There is just too much evidence that reveals how much the West has influenced all of us. Toni Morrison said that she wished we all would read Oedipus Rex. The Canon inspired much of her writing. She is not alone. Marcus Garvey, Toussaint, MLK, Douglass, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Wole Soyinke, and far too many others did not hide how the writings of the West inspired their work.
We really have to make a distinction between the West and the lies people have told in the name of the West. To want to address the lies, is not an attack on the West, but it’s an effort to rectify the damage that the lies have caused. When a statue is moved, or history book curriculum rewritten, or Sunday school lessons revised, this isn’t hurting the West, unless you think that holding on to the lies is a positive thing. Addressing the lies, actually helps to preserve the West, because when we are honest about the lies, then it causes people to be open to exploring the treasures of the West.
I recently spent time with a friend who has young children like I do. She is professor at a major research university, and I am too. We are both Black woman in academia, trying to raise our children in a world that STILL does not want to address the lies. She is also a Christian like me. She shared a story with me about how she had to pull her kids from a Sunday school class, because the illustration in the Bible lesson showed the Devil as a Black person and the angels were White. When she expressed her concern about this, she was made to look like she was being too sensitive. This is part of the lies within Christianity, where it has been presented as a faith where people of color are rarely part of the illustrations in Bible lessons, and when they are, they are presented negatively. Addressing this is not hurting the West, but addressing this false narrative reveals how the Bible is not just a Western book, but it is a book for all of us to see how we are equally loved by God.
When a state chooses to stop elevating Confederate heroes, this is not attacking the West, but it is diminishing those who were a threat to the Union. Since the Civil War ended, a decision was made to be a UNION, which also supposedly ended slavery and wanted all men to be treated equally. It has been a slow process to live up to that committment, but that is what America claims to be. Taking down the statues of Confederate heroes or those who supported slavery is embracing the truth of America being the land of the free. When there is resistance to this, claiming that the West is being threatened, then it sends the message that the West is about elevating those people and beliefs that are racist. If we remove racism, is the West really threatened? Or when we elevate Plato’s Republic instead of Confederate heroes, do we reveal how the West put into writing, the ideals that have inspired some of our greatest liberators, from the Founders to Martin Luther King?
Sometimes I wonder if the fear over an “attack on the West” is more about an unconscious fear of losing a place of significance in human history, even though that place of importance is founded upon a throne of lies. Dethroning these false narratives does not place the West in jeopardy. Neither does it diminish the wonderful contributions of the West. Unpacking what is true, could lead us to learning more about Amerigo Vespucci (who America is named after), as opposed to constantly teaching our children to celebrate a holiday about a man that did not contribute as much to American history as we think. Unpacking the lies also makes room to celebrate Indigenous People and other explorers that explored the different lands outside of Europe (should we explore what other nations explored the 7 seas…um like Mansa Musa?).
Deconstructing the lies, will solidify everyone’s place of importance in the human story and inspire a mutual respect for one another. Sometimes it seems that we are all fighting to center ourselves in the human story. I know that is natural. The sin of pride was passed on to us from the beginning, but we need to set ourselves free. I remember someone giving me a Bible called the African Heritage Bible when I was in college. When I got it, I was hoping it showed who was of African descent in the Bible. This was important to me because the Christian schools I attended growing up, taught that the only story about my ancestors was the curse of Ham and every single Bible character from Adam to Jesus was depicted as a White person. Knowing the geographic locations of these stories, caused me to realize that this was untrue so I went on a journey to learn what was true. Sadly, when I opened that Bible, I saw that they had done the same thing, except they made everyone Black! I just want truth. We should all just want truth. We should all desire to teach our children the truth. Reading the primary source documents to get the full narrative is helpful in detangling the truth from the lies. It should be our desire to end the generations of time where we kept pushing false narratives in order to center ourselves in the human story.
By addressing the lies it makes more room for people to understand how the writings of the West have connected and still connect to all of us. Elevating the writings of the West, instead of the lies told in the name of the West helps to elevate our shared humanity (because we are all forever linked through how the West is interwoven in all of our lives). Addressing the lies of the West, while still elevating the West illuminates the work we have all equally contributed to the progress of mankind.
Dr. Anika T. Prather 