The High Cost of Living in the USA | Part 2
by Elouise
The high cost of living in the USA has fallen on African Americans from the very beginning of this nation. The goal has been and, it seems, still is to keep them in their places and optimize the gains of those in power. Including the power of those of us who think we have no power.
The high cost didn’t go down when slavery was outlawed. We simply notched it up with lynching, and then discovered mass incarceration. Some argue that mass incarceration is simply the latest way to get cheap labor and ‘disappear’ Black Americans without getting into legal trouble.
Are we the land of the free and the home of the brave? Yes and no. Yes if you’re able to reach and maintain inner freedom and courage in the face of overwhelmingly negative odds. Perhaps we’ve looked to the wrong heroes to show us what true freedom and bravery looks like.
I remember more than one of my younger African American male seminarians telling me he didn’t think he’d live to be an adult. Besides a history of slavery, lynching and entrenched racism, there’s random gun violence every day, entrenched poverty, and limited options regardless of ability. Add to this the availability of drugs and alcohol, and the mistake of being in public space if you’re Black.
Last month a new Memorial to Peace and Justice opened. It’s dedicated to making visible our history of slavery, lynching and now mass incarceration. I want to visit this new Memorial before I die. Why? Because it’s past time to look at this part of my heritage as a white female.
In summer 1950, my family moved from California to rural Savannah, Georgia, just a short walk from what we called ‘colored town.’ I wasn’t aware of animosity between races. I was, however, painfully aware of economic disparities on display every day. Not just in our rural community, but in the city.
I now know from reading about the new memorial, and from this interactive map, that the state of Georgia is #2 in the list of states with the highest lynching record between 1882 and 1930. In fact, from 1877 to 1950, Georgia lynched 586 black men, women and children. Do you know how many were lynched in your state?
I’m told I enjoy white privilege. It’s true. When I get up in the morning I don’t have to worry about thousands of things including being seen in public as a white woman. I would suggest that this ‘privilege’ is better defined as white ignorance. I’ve learned, simply by breathing the air around me, how to be blind and unresponsive to what’s right before my eyes every day of my life.
So where do I go with this? Though data is important, I don’t think the solution lies in miles and miles of data. Instead, I’m rooting for the poets, the songwriters, the storytellers, and the truth tellers. Including truth-tellers like those who dreamed about and planned this new National Memorial.
©Elouise Renich Fraser, 23 May 2018
Photo found at Wickipedia; y Shameran81 – Courtesy Middleton Place, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55786120
Telling the Truth 
History teaches us, the forgiveness isn’t practiced often enough, and that the human race is not the smartest, those below those on top, suffer, it’s human fact. If you need to encourage change, remind them Of Jesus, and how forgiving his father is, blessings.
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Thank you for your comment. I agree that forgiveness is important. Whatever forgiveness means, it doesn’t mean a soft or easy road to reconciliation. I don’t think you’re suggesting that it’s easy. Jesus shows us how difficult forgiveness is, and how few are willing to examine themselves (as did the thief on the cross). As a white woman, I don’t expect easy forgiveness from others I’ve hurt. I do, however, believe it’s worth pursuing. Not in order to change others, but in order to experience change in myself. But perhaps you had something else in mind.
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What a heart-rending post, Elouise. Thank for for sharing all of it, and the picture at the top. Quite a sampler, that one. Your courage and brave intentions will lead you the right way, never fear. 🙂 xxx
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You’re so welcome, Fran. The sampler came at the end of a long search. I was thrilled to find it because I think the human emotions/realities of slavery aren’t often depicted in this way. Thanks for your encouragement! I sometimes wonder whether we’ll ever ‘get there’ on this one. Though I’m seeing encouraging signs, especially among younger generations. 🙂
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This post echoes the plight of the First Nations people in Canada. I wish I knew of a solution, but the racism is so ingrained here.
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Oh yes, Candice. It’s all connected, isn’t it? (Your history and ours.) I would love to see a grand solution. It seems, at least for me, that’s far away even though there are growing signs that the younger generation isn’t going to stand for this anymore. Though the way ahead will still be difficult….
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I do hope for change, and true reconciliation.
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That is the saddest picture I have ever seen , I cannot for the life of me think of anything so heart wrenching.
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Thanks for this comment, Brian. I’m in full agreement. It brings the whole mess home in a way unlike all the old photos–which are heart wrenching, too.
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It’s very hard to image now and impossible to understand the gut wrenching heartbreak that those Negroes went through.
And mostly the fault of my forebears, the English;
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I cannot fathom the depths that you have felt here. As Brian said how sad that picture is. I know of white southern women who still want to say that the civil war had nothing to do with race or slavery. The more excuses we can find for our mistakes the easier it is to feel blameless.
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I love your final line — “The more excuses we can find for our mistakes the easier it is to feel blameless.” And the easier it is to believe myths about the uncivil war. I think the kickback against Obama and his presidency is a primer in how deeply rooted racism and so-called white power are in this country. Even though many would never admit this.
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most excellent post E and the image really drove it home. So far to go but with hope in the heart and a hand ready to lend, one way or another, I hope we succeed, sometime in my lifetime preferably of course 🙂
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Yes, sometime in our lifetime–and if not mine, then yours and my childrens’ lifetimes. I’m hoping and praying that younger generations already have within their ranks the women, men and children who can begin turning us toward each other. That little hand-stitched bag made me cry when I saw it. So much agony and so much ignorance. We must do better than this. And I must find a way to come to terms with it, too.
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