Greetings:
Thank you for giving careful consideration to your response to the recommendations of the “Seeking Abraham: A Report of Furman University’s Task Force on Slavery and Justice” document. In many ways you hold both Furman’s past and future in your hands.
In reflecting on my comments to you as you pursue the difficult but vital task before you, I have hearkened back to the wise words of one of our own, revered University Chaplain Dr. L. D. Johnson. Like Richard and James C. Furman respectively, L. D. was a college leader and church pastor. Like theirs, his ministry bridged a tempestuous time for race, society, and culture. Unlike them, he envisioned and fostered a campus, community, and culture in which equity, autonomy, and mutual respect are paramount values.
In March, 1976, in Washington, D.C., L. D. gave a memorable address to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Christian Life Commission’s seminar on Christian Citizenship, entitled “On Giving a Certain Sound.” Rooted in the biblical message of righteousness and reconciliation, his call was to justice. That is indeed a call that we share today.
L. D. put it this way: “Let us sound the certain note about our failure to translate the biblical principle of justice and righteousness into the language of our common life.” Translating the language of justice is precisely what you are about, and the Furman community is counting on you to give justice a certain sound.
While I do not presume to offer advice on when or how or whether you should implement any or all of the various recommendations from the Task Force on Slavery and Justice, my hope is to echo L. D. and the Task Force that your decisions serve to promote intergenerational justice as “a defining attribute of the Furman name.”
Therefore, I encourage you to…
Give a certain sound to Reconciling justice, one that publicly acknowledges our university’s involvement in slavery, admits our collective guilt, demonstrates authentic penance, and champions equity and inclusion for all going forward.
Give a certain sound to Restorative justice by affording clear voice to those with harmed histories to help imagine and fashion a mosaic of pragmatic solutions, one that takes a clear-eyed view on past failures and effects reorientation that is both symbolic and substantive.
Give a certain sound to Catalytic justice as you weigh the merits of each recommendation, assess the impact on all concerned, and determine which best represent the arced history and destiny of our alma mater.
On this MLK Day 2019, almost exactly 400 years after the arrival of the first enslaved Africans into the New World, Furman is coming to terms with the burdens of its history at long last. In so doing, Furman can lead and inspire communities of learning and communities of citizenry nationwide. After all, that’s what premier liberal arts institutions do—reflect critically yet constructively on our history and find a new, mended way forward. At Furman, our landscape, finances, curriculum, and community should clearly reflect our deep commitment to honoring and sustaining intergenerational justice.
L. D. was right. When genuine justice is indeed our guide and goal, we can reclaim with humility the prophetic oracle of old, to “let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream” (Amos 5:24).
Each of us is part of the Furman legacy with all of its consequential complexity. Thank you for your courageous leadership at this crucial moment for this momentous task.
Tony McDade (’79)
Monday, January 21, 2019
In peace,