The Journey Continues: Growing up Black in America
My journey this week returns to Paul Buntyn, pastor emeritus of Abundant Life Christian Church. This column is a part of a series he has written about Growing Up Black in America. Presently, Buntyn is the facilitator of a group of local pastors studying “how to inspire churches to have a distinctive and transformative response to racial division”… diversity and reconciliation. Their discussion guide is The Bridge To Racial Unity (bethebridge.com).
“I want to emphasize again how much I love my country and will protect its overall ideals and God -given mission to the world.
“To do so, it is incumbent for all citizens to not put on blinders or symbolically do the posture of the ostrich by sticking your head in the sand, with hopes indifference will make problems simply just go away. I do not want to paint a picture as if I never enjoyed myself in this country; however, I did have to navigate through a lot of the barriers we (Blacks) had to face. Residuals of Slavery are very apparent but, as I stated in earlier articles, you live with it as if it is ‘our place in life.’ “‘God is still God and
He will bless no matter where.’ I learned that for white people, God is a great provider, and for Blacks, HE was not only a great provider but also a great Deliverer. This was my prayer as a young child. My grandmother would cry many times as she watched the demonstrations in the South where she migrated from on the black and white Philco-brand television she owned, as the police and dogs would attack the demonstrators, armed with blackjacks and water hoses. This was my first visual witness of the attitude whites had about Black people. My grandmother raised her six grandchildren in a small tenement apartment in Harlem, one of many 5-6 story walk-up buildings that housed thousands of northern migraters from the Jim Crow south.
“She was a child born on a slave plantation in Memphis, Tenn. She would share numerous stories of her life as a share-cropper’s daughter and how whites would control most of their going in and going out. She shared how several of my relatives (naturally before I was born) were whipped, and one of them was hanged for trying to vote. By the time she became a young adult, she left that rural Jim Crow south to come north where life was promised to be better. Instead, she found that she had moved into another dimension of racial prejudice — more covert than what she had experienced in the Jim Crow south.
“She would educate me and my five siblings on how to respond to the white authorities in the north; encouraged us to get our education and gave us some talks about how to act around the police ( that was my distant father’s job when he was around). On New York’s famous 125th Street, the white merchants would take our money, but would not allow Blacks to work there. Under the leadership of our Congressman and activist, Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. I had the experience of participating in my first demonstration and march for equality with my grandmother and siblings… I thought it was a parade because there were police barriers parked alongside the sidewalks to keep the flow of traffic and the demonstrators in order. Some of the police on horseback gave us commands for all to stay back, and we were pushed and shoved to make sure we stayed in line. These early impressions and lessons learned shaped my mental/our mental psyche so we could stay safe and grow up without being hurt in order that I/we can complete our earthly assignment(s). I learned to love people regardless of their background, but I also hate what God hates. And HE hates racism, and so do I. I hope you do too. My next article will be on Racial Transition in school, from a majority black educational environment to a majority white educational environment.”
Paul Buntyn’s life verse is Romans 4:20-12: “Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God. Being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised.”
