White Supremacy Permeates Our Nation
by
John J. Dunphy
(originally published in the 9–21–19 edition of The Telegraph of Alton, IL)
Sandy Rios is a conservative Christian activist who serves as director of governmental affairs for the American Family Association. On the August 8, 2019 episode of her radio program “Sandy Rios in the Morning,” Rios made a disturbing accusation.
“So when the left is talking about white supremacism, they’re talking about the roots of this country,” she said. “They’re talking about Christianity. They’re talking about everything that has made America what it is.”
I was just about to dismiss such assertions as typical right-wing nonsense when my knowledge of American history kicked in. White supremacy, our nation’s roots and American Christianity are indeed inexorably intertwined.
Founded in 1823, Virginia Theological Seminary is the largest and second-oldest Episcopal Seminary in the United States. Slaves performed much manual labor at the school, such as building the seminary’s Aspinwall Hall in 1841. Aspinwall Hall serves as the main building for the school’s administration. When slavery was abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment, the seminary supported and practiced segregation.
The school’s administration recently announced that it has established a $1.7 million fund to provide reparations. The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, who serves as the seminary’s dean and president, publicly acknowledged the seminary’s shameful past. “So we apologize; so we commit to a different future; but we need to do more,” Markham said. “This fund is our seed — the first step.”
Money from this fund will be used “to create programs that promote justice and inclusion, and to elevate the work and voices of African American alumni and clergy within the Episcopal church,” according to The Washington Post. This fund will also help address the “particular needs” of the descendants of the slaves who labored at the seminary.
This seminary is by no means the only church-related institution of higher learning that exploited enslaved human beings. Georgetown University, which was founded by Jesuits in 1789, owes its existence today to the sale of slaves.
The Catholic Church at that time didn’t regard slavery as a sin, according to the Rev. Thomas R. Murphy, a historian at Seattle University. Indeed, wealthy, slave-owning Catholic families often donated slaves to the Jesuits, who operated plantations in Maryland. The plantations provided revenue to finance what was then Georgetown College. These Jesuit-owned slaves led a surreal existence. Their masters required them to attend Mass for the sake of their immortal souls but also whipped their bodies for disobeying orders.
Mismanagement of these plantations had left the school in deep debt, however, and the money provided by the sale of 272 Jesuit-owned slaves saved Georgetown from collapse. “The enslaved were grandmothers and grandfathers, carpenters and blacksmiths, pregnant women and anxious fathers, children and infants, who were fearful, bewildered and despairing as they saw their families and communities ripped apart by the sale of 1838,” according to a 2016 article in the New York Times. The sale was arranged by two early presidents of Georgetown, both of whom were Jesuit priests.
These slaves had no desire to leave the only home they had ever known. Some had to be literally dragged to the waiting ships that were to transport them to New Orleans. Others prayed and begged God to deliver them from such a terrible fate.
Georgetown University deeply regrets its past association with slavery and plans to make amends. Undergraduate students will pay a special fee each semester to establish a fund. Revenue from this fund will be used to assist organizations that are working to help the descendants of these slaves.
You’re right, Sandy Rios. When we talk about white supremacy, we’re indeed talking about American Christianity and even the roots of our country. The sad, grim truth is that hypocrisy was present at the very birth of our nation. The Declaration of Independence’s noble assertion that all men are created equal and endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was written by a slaveholder named Thomas Jefferson.
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John J. Dunphy’s books include “Abolitionism and the Civil War in Southwestern Illinois”and “Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials: The Investigative Work of the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group, 1945–1947.” He is the Godfrey Fifteenth Precinct Democratic Committeeperson and serves as recording secretary for the Godfrey Democrats.