Confession in all three branches of the Christian Church includes both sins of commission and omission. Acts violating God’s commands are confessed as sins of commission. Sins of omission are committed by failing to perform an action one ought to do. Whether one belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern or Greek Orthodox Church, or any Protestant Church, both sins are confessed corporately and individually. As such, any and all wrongdoing is covered in most liturgical confessions. Judaism also recognizes sins of commission and omission.
The slave market in Cairo circa 1846-1849 (cropped). Library of Congress.
The above represents a sound, healthy, and just system of acknowledging, dealing with, and recognizing just about any sin or wrongdoing that can be committed. Wouldn’t it be equally a healthy and just system for American life in general? Instead of directing such confessions to God, they would be directed to the American people. Are there such wrongs? Yes, we tend to acknowledge and recognize some but not all, and historical omissions are undeniably serious.
One such serious omission takes place in the elementary and secondary education of America’s children and youth. It relates to the history of American slavery. This may come as a surprise to many, given the obsessive focus on this aspect of American history. However, American slavery has been inaccurately taught to American children very early in life, engendering racial animosity and division. How is that history taught to encourage such responses?
American slavery is taught inaccurately by omitting important facts or truths. Generally speaking, it is basically taught that only two races represent the oppressed and oppressor. The oppressed are black and the oppressors are white, period! The former is true, but the latter is false.
In other words, the oppressed, i.e., the slaves, were definitely all black. However, the oppressors were not solely white; they were multiracial. Black slaves were owned by black slaveowners, caucasian slaveowners, and Native American slaveowners. While whites owned the majority of slaves, they represented a very small percentage of the majority population, not just in America as a whole, but in the South as well. Meanwhile, there were thousands of black slave owners, despite the relatively small number of blacks overall compared to the white population. Additionally, five Native American tribes, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole, also owned thousands of black slaves.
Fortunately, numerous black historians acknowledge this history: Dr. John Hope Franklin, Dr. Louis Henry Gates, Jr., Dr. Thomas Sowell, and Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Interestingly, Dr. Franklin’s father, Buck Colbert Franklin (Choctaw ancestry), was born in the Chickasaw tribe. His ancestors were slaves to Native Americans.
It’s worth noting, relative to historical omissions, that the origin of America’s slaves was African nations and tribes. The major oppressors were black Africans and some Arab Muslims. So, basically, America’s slaves originated in Africa from an African institution. In fact, most of those nations and tribes resisted the abolition of slavery, allowing it to continue well into the twentieth century. So, whites abolished slavery in America and Europe long before blacks abolished it in Africa. This is also a significant omission from American elementary and secondary history classes.
Such omissions are serious; they represent a huge falsehood, creating a myth, and, more than that, harming children’s interracial relationships at an early age. Just think how a black child feels falsely learning the white race alone was responsible for their ancestors’ misery and oppression, and how a sensitive white child would innocently feel unmerited guilt. We all need to be reminded that evil and oppression are universal to the human race, not just to one race.
What can be done to end or resolve this malicious falsehood? One valid suggestion is to imitate and practice what Christianity and Judaism acknowledge and practice, that is, confession of a sinful or wrongful omission practiced with prejudice far too long.
Teach America’s slavery accurately and truthfully to children. The blessings resulting nationally will be healthy, positive interracial friendships and relationships. A wrongful division will cease at such an early age. And one less evil that assaults racial unity will have been removed. Lastly, historical credibility will be restored. Our Judeo/Christian heritage continues to bless our nation.