So I’ve been watching the new series The Falcon and the Winter Solider and it’s had a lot of great snippets about race. It’s been interesting to see things from a black hero’s perspective in America where he keeps being unfairly questioned by everyone from loan officers to random policeman and inappropriately treated at times in spite of his impeccable and well known character. But the most interesting part for me was Sam’s conversation last week with Isaiah.
Isaiah is a solider who has gotten the special serum that gives heightened strength and abilities. His story exactly mirrors that of Captain America. So he starts as a regular soldier, receives the serum, goes to fight during the war and a bunch of his co-soldiers are captured, so he goes after them and saves their lives. Whereas Captain America becomes a hero and gets put in charge of more missions for what he does, Isaiah basically gets punished. Not surprisingly given his race, he gets punished, separated from his family, and basically is experimented on for years as they try to figure out how the serum works and what it did to his body.
So the show poses a lot of interesting thoughts. And I think the most interesting is that Sam is trying to figure out why Isaiah is so unwilling to help with their current battle. He is trying to understand how he’s gotten to this point where he just plain doesn’t want to believe anything anymore. And I think it raised an interesting point and one that we face a lot when we’re talking about racism.
Racism has clearly existed in this country since it’s inception. Since the beginning, various groups of people were taken advantage of for various different reasons in an attempt to pursue a “bigger goal.” Hope has fueled much of American History. Everyone sacrificed something or someone to get there. You can call it manifest destiny, finding freedom, searching for the American dream… but the reason that people established this country is because they hoped for something better than they currently knew.
And the sad truth is far too often, we as African Americans completely stop hoping that anything will ever change. And don’t misunderstand me- I am not stupid, though I’ve not been severely mistreated myself, I get that entirely too many horrible things have happened. But we can’t get to a point where we lose sight of the one thing that can actually change situations. If we aren’t imagining and believing for a better life, then who is?
The problem becomes when we get to a point where we don’t even value hope anymore. And how is it that we can get so bitter and so expectant of more racist behavior that we can’t even imagine new possibilities? Hope can become like a child’s tale, a silly, naïve goal made by someone who hasn’t fully grasped reality anymore. This is far too often seen in the African American community, especially for those who have seen too many indiscretions, heard too many awful stories, and watched too many inappropriate situations and have given up on the idea that anything will ever change and let their bitterness become the only option. Here’s the deal- yes, things are bad! When you have lost a lot, it is not unreasonable to get to a place where you can’t even imagine things getting better; however, I think we also need to fight to not stay there. If we don’t believe at all, we’ve given away the very thing that changes lives, and that thing is hope.
Hope is the one thing that drives us forward. Bitterness makes us sit angrily in our resentment, unable to see tiny advances, unwilling to step in when we have opportunities, and unfit to encourage anyone else to do so either. Isaiah sits in his frustration and tells Sam that America would never accept a Black man as Captain America. But also, at one point in the past, an old bitter African American would have said “America will never see a black president.” Or “America will never see a female vice president of color.” Or “American lawgivers will never convict those who murder blacks.” For all of these things that we for years feared would never be accomplished, we’re starting to see some small turnover. Not in the way that we always want, not at the speed we want, and not yet given the equality we desire yet, but if we don’t fight bitterness and keep holding on to our hope for better, who will fight for things to continue to change?
I loved this episode because we see Sam really wrestle with reality verses possibility. What am I going to choose to walk forward in? Am I going to choose to walk forward in resentment at what’s happened to me and others have suffered, should I just give up and walk out? Or am I going to choose to hope in something that maybe sounds like a silly, childish dream? He admits to himself that he wanted to change the world as a child, and that dream is still real, and even if he doesn’t see it come to fruition in his lifetime, he will continue to fight so that maybe one day someone will.
It’s a choice every single one of us will have to make about multiple things in our lives. I don’t know about you guys, but it’s been a rough year for hoping for more for me. It’s easy to say you’ll be optimistic and believe for anything, but when your hope and faith are really tested with the level of fear and limited thinking and horror we have been hearing for far too long, it is hard to continue believing that anything will ever change. But we can choose to lament everything that went wrong, all that was lost, and lay down the anger, bitterness, and fear that go along with it. If we’re able to do that, we’re able to get to a place where we aren’t aimlessly crossing out fingers like a child, we’re truly believing in faith for something new. I choose to keep believing for racial reconciliation, for improvements in the world we live, for possibilities where I currently see none because I don’t place that hope on a made up serum or a comic book fantasy or a cool idea. I place that hope on God, the author and finisher of our faith, and the only one capable of stepping into history and completely resurrecting something that looked like it was dead for good. I pray he continues to give you faith for more than you can currently see now as well.
One of the things Captain America was often made fun of for was his naivety. He believed good things out of people he maybe should have moved on from. But I think finding that ability to be unendingly optimistic in the face of defeat is the only thing that allows people to dream and really succeed in life. And I hope going forward, that as unlikely as it may seem to dream that the world would improve, Sam, whether he becomes Captain America or not, takes that quality with him, and continues to hold on to hope that never truly dies. And I hope you do too.