The Awful Grace of God. - Shery Bailey

“The Awful Grace of God.”
by Sheri Bailey

On April 4, 1968 it fell to presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy to announce the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. to a crowd of people in a Black community. In testament to the sincerity of his words -- where he spoke was one of the few cities that did not burn in the aftermath of pain and grief that gripped the country in the wake of Dr. King’s murder.

The words of this white man of privilege who himself would be dead by an assassin’s bullet a mere two months later carried the power, poetry and brevity of Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address. The simple use of poetry as in “Fourscore and seven years ago” instead of “87 years ago” identified Abraham Lincoln as a man capable of keeping the Union united.”

And like Lincoln ’s two minute speech RFK’s words on an inner city street corner were not immediately recognized as ones that would survive the ages. Some of what he said to the people there were some words from a favorite poet whose words give title to this essay. He implored this group of men and women, boys and girls to not react in anger at the “awful grace of God.” He spoke of the loss of his brother to violence and said that he could understand why Black people would have anger and hate in their hearts against a white man but he hoped that they would not. He asked them to “Say a prayer for understanding … compassion.” And he continued, “These are difficult times. We have had difficult times in the past. We have difficult times to come. But let us do as the Greeks said, “To tame the savageness of man and make gentle the light of the world.” Let us dedicate ourselves to that. Let us pray for our country. Let us pray for our people.”

On July 7, 2008 I was working on Juneteenth business at the home of Juneteenth’s board president Ernest Lowery when suddenly his wife came into the office and said, “Sheri, I don’t want you to be upset but someone hit your car and there’s a woman here who is an eyewitness.” Confused I went outside where Kara Cuffey started explaining how she was driving behind a grey Dodge pick-up when suddenly a white male, early 20’s hit my car and sped off. With her young teenage daughter in tow they followed the assailant until they were able to get the license plate (VA tags ......................................(Info' removed by the Imani Foundation.). I got all of this information from the Chesapeake Police Department. Thank you, Officer Jancewicz and Detective Weir.

Now I was truly exasperated by the fact that I had been assaulted by a thoughtless stranger, but my witness balanced the situation. What looked like buzzard’s luck was really good luck. And then I had profound luck. Detective Weir paid the Hill family a visit. Fortunately, the incident was so insignificant to (Name removed) that he had not bothered to run his truck through a carwash. Consistent with my ’93 Honda Accord parked on the right side of the street was evidence of maroon paint chips on the passenger side of his truck. And then Detective Weir told me something that blew me the hell away. Master Hill sports a Confederate flag emblem on his bumper sticker!

Now here’s the deal. Whenever I see the Rebel cloth, I go ballistic. I speed up, give ‘em finger, mouth the word “@$*%0le” and generally put myself and whoever else is nearby in grave vehicular danger. My daughter, now a college sophomore, vividly recalls grabbing the dashboard and hanging on for dear life when she was dependent on me for all her transportation needs. And because this is Virginia this was a fairly common occurrence during her formative years.

The biggest ones are in S-folk. The most on front porches are in P-town. C-peak has the most KKK types and VA Beach is a wild combo of poor and rich racist trash. Norfolk is the best place not to be offended and we don’t know enough about the rest of the region.

And now (Name removed) who can be reached at (Number withdrawn by Imani Foundation) has hit my car and made me realize that it’s not about me giving him the finger. It is about me using my God-given gifts in ways that encourage openness and decency. Today and everyday hungry children die in a world full of food. Torture and rape are allowed by the law of the land. Fear is the master of all, but I want to be a part of the healing that comes with forgiveness.

I want to be a part of a Kwanzaa performance on Saturday, December 27th from noon to 3pm at the Norfolk Public Library Lafayette Branch surrounded by Lakewood Park , Willard Model Elementary School and the home of James and Jennifer Cooper at 1705 Cromwell Drive . There’s plenty of parking, but very little space inside the library. Reservations are strongly encouraged. Call 757.397.5963 for more details. Please come and enjoy the holiday season with the Juneteenth Players.

My job is to share the stories of the past with accurate, entertaining lessons about today’s times. A scared young man using a symbol as a shield against his deepest fears is to be pitied. On the backs of daily acts of courage we will lift up those who would be burdens. And in those times when the world makes the least sense we must try to understand the awful grace of God.

sb
juneteenthva@yahoo.com