Growing up, I’ve always understood Memorial Day to have been started to honor the soldiers whose lives had been sacrificed for our freedom. We are taught in school that these brave men and women fought to end slavery and on behalf of freedom and equality. But the more I come to learn about racism segregation and white privelage, the more my white-privelaged world is shattered.
Earlier today I participated in a particularly controversial conversation around this, and my thoughts and feelings are still left unsettled by the whole exchange. How easy it is for us to take a situation like Memorial Day and use it to exalt White people and allow ourselves to turn a blind eye to racial injustice. How quick we are to consider honoring the White people we always have honored and remembering the Black people we often forget mutually exclusive. As if one could not possibly exist with the other. As if they are not both equally important to the Kingdom and God’s plan for it. It breaks my heart.
During this discussion, I learned where Memorial Day got its original roots from. According to Ben Becker (Memorial Day and its roots), Memorial Day was originally a holiday celebrated by Black residents in South Carolina after the Civil War. Originally called “Decoration Day,” this day was one where former Black slaves would celebrate emancipation and honor the soldiers that fought so hard for it. But of course, like so many Black traditions, the holiday became much broader and slowly turned to emphasize the many lives of White individuals that fought for us, slowly pushing Black soldiers to the back burner.
I can’t help but think of all the soldiers that were never recognized because of the color of their skin. I couldn’t help but be ashamed of our “savior complex”…this desire to exalt ourselves as White individuals that “fought to end slavery”, when we really practiced racial segregation and racial via within the military itself. And I can’t stop thinking about how the system CONTINUES to fail these people by allowing racism and by shoving these pains aside.
I had the privilege of being a part of a campus ministry that chose to highlight racial reconciliation as a value in their chapter. I am blessed to have learned so much about racial injustice and white privilege and to stand along others in that fight. Something I myself struggle with is wishing we could just “turn it off” and just not talk about it so much, because it is painful and I always feel ashamed. But that’s usually when the Lord humbles me. When we choose to ignore the issues around us, to allow ourselves to become frustrated that this issue is being drilled into our heads, we are exercising that white privilege. Part of our privilege is just our ability to not think about it. But for others, it is the very life they live. They can’t escape the racism and the prejudice and the hate they experience just for the color of their skin.
I have to ask. Who are we to say “I am tired of hearing about this,” when we can not possibly understand their every day struggles. We all struggle with identity. Asking ourselves who we truly are, and ultimately learning to love ourselves because Christ does. How hard it just be to truly believe that when the world tells you you’re worthless. How painful it must be to be a Black soldier on this day when the world forgets about you, and White people take credit for what you did.
In no way do I mean to dishonor those that fought for us. Every day I appreciate our freedoms to express ourselves and have open discussions like this. I mourn for wives that lost husbands and children that lost parents and parents that lost children. It breaks my heart yet simultaneously fills my heart when I see people gathering at the cemetery, or when I see pictures of Arlington National Cemetery. I could not imagine what it would be like to risk your life for your country. To me, that is such a perfect way that we get to lay our lives down for our brothers and sisters. That is truly loving as Christ loves.
I just pray that one day, we can celebrate ALL lives sacrificed. After all, it is Memory-All Day.
conquerorsforchrist 