By Pastor Mario D. Ford
Pastor Mario D. Ford
Joshua 1: 1-9 records the plight of Israelites on the periphery of the Promise Land.
The Children of Israel having endured four hundred years of slavery in Egypt, crossed into freedom at the Red Sea, heading for the Promised Land, they wandered in the wilderness forty years.
By the grace of God, their clothes and shoes never wore out, the Lord fed them with manna from on high.
On the eve of their embarkation into Canaan, the Lord came to Joshua, verse 2, and reminded him there was still one more river they had to cross.
This reminded me of an old Negro Spiritual sung by our ancestors in a day gone by; “We’ve Got One More River to Cross”.
One more river to cross has become emblematic of a person or people who have progressed but haven’t arrived.
This Black History Month, as we consider the plight of African Americans in this country, we’ve progressed but we haven’t arrived.
Since we came to this land in slave ships in 1619, our people have been misused and abused, beaten and spit on, called “boy” and “gal”, “coon” and “jigaboo”.
They had to work from sun-up to sundown, made to pick cotton in another man’s field, our sisters had to raise his children while being raped by him.
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863, declaring all slaves to be free; however, it wasn’t until December 6th, 1865, that the 13th Amendment was ratified and abolished slavery in the United States.
For another century the Civil Rights struggle would occur as we fought for equality; our ancestors had to fight to be able to attend the same schools, eat at the same lunch counter, drink from the same water fountain as white people.
Today, much has been accomplished but we still haven’t arrived; none of us are truly free until all of us are free.
Yes, we’ve got one more river to cross, there is still work that needs to be done.
Let’s get busy!