Early in the summer, in a conversation with Jim Pritchett, he mentioned the vast number of slaves who were brought to this country through Sullivan's Island, South Carolina (it is believed that half of all African Americans trace their ancestry through that slave trade port)  In addition to the obscenity of being captured for slavery, these persons were packed lying down into rows of slabs with only a couple of inches between themselves and the next slab above them.  A great percentage died in transit and were apparently dumped into the river around the island.

About a month later I saw a picture in the newspaper about a bench being dedicated by the Toni Morrison Society on the same island.  Knowing we would be in the area at the end of the summer, I made a note to find the bench during our visit.

I found the bench on an early morning bike ride.  It was not without effort.  Sullivan's Island can not be more than 4-5 miles wide and no more than a mile from top to bottom, and yet several inquiries at local businesses to persons of differing races as to the location of the bench were unfruitful.  Persons had heard about it, but were not sure just where it was.  Finally I spotted a group meeting at the Catholic Church and asked a member who directed me.  The direction asking experience seemed to add to the indignity of the whole story and suggested we still have a long way to go in terms of coming to grips with this part of our history.

When I came to the bench, I had the sense that I needed to remove my shoes.  I sat on the bench looking out over the river and thinking of the images of the past on this most pastoral of looking scenery.  I wondered about the souls of this place and how long they linger in us until we find a way to honor them, hold them up and name that part of all of us that died in this chapter, and how those unnamed souls will haunt us (not the souls but our fear of naming them) until we find ways to raise them, face them, and learn from them.  I have typed the website of a NY TImes article about the bench and commend it. 

A group of us from All Souls will be joining other members of the diocese on a pilgrimage to Philadelphia the first week of October.  It is a national church conference on race, past and present.  It will include a service for repentence and redemption at which the Presiding Bishop will preach.  As I prepare to venture with this group, I am reminded that ghosts only haunt as long as we fear them and run from them  They can ennoble us when we allow them in to our lives and when we allow their voices to speak.

Peace,

Todd