Forgiveness and the Spirit in the Face of Oppression

Our discussion of Karen Baker-Fletcher’s article turned toward discussion on how the Spirit enables forgiveness and grace. We discussed how this ability to forgive that comes out of the Spirit, may come out of this ability within the African American community to truly understand suffering. The African American community knows what it means to suffer, so there may be a higher level of willingness to forgive because of a collective experience of deep suffering.

At the same time, there exists this tension of not wanting to forgive because of a lack of justice. Forgiveness is a testament to the Spirit, but in some ways it is putting the cart before the horse. This is not to say that forgiveness is not genuine but it is to say, how much has forgiveness had to come out of the community out of need to survive? Many in the African American community seem tired of forgiving. There is a desire to forgive, but there also appears to be a desire for oppressors and perpetrators of racism to acknowledge the wrong that they’ve done. We wondered if forgiveness has become engrained in the community because it is out of survival in addition to the movement of the Holy Spirit.

In an intergenerational trauma perspective, there hasn’t necessarily been a collective ability to grieve, to mourn, to move past after the trauma of slavery because systemic racism still exists. How much of this forgiveness that is extended, comes out of a need to continue on in the face of oppression? This need to keep moving and surviving amidst oppression has been passed on to the next generation.