lest we forget

last night i lost my Opera Virginity and i'm sooo excited about it! me and one of my good girlfriends went to see 'Margaret Garner' which is the operatic telling of the story of the slave who killed her children vs. allowing them to go into bondage. her story is what Toni Morrison wrote about in Beloved, and what the movie of the same name was about.

the director of the theater came out and gave a brief introduction of the opera, the history of it, and why he thought it was so important that it be performed, especially at this time. one of the reasons he stated was simple, yet so all-encompassing:

lest we forget.

though we stand at a crossroads of history right now, lest we forget that we are NOT that far removed from slavery, from segregation/Jim Crow laws, or from institutionalized racism. though the former have gone away (well, slavery still exists in some parts of the world, but the American concept of chattel slavery has been abolished), the latter still remains and much work still needs to be done to eradicate that completely. hearts must be changed.

as i watched Margaret's story last night, i alternated between anger and awe. i am one of those black folks that watches slavery movies or even more modern day "do-the-right-thing"-esque films and gets RED HOT, so imagine what it's like to watch it in live action! it also makes me think about--what the HECK would i have done had that been me?? would i have killed my own child so that she wouldn't have to be enslaved, violated, and beaten?? how much i take for granted on a daily basis--sitting where i want in a restaurant, or a train/bus, drinking from whatever water fountain i want, swimming in whatever pool i want, working in a white-male dominated field and being successful.

lest we forget.

there are many black folks (and folks of other persuasions, for that matter) that think we need to just "move on." that those days are over, and that slavery is a thing of the past. segregation is a thing of the past. we need to get over it.

really?

no one tells Jewish ppl to "forget" the Holocaust and they don't. our Jewish brothers and sisters are very cognizant of their tragic past, and spend a lot of time, energy, money, and other resources to educate themselves and future generations about the lessons of the Holocaust so that it might never happen again.

so, just because we've seemingly "arrived," why should we be expected to forget where we came from?

the Holocaust was geographically removed from us. it didn't happen on American soil, and its legacies, though painful, are hardly ingrained into the fabric of this country.

living in America, no matter how much the Land of Opportunity it may be, we are still confronted with the legacies of slavery/racism on a daily basis, no matter how covert they may be.

my fear is that since Brother BO has been elected, certain folks (of-color persuasion and others) will implore upon us that this is an indication that all of the "race questions" have been answered and we truly are in a so-called "post-racial" society. not so much. though BO's election is definitely an example of GREAT progress, we still must not rest on our laurels.

we've come this far by faith.

and we must never forget.