Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. George Floyd. Rayshard Brooks. These black lives, along with myriad others before them, did not matter to their white killers. Nor have black lives mattered much since the first enslaved people were transported to America in 1619.
Black lives did not matter during slavery; or after the Civil War; or during Reconstruction; or when the Klan terrorized and lynched black people. Black lives did not matter in the South of Jim Crow, that region of separate and unequal housing, education, health care and more.
And I confess that black lives did not matter to my slave-owning forebears in Virginia and Tennessee. They regarded slaves as nothing more than property—good only for planting and harvesting and carrying crops to market, where people of color were also bought and sold.
Black lives have mattered little to whites throughout American history, but they have always mattered to God, for, according to Genesis, God created all people, including those of color, and declared us good, each one of us made in the very image of God.
In his book “I and Thou,” the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber wrote that every human being is a Thou, sacred, and should be revered. No human being is an “It,” a life devoid of intrinsic worth. No person should be treated as less than fully human, less than a reflection of the Divine.
Although black lives did not matter to my ancestors, they matter to me profoundly.
I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, who embodies the God of love. And love, as Jesus taught and lived it, is the relentless pursuit of the greatest good for all people, including ones of color, for every person is a Thou.
After reading Colson Whitehead’s novel, “The Underground Railroad,” I felt convicted of my sin against people of color. No, I did not participate in the enslavement of black people, but I did benefit indirectly from that evil system, including wealth and privilege and power that are mine because of my race.
I am repenting of my sin and am amending my life, demonstrating by concrete action that black lives matter to me. And so I am supporting St. Augustine’s University, established by the Episcopal Church in 1867. I invite you to consider giving to an historically black college or university.
And, in the words of one of my baptismal promises, I am striving for justice and peace in other ways. With members of my congregation, Christ Episcopal Church, I participated in Roll on for Justice, a public witness against racism and for justice.
Black lives matter to God. They matter to me. And hope and pray that black lives will matter to all of us and that we will show they do, that every person of color is a Thou, by our words and deeds of love.
