BEING BORN IN GEORGIA IN THE MID-1930s, I GREW UP IN AN ERA WHEN THE LIVES OF BLACK AMERICANS WERE SHADOWED BY LIMITATION. THAT WAS ESPECIALLY TRUE IN THE SOUTH WHERE MOST OFTEN THE BEST KIND OF BEHAVIOR ONE COULD EXPECT FROM WHITES WAS INDIFFERENCE. THERE WERE PLENTY OF TIMES DURING MY CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE WHEN WHITE SOUTHERNERS DISPLAYED HUMAN BEHAVIOR AT ITS WORST. BUT, WHILE I WAS AWARE AT AN EARLY AGE OF THE INJUSTICE WHITE AMERICA IMPOSED UPON BLACK AMERICANS, I NEVER FELT INTIMIDATED BY IT. I NEVER FELT I NEEDED TO BOW TO THE WHITE SOCIETY’S INSISTENCE THAT I RADICALLY LIMIT MY ASPIRATIONS.
THE REASON IS I WAS RECONCILED WITH THE FUTURE.
THAT’S NOT HOW ONE USUALLY CONSIDERS THE MATTER OF RECONCILIATION. IT’S MOST OFTEN THOUGHT OF AS HAVING TO DO WITH THE PAST. BUT FOR MANY BLACK SOUTHERNERS BORN IN THE TIME OF JIM CROW, RECONCILIATION WAS A MUCH MORE COMPLEX MATTER. THEIR EMBRACE OF RECONCILIATION WITH THE WHITE SOUTH AND WITH THE WHOLE OF WHITE AMERICA WAS GROUNDED IN THEIR VISION OF A FUTURE IN WHICH BLACK AMERICANS WOULD LIVE AS FREE MEN AND WOMEN – A VISION BLACK AMERICANS HAVE CARRIED WITH THEM SINCE WE LANDED ON THESE SHORES – DESPITE THE FACT THAT WE DIDN’T COME WILLINGLY.
WE KNOW, FROM THE SCHOLARS OF THE COLONIAL AND ANTEBELLUM PERIODS, THAT BLACK AMERICANS, ENSLAVED AND FREE, CONTINUALLY, INSISTENTLY EXPRESSED OUR BELIEF IN OUR OWN HUMANITY AND THAT WE BELIEVED OUR RIGHTS AS HUMAN BEINGS WERE NO LESS INALIENABLE THAN THOSE OF WHITE AMERICANS. THEY DID SO NONVIOLENTLY ALL THROUGH THEIR HISTORY HERE, CULMINATING IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT FROM THE 1930s TO THE 1960s. THIS BESPEAKS AN EXTRAORDINARY COMMITMENT – I CALL IT PATRIOTISM – TO THE AMERICAN IDEAL. IT ALSO INVOLVED A REMARKABLE HOPE THAT WHITE AMERICANS WOULD COME TO PRACTICE THAT SHINING CONCEPT WHICH WAS THE GUIDING PRINCIPLE OF THE BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLE: THE SELF-EVIDENT TRUTH THAT ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE CREATED EQUAL. CERTAINLY, SOME SIGNIFICANT PART OF THAT VISION AND HOPE CAME FROM BLACK AMERICANS IMMEDIATELY ADAPTING THE CHRISTIANITY THEY WERE TAUGHT BY WHITES, AFFIRMING THAT THEY, TOO, WERE EQUAL IN THE EYES OF GOD, AND THUS, WERE EQUAL ON EARTH AS WELL. BLACK AMERICANS HAD A SPIRITUAL AS WELL AS SECULAR FAITH IN AMERICA BECAUSE THEY HAD A SPIRITUAL AS WELL AS SECULAR FAITH IN THEMSELVES.
PART OF THAT FAITH IN THE FUTURE WAS EXPRESSED IN THE NURTURING OF THE TALENTS OF THE YOUNG. THIS WENT ON EVEN IN THE CITIES, TOWNS AND HAMLETS WHERE THE RESTRICTIONS AGAINST WHAT BLACKS COULD ASPIRE TO WERE CODIFIED IN THOUSANDS OF LAWS. I BENEFITED FROM THAT NURTURING, THAT PUSHING AND PULLING WITHIN MY FAMILY AND WITHIN THE BLACK COMMUNITY OF ATLANTA AS MUCH AS ANYONE. I BELIEVED AT AN EARLY AGE THAT I WAS IN TRAINING AND I WAS PREPARING MYSELF FOR LEADERSHIP IN THE FUTURE.
THIS, FOR ME, IS THE INDIVIDUAL AND BROAD CONTEXT THAT HAS MADE POSSIBLE THE RECONCILIATION – STILL OCCURRING, STILL FAR FROM COMPLETED – BETWEEN BLACK AMERICANS AND WHITE AMERICANS. IT COULD BEGIN TO HAPPEN BECAUSE BLACK AMERICANS HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN NOT JUST FOR THEMSELVES BUT TO ENABLE AMERICANS TO REALIZE THE PROMISE OF AMERICA. BLACK AMERICANS UNDERTOOK THAT GREAT MISSION BECAUSE WE’VE ALWAYS KNOWN THIS IS OUR COUNTRY, TOO.
Vernon Jordan is an attorney, civil rights leader, business consultant, and influential power broker. Although he never held political office, Jordan served as a key adviser to President Clinton. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
