蜜芽传媒

Good Morning.聽聽I'm a white Southerner. I'm also descended from enslaved Africans in Martinique. The earliest Clavier ancestor I've traced was a black woman named Elizabeth, who gained her freedom in the late 1700s.

The Claviers subsequently became prominent members of the free Black community in Martinique and St Lucia. Yet, some also owned slaves.

My 4x great grandfather Jean-Pierre was compensated 拢500 by the British government for the 21 slaves he owned. One of his sons was an abolitionist who owned slaves and a sugar refinery that depended on slavery. Tragically, it was common for wealthy black Caribbeans to own slaves.

Several things strike me about my Black heritage. First, the whiter we Claviers have become, so too the poorer. Second, I鈥檓 in the ironic position of being a white Southerner coming to terms with his black slaving-owning ancestry. How do you square a heritage that includes slaves, successful black men in a white world, abolitionists, and slave owners, all inextricably entwined together?

The only way I know is by recognizing how a morally compromised society built on racism infects everyone more pervasively than our rhetoric acknowledges. It鈥檚 all the more toxic for it, too.

The lesson for me is that seriously tackling structural racism won't just result in the improvement of black lives. It will transform all our lives in ways we hardly dare to imagine.

Dear Lord, who calls all people into perfect fellowship, give us your grace to put aside all our divisions, to see your image in our neighbours, and to seek justice and mercy for all. Amen.