Blessed Honored Pioneers!

A few weeks ago, I saw a post about Green Flake and the new monument that was revealed today at this is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was with hesitancy that I posted about my connection to Green Flake even though I see his name and get excited about my family connection to him and his posterity. You see my 3X great grandpa was a slave owner. That statement of truth carries a lot of weight all on its own. Green Flake just happened to be the slave of James Madison Flake, and James happens to be my 3 times great grandpa. Green was his slave until the day when James broke the chains of his family’s past that held other men and women captive for many generations.

How brave of James and other slave owners to have the faith that they could make that change and trust that the Lord would bless them for it. How brave of Green Flake and other former slaves were to step out into a life that their families had not known for many generations. These men and women changed history and for all of them I am truly grateful!

There are people that want to skew this history and focus on the sins of the men and woman who were slave owners and the oppressions that were endured. But when we focus on the shame, we miss the opportunity to focus on the triumph of not only the families like the Flakes in courageously turning from the teachings they learned for generations but also the triumph of the new life that was forged by men and women like Green Flake.

It was best said in the speech today by Mauli Bonner, “Telling a pioneer story is never easy. It’s a hard story to tell. Many suffered. Many died. We don’t tell their stories to make the Missourians who forced them on to this trek feel bad or shame them. That’s not why we tell it. We tell it because these pioneers endured something incredible for what they believed. For religious freedom. We tell the stories to celebrate those who endured something that we’ll never fully understand, and it’s no different with our African American pioneers. We don’t tell the stories of enslavement to cause shame or guilt or pain. We tell the stories because they are true. Because they endured it and because we all have the opportunity to draw strength from them. Can we not draw strength from them?”

Mauli shared the African Proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” As God’s children we still have a way to go. We must come together so that we can lend our strength to one another on this lengthy journey through life. We must be willing to talk of these hard truths so that we will not repeat them. As Mauli said, “It’s a hard part of our history, but we have to remember it. We have to learn it and never forget it. And then what do we do with that knowledge? We teach our children. We allow them to come up in a world where they’re not going to be blind sighted by history. They’ll be able to be taught it at a young age so that we can truly be the inclusive community that we want to be.”

I cannot think of a better way to honor my pioneer ancestors than to be there today. I was honored to give my respect to a man who was such a blessing to them. I was grateful when I was able to speak with a few descendants of Green Flake who were there to honor their ancestors. How blessed I am to live in a time when we can give honor to these deserving pioneers. For no matter the color of their skin, they are also children of God who gave an honorable and deserving sacrifice to build up the kingdom of God. These blessed, honored pioneers!