Canadian pastor Mark Buchanan's article in the 2010 Leadership Journal titled "The People and the Black Book," is a must read. When it is good, it is very good; when it is bad, it is very bad. The author, of course, does not recognize the bad so you will have to be a social detective to discover the bad.
I will pose a few questions which might help you discover the bad parts.
The First Nation [Indian] people were the oppressed, the sinned-against, so why were they wailing and the white Christian Canadians from the oppressor group not wailing over their sins of ethnocentrism and oppression---the slaughter of First Nation peoples and the stealing of their land? Why do most whites, even most Christian whites, refuse to give up their economic privilege? Why authentic confession of historical sins and a genuine apology for those terrible sins, but no required biblical restitution regarding those social evils?
Buchanan engaged in a magnificent but ultimately failed attempt to do justice, in my opinion. Much better than most white Christians, but still fundamentally flawed.
Pastor B. confesses quite specifically and in considerable detail the sins of his nation, the white ethnocentrism and oppression. Also the current desperate condition of the nearby Tswassen people who were suffering from "a high incidence of suicide, alcoholism and drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and incest, domestic violence and health issues of every kind." Sounds like individual, family, community and cultural PTSD to me.
Buchanan writes:
"I spoke on Zechariah 8. I confessed that I was part of a people who have done that which God hates. I said I was prayerfully struggling to know what to do next, how to undue what had been done. I said I was committed to finding out. Then I used the story of Zacchaeus."
He referred to Zacchaeus' repentance accurately, but apparently missed the significance of the restitution part. Genuine apologies alone are not enough: "Right after I spoke, a woman from the Cowichan tribe told her story of being physically and sexually abused in a nearby Residential School. She spoke without bitterness or accusation."
"But the room was heavy when she finished. The white pastor got up, overcome with emotion, and said she was sorry. 'I'm not apologizing because I was involved in what happened to you. I'm apologizing because I wasn't involved. Because, even when I knew terrible things were happening in those schools, I still did nothing.
"Then the pastor said, 'If you are white and you want to join me in apologizing, I simply ask that you stand.' I stood. All the white people stood.
"We were completely unprepared for what happened next. The First Nations people began to weep. Then their weeping turned to sobbing. And then their sobbing turned to wailing. It was piercing. I felt the shame of all the wrongs my forebears had committed. I felt the shame of all the ways I, though not involved personally, had been personally uninvolved. Apathetic. Not wanting to know and, once knowing, wishing they'd just 'get over it'.
"The wailing continued, got deeper, got louder. When I could bear it no longer, an older First Nations woman---a chief of her tribe---came to the front, took the microphone, and said, "I do not want those of you who are standing to carry the weight of this. I forgive you. On behalf of my people, we forgive you.'
"Peace like a river swept over me, and I wept."
Pastor Buchanan unfortunately did not add the following: "With deep gratitude for undeserved forgiveness from First Nation peoples, and following the biblical example of Zacchaeus, I pledge to give 50 percent of my yearly income for the rest of my life to doing Christian Community Development in Indian communities that are still devastated because of white ethnocentrism and oppression. I will urge my church to do the same. And all Canadian Christians to do likewise. Our restitution is long overdue. Restitution is a required part of the biblical paradigm of justice, kingdom of God justice that releases the oppressed."
From Apologies to Partnerships Creating Justice
Genuine apologies are an important and necessary first step on a mile-long journey toward justice in a traumatized First Nations community. And apologies should be accompanied by wailing, wailing by the white oppressor, a sign of deeper remorse and repentance. An apology alone will not heal the damage done by generations of oppression.
So apologies are only a first step. Christians must quickly move on to repair and rebuild lives, families and communities. Think life-long partnerships. Think a generation in one location/community. Think implementing Nehemiah 5.
Steps/Stages Required of Spirit-filled Churches
1. Confession of national sins and apologies for those sins---see Daniel 9 prayer.
2. Repentance and restitution---Nehemiah 5; also Zacchaeus
3. Release of the oppressed which includes identifying systems of oppression and ending systems of oppression---see Isaiah 58:6 and Luke 4:18.
4. Repair/rebuild oppressed communities; do Christian Community Development---Isaiah 58:6ff.
5. Replace systems of oppression with systems of justice---Leviticus 25 and Deut. 15. Free slaves every 7 years; cancel debts every 7 years; return land every 50 years.
6. Shalom/kingdom of God incarnated---Isaiah 9:7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17; 42:1-4; 61:1-4. My paraphrase of Romans 14:17 "The kingdom of God is justice, shalom, and joy in the Holy Spirit."
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