as the writer, of what is now called The African American Nation Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing.
Rosa Parks was a civil rights icon who was known for the day when she was finished up a hard day at work and boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955. She refused to give up her seat for the white passengers who boarded three stops later, although three other African Americans did give up their seats. This soon would start the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton presented Rosa Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. All the big names in the civil rights movement were there. All were proud of this woman’s accomplishments. Jessye Norman led the crowd in singing Lift Every Voice and Sing. Everyone, loudly and proudly, without the words or sheet music, sang the first verse. By the second verse there were only a few left singing and even at the end of that verse there were only two left singing because no one else knew the words. It was a duet on verse three as President Clinton and Jessye Norman sang alone.
The answer to racial discord isn’t black or white. The answer is all about working together to make this a better country for all the individuals who call it home. It may require knowing the words to someone else’s favorite song better than they do.
By the way, the last verse to Lift Every Voice and Sing goes like this:
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our God,
True to our native land.
Prayer: : Dear Mighty Father, We have such a great country that You have given us. Please don’t let us tear apart because we fail to get along with one another. Amen.
