Hello My Chickadees,
“The People Could Fly” is the title of a children’s book of American Black folktales by Virginia Hamilton. The book is a collection of folklore passed down from a people brought from Africa and enslaved in a foreign land. Unlike another people in the Bible who were taken into captivity, enslaved, and wondered “How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land” (Psalms 137:4); enslaved Africans were not even permitted to sing their native songs because speaking their language was prohibited. These people, who survived the Middle Passage, of which an estimated 2 million of them died or were killed during the journey; were stripped of their identity, culture, custom, family, language, and home, before being branded and deemed property. Without dignity or humanity, and being numbered among the cattle, they endured the brutality of a ‘Peculiar Institution’ known as chattel slavery.
In the words of Isabel Wilkerson in her book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents”, she writes, “The institution of slavery was the converging of human beings into currency, into machines who existed solely for the profit of their owners to be worked as long as the owner desired, who had no rights over their bodies, or loved ones; who could be mortgaged, bred, won in a bet, given as wedding presents, bequeathed to heirs, sold away from spouses or children to cover an owner’s debt, or to spite a rival, or to settle an estate. They were regularly whipped, raped and branded; subjected to any whim or distemper of the people who owned them.”
It is said that in the legend of “The People Could Fly”, enslaved Africans brought within them magic, that when unleashed, enabled them to fly. This power remained dormant within them, until the slave master’s whip triggered in Sara, a tortured enslaved woman, the memory of this power to fly. She urged Toby, one of the older slaves from the Motherland, to speak the words that unleashed this power to fly. It is said that old and young joined hands and flew to freedom.
Freedom is always at the forefront of anyone held captive, and for Africans enslaved in America, it was a 246 year process. Our reality of freedom, and the hope of rights associated with those given in the 14th amendment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, were linked to Lincoln’s desire to win the war between the North and the South. Throughout history, Lincoln has been credited with freeing the slaves, but the truth is that Lincoln as ‘a Liberator’ was a process of evolution. He felt that freed black people should be colonized outside the US and that they should be separated. His initial position was that Blacks are not equal to whites, and he blamed them for the Civil War. In reality, the institution of slavery was the cause of the country’s great divide; not those who were oppressed. It was not until Lincoln realized that he needed the slaves to fight in the Union Army in order to win; and he recognized their dedication, bravery, and loyalty to the Union, that he signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
When the Civil War ended in 1865, Lincoln decreed that African American soldiers who served in the union would be given the right to vote. This was a game changer, along with the ratification of the 13th amendment which abolished slavery and permanently freed enslaved people in America. However, with the assassination of Lincoln eight months later, the tide began to change. Eerily reminiscent of a recent changing of the guard from Obama to Trump, Andrew Johnson’s position was that “This is a country for white men.” Although Blacks were free, they did not have citizenship and therefore no recourse to fight against the white establishment.
During the period of Reconstruction and with the Civil Rights Act of 1866, “African Americans enjoyed a period when they were allowed to actively participate in the political process, acquire the land of the former owners, seek their own employment, and use public accommodations.” In this 12- year period of Reconstruction, Blacks took full advantage of these freedoms and established churches, schools, and universities; held political office, and were able to affect change for everyone, especially disenfranchised Blacks. All these changes took place under the protection of, and the watchful eye of, the Freedman’s Bureau and federal troops. As so often experienced, backlash is the response to any progress made by African Americans, and as Blacks were embracing the power of change that their vote and ballot afforded them, southern whites began to devise plans to restore the southern tradition of white supremacy as the southern way, and the gains that Blacks experienced began to erode. The implementation of such laws as the Black Codes were designed to “keep the Negro in his place.” Secret societies such as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Camellias, the white Brotherhood, and other terrorist groups, formed to exercise absolute control over Blacks. “They used intimidation, force, ostracism in business and society, bribery at the polls, arson, and even murder to accomplish their deeds. Depriving Blacks of political equality became to them a holy crusade, in which a noble end justified any means. Blacks were run out of communities if they disobeyed orders to desist from voting, and the more resolute and therefore insubordinate Blacks were whipped, maimed, and hanged.”(3) The end result of all their progress was 150 years of Jim Crow.
I am calling attention to this brief history lesson because the Bible states in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again, there is nothing new under the sun.”
My Chickadees, it is for this reason I feel compelled to call our attention to the full court press on voter suppression. Georgia’s attempt to limit ‘out-of-precinct voting,’ hurts Black neighborhoods, and reduces Black voters’ access to the ballot box across the state. Their House Bill 531 would “throw out a voter’s entire ballot if it is cast at the wrong precinct.” This becomes an issue for people who have moved within the county. A survey done in Georgia found that Black voters live in neighborhoods with much higher rates of in-county-moves (37% of whites vs 64% of Blacks); and Black voters are more likely to be hit especially hard by the elimination of the out-of-precinct voting allowance.
In Texas: Senate Bill 7 would “require an equal number of voting machines at countywide holding locations, which is a backdoor way of eliminating large voting centers that could be used by large numbers of city residents. The bill also makes it illegal to offer 24 hour and drive through voting.” (Here is the big kicker) “It requires that voters seeking to use the disability exemption for voting by mail provide documentary proof of their disability, and it openly invites the harassment of voters at polling places by allowing poll watchers to videotape voters while they are voting.” Their House Bill 6 would also prohibit election officials from sending absentee ballot applications to voters who have not requested them.
We must be aware and vigilant as other states follow suit. Voter suppression is not new in our country, but with the browning of America, we are seeing and experiencing more efforts to suppress the vote. Such actions as:
Imposing strict voter ID laws (“racial minorities are more likely than whites to lack accepted voter ID”)
Cutting voting times
Restricting registration and purging voter rolls
The weakening of the Voting Rights Act of 2013 by the Supreme Court, which has demonstrated throughout history, it is not always a friend to black and brown people.
Inability to assist a voter who is disabled or in need of assistance as a result of a language barrier, or disabled in another form from getting assistance with casting their ballot.
Redistricting
Gerrymandering, and the list goes on.
Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The real magic of the “people who could fly” was a belief in a God of deliverance AND trusting that our God will empower us with the means to make it happen. Let us hold fast to James 2:17 which states, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Let us do our part as we call on the God of deliverance to bestow upon us the ability to fly.
Peace and blessings,
Gail
References
1. “The African American Odyssey: A Quest For Full Citizenship, Reconstruction and its Aftermath”
2. “Amend: The Fight For American Democracy”
3. Franklin, John Hope and Moss, Alfred: “From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans”, McGraw-Hill, © 1994 Pg. 250
4. Brennan Center for Justice
PS. Stay tuned, “Good Morning my Chickadees” is coming.
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