April 18, 2014

Dear Sir,

The issue of redemption is important to analyse. What does it mean? How is it achieved? What is true redemption and who are the redeemers. Without appearing overly religious, we do have biblical narratives which act as indicators. We also have long accounts of social history for those who can decipher patterns of behaviours and their resultant ends. We in Bermuda are no different from any other human situation around the world and would benefit if we open our minds and hearts to the lessons of history in the human family.

The biblical narrative of Jesus of Nazareth is the easiest model to use as exemplification. Because we had in that example a people in need of redemption and this case we are not talking about the simple idea of salvation. These were people under the subjugation of the Romans and whose own sense of self value had diminished and who held up the hope that someone’s leadership would bring back dignity to their lives and their collective sense of a nation.

Numerous persons feeling the dilemma made stands, started uprisings in attempts to create a revolution. These numerous attempts were violently put down, none truly succeeding to lift the hand of tyranny from the Romans. Two character examples emanate from that historical experience, they being the Jesus approach and the other, that of Barabbas. We know the biblical history, Barabbas was a revolutionary whom the people chose to be set free and instead allowed Jesus to be crucified. The people wanted a deliverer and chose Barabbas as the kind of leader and the one to deliver them.

The principle difference in approach of the two men was that Barabbas took aim at the Romans he accepted his own people with all their hypocrisy corruption and self-negating activities and blamed the Roman oppression as the source of all their ills and targeted freedom from the Roman occupation as the means of redemption. Jesus on the other hand looked at the detriment caused to his people at their own hands. He looked at the tremendous charges levied by their own as a ritual in the name of being a child of Israel which resulted in the scandalous amounts of money amassed by elites who flaunted their piousness and kept their own poor. Jesus attacked that elitist system and laid the idea of emancipation as an inward challenge to free one’s self by becoming in the first instance a worthy individual.

Bible (2nd Timothy 2:15) “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worthy workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” Quran (chap 5: 8) “Be persistently standing firm for Allah, as witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness.” When we bring this phenomenon current, it is easy for the black populace today who suffered the effects of subjugation, to want a deliverer like Barabbas, a revolutionary who stands up and accuses the oppressor who appears unafraid and who leads a rebellion. However the populace is misguided by a simple human factor, the decease that subjugated them, is also in them and to chase the oppressor out would only lead to them being destroyed by the same decease from within them.

In short they switch oppressors without curing the decease. The oppressed become the oppressors. It is not until we develop and can appreciate a self-accusatory spirit that we can heal and make progress towards true redemption. There are several examples of persons who argued like this, Marcus Garvey was one, and The Hon Elijah Muhammad was another. You can follow the debates between Booker T Washington and Dr. William Dubois and you will see the same elements of approach in Booker T Washington’s arguments.

We know the results of both the Jesus and Barabbas approach, if not study them.

KHALID WASI