Poor David’s Repentant Almanack

I read this week that city apparatus in Seattle ( San Francisco and Los Angeles used to battle for supremacy in leading edge trendsetting, but Seattle appears to have claimed the mantle ) have instituted a training program that involves “unlearning whiteness.” The article involved a good deal of language that is now becoming commonplace, but it still has the distinct aroma of academia. It’s the kind of impenetrable talk that would have been noted by my Nebraskan grandfather as “hooey.” I’m not sure that word is in use anymore.

The merits of reprogramming Caucasians are beside my point, just so there is no misunderstanding. There are a good number of people who would benefit magnificently from such a project. I could be among them, although I am more interested in submitting myself to Jungian analysis first.

What captivated me about the Seattle training is that it is part of a more widespread phenomenon making the rounds right now, having to do with repentance. Calls for repentance of others have become regular features of the news; those heeding the call are also regulars. Apologetic entreaties abound: posts, placards and articles, as well as ceremonial kneeling, bowing and genuflecting. One fellow, I recall, tried to perform maundy on another man.

Nobody on any side of any debate has tried self-immolation, as far as I know. It has long been a feature of some Asian protestations, but not since the Buddhist monks did it in the Vietnam Era has it garnered an enthusiastic following. As a means of calling attention to either sin or atonement, setting oneself ablaze is a sure headline-grabber.

There are things to admire about symbolic gestures. Symbolism can be a very powerful persuader.

Not, however, on the level of penitence. Penitence and – even better – repentance are at least a few full cuts above mere apology and symbolic remorse. So what am I to make of the demand for repenting the sin of…….pigmentation? Of course, I understand that the sin is not the color but the association. Still. I am wondering if this is even possible, except in the case of having committed the disgrace myself. I’m not sure if I can accept responsibility for whatever old Joe Kipp was up to on the Whoop-Up Trail in Montana ( see below ), or for what kind of untoward business his father, James, found himself in on the California Gold Rush. I know he decamped back to Platte County Missouri. That seems like penitentiary behavior to me. Typical Kipp. In any case, theologians differ on this point of whether I can atone for someone else.

Perhaps James changed his mind about California and turned around. That’s the original meaning of the word repent, a biblical term that was rendered first in Greek as metanoia, then in English as “feeling different after.” After what? After an error in judgment or faulty thinking leading to a grievous mistake, one would think.

When it comes to repentance, it’s difficult to surpass Jewish thinking. Those seeking familiarity with systemic oppression might beneficially consult the Jews, who have a long history with it. Were it possible to atone for ancestral sins of ethnic mistreatment, most of Europe would be lining up to be absolved of Medieval ( and some modern ) lapses. However, the Talmud, the foundation of Jewish teaching, emphasizes repentance over grievance. In fact, God created repentance before anything else. Before humans, beasts, water, earth, wind, fire, and Instagram. Repentance was the first thing.

Moses ben Maimon, the 12^th century Spanish rabbi ( shown in statuary below, in Cordoba ), devoted a splendid 10 chapters to the rules of repentance that lead to feeling different after; they distill to six straightforward steps:

• Regret
• Renounce
• Confess
• Reconcile
• Make Amends
• Resolve

 

Ah – not so simple as an apology, no matter how contrite or Twittable. And clearly not transferable beyond one’s own sphere of transgression. When it comes to justice-seeking, the only intellectually coherent demand is to repudiate injustice when one encounters it and to seek repentance only for one’s own actions. That is the only path to change.

Notably absent from the list of useful supplications: statue destruction, renaming of streets, schools, sporting teams, and violence toward others. Shallow demonstrations of penitence, from ”unlearning whiteness” to apologizing for founding fathers, provide little more than transitory elation.

Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan is said to have promised himself that he would one day change the world. According to Henry Abrahamson, “When that proved difficult, he resolved to change Poland. That also seemed beyond his reach, so he determined to change his village. He eventually despaired of this as well, and decided that he would change his family. Even that modest goal seemed too great, so he resolved that he would only change himself.”

A lesson for lugubrious times. Now is the perfect time to reconsider unhelpful and ineffective thoughts. Feeling different after that consideration involves a rather uncomfortable process, and it is an individual adventure.