WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE

This past week I both watched a movie and read a book that I found very interesting, both with a similar topic and both of which I would recommend. I read the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglas and I watch Amazing Grace. The book is an account of Douglas written by himself and tells of his trials with slavery. This is a short book, a quick read, and can enlighten anyone wanting to know about American slavery. I also believe it has something to teach about racial problems today. In his book, Douglas makes two interesting comments. One, that the more religion a master had the more cruel he was. Many would think, as did Douglas originally, that religion would bring a softing to slavery. However Douglas said that slaveholders used religion to justify their actions and once they felt God sanctioned slavery there was no end to their cruelty. Secondly he felt that slavery corrupted whites. This theory goes with Thomas Jefferson’s theory of why he disapproved of slavery. Once a white owned a human, the very act of absolute power over another’s life turned them into a tyrant. In Douglas’s case he was sent to live in Baltimore with a lady, her husband, and their child. At first the mistress was excited to have the young Douglas in her home (he was around 10 or 12). She had never owned a slave and treated him like family, including teaching him to read. When her husband found out about reading, he put a stop to it, and explained why teaching a slave to read was dangerous. Over the next few years, the mistress went from good to bad as slavery became part of her life and she became more accustomed to it. She stopped seeing Douglas as family and instead as someone always trying to get away with something (like reading which he was). There are other examples in the books of first time slave holders losing their goodness once they became a master.

For our times I think this book has a connection. First, I do believe blacks have started at a disadvantage. It is much easier for suburban whites to make it for themselves than blacks who grew up in a ghetto who have no foundation to build on. Yet at the same time the story of Douglas is a story of a slave who would not accept living in his condition. Once Douglas had a little education he ached inside to learn more. He wanted to learn so badly that he was willing to sacrifice his personal safety to not only read, but teach others. When other slaves found that he could read they begged him to teach them. Compare that to day, where the inner city youth are criticized for wanting to read or better themselves, called names like Uncle Tom. If Douglas could pull himself up from slavery, today’s youth if they had even an ounce of Douglas’s determination could pull themselves out of their current situation. I am not saying it is easy, I am not saying I had to do this, but I do know it is possible if the motivation is there, and their priorities are there and they want to follow someone like Douglas, King, Chavez, instead of rappers, gangsters, and thugs.

I also watched Amazing Grace, a movie about the abolitionist movement in England. This movie stars Ioan Gruffudd (quickly becoming one of my favorite actors, see the movies worth watch list on the right) who plays the real life William Wilberforce, a rich merchant that becomes a member of the British parliament. He dedicated his life to ending the African slave trade, which was difficult because many member of parliament had economic ties to the practice. It is a slow movie, yet I found myself intrigued. It was well acted and told a very important story and about an important man. One of the side stories was about a man named John Newton who in his early years made his living as a slave trader (picking up slaves in Africa and shipping them to the Americas). After a religious conversion, he became a Methodist minister and is most famous for writing the song Amazing Grace. He also was the minister to Wilberforce. For LDS readers this is interesting. Amazing Grace may be the most famous Christian Hymn ever, yet it is not in our Hymnal. This is not doctrine, but an opinion I have held for a while is that the story of the song is not LDS doctrine. It is a beautifully song, but it relays too much on grace as the only thing needed for salvation. As LDS we believe it is only through God’s grace that men are saved, but we steer away from the evangelical notion and accepting Christ is the only requirement. Our faith teaching that if you accept Christ then you must follow his will and fulfill the requirements he has asked. So when a slave trader (about as evil as they come) accepts Christ and repents that is great, but it does not stop there. I say sing the song, (I have heard the Tabernacle Choir sing it), but understand why it is not in our book.

Slavery is such an interesting topic. It was so horrible for the slave, yet carried out often by good people. I think we need to understand slavery to completely understand this nation, for without slavery we may never have been a nation. We need to teach it and embrace it as part of our past or how can we ever have a true dialog about it. I think we should celebrate men like Wilberforce, Douglas, Sumner, Garrison, men who dedicated their lives to the end of slavery. Instead of cursing White America (Rev. Wright), why not look to those who fought slavery and recognize that yes American enslaved black men, but they also fought a war that cost 600,000 men’s lives to free black men. There are good and bad in every race and every nation, but hopefully when we accept what we have done wrong and embrace that we have and are trying to make things better, maybe one day we will truly judge men by the content of their heart and not the color of their skin.