Brutality and Betrayal leave deep emotional and psychological scars. Brutality is when a person is treated like an animal or an object. There is no subterfuge to brutality. It is raw abuse. Betrayal comes in many forms. Treating a friend as you would an enemy, or a member of a tribe as an outsider. It is rooted in a lie.
Black Americans have suffered both brutality and betrayal for generations. Generations is the proper unit of measure. The great-great grandparents of most Black Americans were slaves. The grand parents of most Black America lived under Jim Crow laws and the horror of KKK violence. All Black "baby boomers" were born before the civil rights protections of the 1960's.
It will take generations for the wounds to heal. Healing has two steps. (1) Forgiveness, which is unilateral. “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.” Many Black Americans aren't there yet. (2) The second step is much harder, Reconciliation. Healing the societal relationship, so that Blacks feel they belong, and aren't the "other".
This article from Psychology Today could have been written by a Christian minister 200 years ago. Same principles. Will a movement or leader emerge to move us along this path?
Brutality and Betrayal leave deep emotional and psychological scars. Brutality is when a person is treated like an animal or an object. There is no subterfuge to brutality. It is raw abuse. Betrayal comes in many forms. Treating a friend as you would an enemy, or a member of a tribe as an outsider. It is rooted in a lie.
Black Americans have suffered both brutality and betrayal for generations. Generations is the proper unit of measure. The great-great grandparents of most Black Americans were slaves. The grand parents of most Black America lived under Jim Crow laws and the horror of KKK violence. All Black "baby boomers" were born before the civil rights protections of the 1960's.
It will take generations for the wounds to heal. Healing has two steps. (1) Forgiveness, which is unilateral. “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.” Many Black Americans aren't there yet. (2) The second step is much harder, Reconciliation. Healing the societal relationship, so that Blacks feel they belong, and aren't the "other".
This article from Psychology Today could have been written by a Christian minister 200 years ago. Same principles. Will a movement or leader emerge to move us along this path?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-therapy/201303/forgiveness-vs-reconciliation