Commentary: A lesson from my daughter
A UMNS Commentary
By the Rev. Linda E. Thomas*
Jan. 14, 2009
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The Rev. Linda E. Thomas
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I was born in Baltimore in 1956. My mother, Mary Jeross Thomas, gave
birth to me at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a world-class institution even
then. My father, Henry Richmond Thomas II, served in World War II in
Germany. My father died on April 4, 1971, too young at age 49.
Much of his adult life he worked at Bethlehem Steel Corp. in
Sparrows Point, Md. While employed there, he developed emphysema and,
to make matters worse, he had asthma and smoked cigarettes. At his
funeral, our family was presented with an American flag because of my
dad's service to our country. My mother received the flag with my
sisters and brother standing behind her.
Subsequent to my mother's death and after my siblings and I sold our
family home, I received that American flag. Most of my life, I have
understood that I lived in the United States of America, but I was not
proud of that fact. To be honest, I carried wounds of my people's
past—slavery, Jim Crow, racism. I also had experienced discrimination
myself.
It was clear to me that although I believed I was created in God's
image, my being black, female and competent was a problem for some
citizens and institutions of this country.
If this country was a democracy and all people were created equal as
the Constitution stated, then why was my family not treated equally in
our hometown of Turner Station and other places? Why did I have to
appreciate being in America even though my ancestors were brought (one
could say bought) here involuntarily? Why? Why did I have so much
resentment and residual anger?
Last week, I took my little girl, Dora Linda, to a shop in Hot
Springs, Ark. The shop had many wonderful things, such as nutcrackers,
white wicker hampers, lemonade sets and American flags. Of all the
things in the store, Dora Linda was most ecstatic and beside herself
with joy when she saw the row of American flags. There were big flags,
little flags and medium-size flags.
She picked up several by their sticks and began to wave them and
jump up and down. While doing these gymnastics, she had a brilliant
smile on her face! My, oh my, how her face shone! She was happy, and I
couldn't help but be happy too.
This event—I must call it a drama—was a case of the child teaching
the parent a lesson. After all, why shouldn't a child, an
African-American girl, who lives a distinctly different history from
that of her parents and grandparents, not jump up and down with
happiness, waving American flags of all sizes?
At age 8, hadn't she seen and experienced the campaign and election
of Barack Obama? Had she not seen Michelle Obama taking Malia and Sasha
to the same school she attended? Hadn't she been in Grant Park the
night he was elected? Hadn't she been at Trinity United Church of
Christ in Chicago the Sunday following his election and witnessed the
powerful joy of a congregation that believed that Barack coming to
accept Christ in its church changed the course of the history of the
world? Why then would she do anything else besides smile, wave flags
and be jubilant?
My daughter taught me a lesson last week, and so, on Jan. 20, 2009,
when Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United
States of America, I will unfold that precious American flag, given to
my mother in honor of my father's service to this country and passed on
to me. The lesson that my daughter taught me is why I will unfold the
flag that draped my father's casket, unfold it for the first time since
it was given to my mother in 1972, and fly it.
Like my 8-year-old daughter, Dora Linda, I am going to jump up and
down. I am going to shout and be happy because I, too, am American and
now I genuinely love my country. All the pain from the past is not
removed, but I am now proud to be American for the first time in my
life, and that is because the citizens of this country elected Barack
Obama who will be inaugurated President Obama on Jan. 20, 2009.
*Thomas, Ph.D., is professor of theology and anthropology at the
Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. She is an ordained United
Methodist.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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