OPINION: On the matter of African People forgiving and forgetting

Many people have heard others say, or may have themselves said, “I may forgive, but I’ll never forget.” It is so common in the Black community until people adopt the expression without giving it a second thought. We are here today saying that when it comes to African People, globally, the expression and the attitude behind it should be given a second thought; indeed, need to be totally re-considered, if progress is to be made.

We will begin by recognizing history is memory, or maybe, memory is history. A people without knowledge of their history is doomed to be victimized by the tragedies and shortcomings of their past. Because of that, Jewish people vow to never forget the Jewish holocaust experience in Nazi Germany. With similar firmness, African People must vow to remember the experiences of slavery and the Atlantic Slave Trade, the colonialization and exploitation of the continent of Africa, and the unfolding of White Supremacist policies around the globe, past and present.

Despite the massive mis-education campaign, in fact because of it, African People must come to learn, appreciate, and embrace their history – the good, the bad, and the ugly – in order to move ahead less shackled. Younger Black people cannot afford to separate from their elders because older people talk so much about the past. Older Black people cannot afford to be separated from the young because the young so quickly turn to newer sources of data and modes of operation. Both must come to realize the value of what the other brings to the struggle, realizing the love and the need that they have for one another and their shared heritage, their historical memory.

Only a fool would turn away from his/her history. Anyone who tries to get people, especially African People, to forget about their past is apparently ignorant or up to no good. They would perpetuate the current racial disparities and destroy significant parts of Black culture. In this context it is important to realize that remembering is not synonymous with or the same as having hatred toward those who represent the negative side of that history. As a matter of fact, knowing the history / having that memory can be a valuable tool in helping European or White People who are seriously concerned about justice and morality going forward, to more effectively move ahead as advocates for morality, democracy, and human rights. 

This brings us to the second part of the matter, forgiving. Whether one views it from a personal, that is, an individualistic perspective, or from a group and thus historical perspective, genuine forgiveness is based upon or depends on several conditions being met. (1) There must be the recognition and admission that a wrong was done. (2) There has to be true sorrow or regret for the harm inflicted. (3) There must be a determined willingness such actions not occur again. (4) There has to be a free and willing effort at restitution for the harm done.

If and when those conditions are met, one can begin to talk about forgiveness. Without the conditions being met, the victimized person or group opens themselves up to being viewed as patsies, door mats, or fools, with the door being open for further abuse. On the other side of the coin, those who fail or refuse to accept the conditions are revealing that such past behavior is likely to be repeated, given the chance. Or, at least that they are not willing to alter, change, or disrupt anything for the sake of truth and justice.

With that being the case, victimized African People should be more on guard for present patterns of racial oppression and attacks on Black history and the ability of us all to remember what has taken place historically. Feeling guilty for not forgiving historical and/or contemporary racist behavior, in the face of present beneficiaries and descendants not meeting the criteria for forgiveness, is unnecessary, inappropriate, and out of bounds. Africans on the continent and across the Diaspora are still suffering from the historical wrongs inflicted upon them as well as from the Jim Crow, neo-colonialist, and other White Supremacist policies foisted upon them in the past.

In short, we advise that African People carefully examine why they must always remember and on what bases they can willingly forgive. That is to say, that in the case of their historical treatment at the hands of European or White People, African People should never blindly accept or adopt a slogan or position that says, “I may forgive, but I’ll never forget.”