Sins of the Father

I am taking an African American history class this semester to see if I want to go to graduate school; attending class has only intensified the desire to go to school. It is a very interesting class, and the professor really encourages a lot of discussion. He also tries to get the class to see how events of the past shape the events of today.

Tonight he touched on the idea of "post traumatic slave syndrome". It is an idea that the effects of slavery linger on, even in today's society. That what people decry about the "state of the black family" has roots that go back hundreds of years to slavery. He was not espousing it as something he necessarily believed; more he wanted us to know a strain of academic thought that is present.

The discussions made me think more about "sins of the father". It is a concept I never really got before. Why should I be punished for something my father or some distant ancestor did? Where is the fairness in that?

It's not that I am being punished for another's actions; it's that sin has consequences, some times long reaching consequences we can not even begin to imagine. So while slavery has been illegal since 1865, you cannot undo the sin that resulted from slavery in a few years. African Americans did not obtain full citizenship in 1865 - there were 100 more years of legalized discrimination, Jim Crow, erosion of voting rights, economic discrimination. Not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were African Americans able to fully exercise their right to vote. School segregation and housing segregation continued on till at least 1980 in some places, if not longer. How can we be surprised that there are still racial issues to be dealt with in this country?

The sins of our fathers still linger. I see it every day I go to the gym. After I drop Hardy off at school, I turn beside an older home that is for sale for $1.2 million. In the .4 of the mile I drive from there to the gym, I pass housing projects and other housing that speaks of years of endemic poverty. Even in our small city, there are pockets of poverty and ill-education that are being ignored. How long must these people be punished for the sins of others? And what is my responsibility in this? Do I have any? What can I do so that my children do not have to bear the costs of the sins of those who came before?