According to writer Ed Dunn, the American Descendants of Slaves (ADOS) and their case for reparations is undermined the “Black forgiveness Culture.”
In an article for Medium, Dunn wrote that the Black American tendency to forgive dates back to slavery when Blacks were conditioned to worship Christianity in order to maintain white supremacy and that even today Blacks remain mentally subservient and obedient to the white race.
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 68: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin talks about the recent backlash against Lebron James for not speaking up for Joshua Wong and the violent Hong Kong protestors.
“Many of us, including me have seen these condition mindsets carried out by our parents, our uncles and aunts and our grandmother and among all the descendants of slaves living in the entire state of South Carolina,” he wrote.
Dunn detailed his theory on how Christianity was used to encourage a Black culture of forgiveness. He wrote: “For example, Negro slaves were taught they were to suffer as slaves while they are alive but once they die, they will be in the Kingdom of God. Most slave spiritual songs passed down from slaves to their descendants…to my generation are lyrics of blacks suffering on earth and waiting faithfully for their death to be delivered to the ‘promised land’ — going up beyonder and songs like that. This notion gave our people the belief it is okay to ignore structured racism in America because God will take care of us in the afterlife — this belief is still prevalent throughout our community to this day, particularly throughout South Carolina.”
Slaves and former slaves were taught was to “forgive” their slave master, Dunn pointed out. He noted this mindset isn’t only found in Black Americans but also throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.
But, according to Dunn, “‘forgiveness culture’ was never about true forgiveness — it was about survival and fear of repercussions of Negros holding whites responsible for any transgressions.”
This culture of forgiveness is maintained today and it is hurting, said Dunn, the ADOS fight for repair and restoration after a legacy and effects of slavery, Jim Crow and structure inequality.
“The lady screaming to Dylan Roof ‘I forgive you!’ after he shot old people in a church in South Carolina right after they prayed with him but he killed them with no remorse out of racial hatred. The Black guy who was punched in the face at a Trump rally in North Carolina then turn around hugging on the old guy in court. This mindset of older Blacks who think Joe Biden is a candidate worth voting for when Joe Biden was frolicking around some of the most racist members of US Congress in modern history. These are the ones ADOS need to be concerned with when it comes to making a case for reparations,” Dunn wrote.
