the legacy of John Brown…

My dad forwarded me an interesting and challenging article last week that really got me thinking and struggling with some tough issues.  You can check out the original article here.  The topic is the legacy of John Brown.  It seems this is a topic today debated as much as it was 150 years ago when his famous raid took place.

It’s interesting to me that this is an ongoing question of our humanity.  Are there circumstances that call for and warrant violence?  At what cost?  I think these 150 years later, we, as a humanity, wear the scars of slavery in the United States, both those whose family were slaves and those whose family were slave owners.  I think we can also acknowledge that although we seem to have come a long way, in many ways humanity, broken as it is, is still filled with the same hatred and violence that allowed slavery to happen in the first place.  It is my hope that we can learn from our mistakes, and it is in that spirit that I tackle this difficult subject.  I admit that I am not even scratching the surface, and I am by no means a historian.

But to me, despite the atrocity of slavery in the United States, I favor the path of non-violent resistance.  This is by no means a judgment upon those who felt the only path to overturn this tragedy was violent opposition.  It is merely where my heart is.  I immediately think of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Despite the lessons that clearly were not learned from slavery, evident in segregation during the 1960’s, Dr. King and his followers proved how effective non-violent resistance can be.  As a follower of Jesus, I have to acknowledge that this is where I take my cues.  For it was upon a bloody cross that Jesus hung in what appeared at the time to be the biggest failure of a claimed Messiah.  It seemed that Rome had the final word once again as the empire silenced yet another uprising.  Although it was not the silence at the cross that endured for eternity.  No, it was the glory of an empty tomb and a missing body that has withstood the test of time.  The most glorious turning of tables on violence by a bold act of non-violence, that launched a peaceful uprising of love and servitude.  Do not get me wrong, even followers of Jesus have un-learned these lessons and the Church has bore and still bears the scars of these shortcomings, but Jesus’ message of hope endures.

So although I admire the passion that filled John Brown, that did not allow him to sit idly by and put up with the atrocity of slavery in the United States, I cannot condone the shedding of blood that resulted from his violent raid.  I may be naive, but I believe the power of non-violent resistance can transform hearts, people, society and the world…one person…at a time.

There’s much more to say about this and I would love for you to join me in the conversation regardless of your thoughts or convictions on the issue…

~ by mikelehr on November 7, 2009.