A Day of Remembrance Reflection and Tribute

CRS is blessed to have a poignant reflection and tribute from one of our Annual Membership Assembly Jerusalem delegates, Brother Laurence Steven Minter, as we pause in solidarity on this Day of Remembrance. Please read it below and join us in recognizing and affirming the truth.

Pictured by Brother Minter: “Destruction” — The remaining rubble of a family’s home destroyed once again.

“What fables have become our favorites? 

What if there was no table 
No label upon the occasion as we’ve come to know it. 
Did they stand or did they sit?
Were their legs crossed? 
Were the winds crisp? 

Were our favorite foods present, 
like mac and cheese or green beans? 

Did they sing in English or Wampanoag?             Why not both? 
Were they close? 
Who did most of the work? 
Who ate first, was it the children or the elders? 

What if the moment we’ve come to know is a myth? Not entirely, just the parts that are most pleasing for us to picture. I don’t doubt there was a gathering but I can’t dismiss the possibility of grief. We can debate the details of the situation, but I’m cautious of a settlement history that solely centers on celebration. After recently returning from a sacred pilgrimage to Israel/Palestine I am unashamedly suspicious of the stories we choose to tell and how we ourselves will be remembered.   

If we are to assume the common unity our ancestors established, our memories must maintain their moral integrity. The obscurity in our observances is that we often fail to mourn the magnitude, brutality, and genocide that underpins our gathering. This type of ritualistic assembly disembodies our existence and veils our connection with the land. So the question becomes, what will we choose to remember? 

We remember 
We remember the traditions of old 
We remember the foremothers and forefathers 
that foraged foods and friendships 

We recall a holiday calendarized in the midst of the Civil War. 
We recall the colonized and the ignored. 

We remember our roots;
the trees, the breeze, the Great Spirit that guides us. 
We recall the gift it is to gather 
We remember those who settled 
and those who were scattered.

Remembering is a choosing to acknowledge what has happened historically: 
the platter of disasters, the Pequot war, the theft, the death of Dakota tribes, and unfair trials 
the public execution of 38 Sioux warriors 
the strange fruit exalted as an example.

Let it not be lost on us, the cost of our comforts and freedoms 

Let us trail our tears in search of the truth about who we are, 
a country still learning how to live together 
a family with our fair share of values, conflicts, and cravings. 

We remember the harvest 
and hunger for relief. 
We remember the laughter 
that rose despite great misery. 

May we mark this day with love and lament 
May we honor our ancestors: 
those who fled, those who bled and shed light for us. 

Praise God for the provision 
of food and instruction. 
The invocation of grace - 
A gesture letting us look beyond ourselves. 

I don’t doubt there was ever a feast, 
I don’t doubt there was even peace, 
but I can’t rule out the potential 
of great pain either.”