We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

1145251820_a893266e4e

An Uneasy History

Although Abraham Lincoln is widely regarded as a tireless champion for the equal rights of African Americans, there are many indications that he held views that we would find shocking today. It’s important to understand the reality of our history to truly appreciate the challenges we face in the area of racial reconciliation today. In her New York Times article entitled A Separate Peace, Kate Masur delves into parts of our history that are sometimes hard to comprehend.

From the article:

Those interested in the history of abolition and racial equality would find few incidents in Lincoln’s presidency as dispiriting as the president’s Aug. 14, 1862, meeting with a delegation of five black men from Washington. It was dispiriting then as well: to the dismay of those hoping the Civil War would lead to full citizenship for African-Americans, Lincoln informed the delegation that “you and we are different races” and proposed that the five men be progenitors of a black colony the government would establish in Chiriquí, a region of what is now Panama.

Image by rodolfo. Used in accordance with Creative Commons. Sourced via Flickr.

Category:
Tags:

Related Reading

Confessions of a Christian Nation (Racism)

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Greg Boyd, Brian McLaren and Brian Zahnd apologize to the African American community for the church’s complicity in the oppression of African Americans throughout American history. Video by Rex Harsin

Kingdom Reconciliation is Not About Politics (But it is Political)

In the broader culture, the social and political discussions about racial reconciliation are usually focused on people’s rights and privileges as a means of making the world a fairer place. The criteria such efforts at reconciliation appeal to are common decency, fairness and reason. The enterprise is certainly necessary, and all decent, fair minded, rational…

Be the Change Now

Ghandi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” It’s a profoundly Kingdom teaching. It seems to me, however, that few people adopt Ghandi’s philosophy. It’s far easier to focus our attention on how others should change. It’s far easier to spend our energy assigning blame for the problems of society…

A Step Toward Racial Reconciliation

In this sermon clip, Greg, as a representative of a white man in America, asks for forgiveness of people of color for all the harm that white America has done. This is not about disparaging whiteness. This is simply about acknowledging the truth of our heritage so that we can make a way for healing,…

Something Further on Ferguson: I Raise My Hands

Osheta Moore is a friend of ReKnew with a unique Kingdom vision. She is a voice you will want to be listening to. She wrote this sensitive and prophetic piece on her personal response to the death of Michael Brown and the subsequent events in Ferguson called I Raise My Hands: A Prayerful Response to…

Podcast: How Much Hope Should We Have that We Can Find Unity Amid So Much Diversity?

Greg looks at Galatians 3:26-29.  http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0370.mp3