Laying Down Tobacco and Lifting Up Sutherland Springs
The news tonight is sickening.
Another mass killing has occurred. This time it was in a church.
A couple of days ago it was on a bike path in New York. Before that it was Las Vegas. Our minds, numb with grief, fumble with our memories. Dallas. Paris. Sandy Hook. London. Boston. Columbine. Virginia Tech. 9/11. Each one bears the macabre title, if only for a day: the worst killings of all time.
For Native people, that message is jarring. We kneel beside those who mourn, and our tears flow together. We would never compare one broken heart to another.
And yet...
Sand Creek: 400 unarmed souls, camped under a U.S flag and bearing commendations of peace from Abraham Lincoln, murdered at the hands of "Army irregulars" (renegades and vigilantes).
Wounded Knee: 300 unarmed persons murdered. Their crime? Dancing without permission.
The murderous trail stretches back through time to the Puritans, who murdered Pequot women and children trying to escape the flames of their homes with the cry, "Nits make lice," and to Christopher Columbus, who took pieces of peaceful Natives as trophies.
Please understand: we are not saying that our loss is more grievous than those who mourn tonight. If even one innocent is murdered tonight, that will be the worst night in human history for those who love her. We stand in solidarity with those who mourn tonight, because we understand.
But--after 400 years of contact--we are still praying that the day might come when the senseless murder of America's Native people matters as much as any other Americans.
If you think we are speaking only of ancient history, we honor your heart and we understand your confusion. Alas, that is not the case. Native children were still being taken from their families--simply because their families were Native--through most of the 20th century. Now, in the 21st century, the U.S. Army has only recently begun returning the corpses of Indian children who died at Carlisle and other Indian schools. Our grief is still fresh and raw.
Until America faces that grief honestly, our national soul will always suffer from self-deceit and hollow promises.
Tonight we lay down tobacco and lift up prayers for our brothers and sisters in Sutherland Springs, Texas. As Native Christians, we yearn for the day when Christ will at last wipe away the very last tear. We pray that God, whose grace passes all understanding will comfort all those who mourn.
And we pray for the day that our loved ones will also matter, and our tears may also move mountains.