Some biblical scholars believe that much of the book of Exodus is folklore and myth; they claim that there are no archaeological records to support the Hebrew people leaving Egypt. On the other hand some of the names of the Israelites especially those whose ancestors were from the tribe of Levi were Egyptian in origin such as Moses, Aaron, Miriam, and Phinehas.

Whether you believe the story in the text to be true or not I think we could agree that the story bears striking resemblance to our story. I am referring to the story of people of African descent; our ancestors’ enslavement and God’s liberation of them. [A moment of silence]

The Pharaoh believed to be Rameses the second trafficked in fearmongering. He appealed to a human condition that lurks just under the surface of many of us: fear. The Egyptians did not hear the lie only the fear. The lie was the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. He was setting the stage for us against them.

People who study demographics are looking at population trends and are predicting that by the year 2045 whites in America will be the minority. That is part of what is driving white fear and that’s why so many of us are being killed for no other reason than the fact that we are of African descent.

When feelings of fear, real or perceived are experienced by the powerful the consequences are life threatening for the powerless. It takes a resilient people whose help is God, to not only survive but thrive in the face of such oppression.
If we were not a resilient people and if it wasn’t for God’s grace and mercy we would have been annihilated. I believe that is who we are; our ancestors embodied the words of this old African American spiritual: Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around. Turn me around, turn me around. Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around, I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’ Marchin’ up to freedom land.

Let’s look back at our story, not for a pity party but to draw strength from our ancestors on whose shoulders we stand, to be able to face our current reality and to work for a better tomorrow for our grandchildren and for generations yet unborn.

Our ancestors were forcibly removed from their homeland, family, and culture; shackled in holding pens and later put on ships that were not fit for animals and brought thousands of miles to the other side of the globe. That was if they survived the poor diet, floggings, rape, sea-sickness, disease etc.

When they arrived here or at some point further south they were sold to some of the cruelest people and put to work like they had never worked before. Many survived the treacherous voyage only to die on plantations or die trying to be free.

We’re told that they set taskmasters over [the Israelites] to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.
Isn’t that what the plantation owners did to our ancestors? People of African descent knew about hard service; they built the infrastructure of this country with their bare hands and for free. They toiled long and hard in all kinds of weather without pay. That’s how these United States got rich.

Our folks managed to rise up from the oppression and fight for their freedom in a strange land where the deck was stacked against them. All they had was a spirit that refused to surrender. They had no material resources yet they found the strength to fight. Perpetual enslavement was not an option!

“When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. God has always sent help. The writer noted that the midwives were God fearing. So too were some of the abolitionists. Harriet Beecher Stowe was one of the leaders of the abolitionist who was also God fearing working tirelessly to end slavery. This affirms that the Lord God is our refuge and strength; a present help in trouble. (Ps. 46:1)
We cannot have this conversation without talk about Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad conductor who courageously escaped and at great risk made about nineteen trips to the South to free more than 300 slaves. She was nicknamed Moses for her efforts. I could imagine her singing: Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around. Turn me around, turn me around. Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around, I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’ Marchin’ up to freedom land. Her image deserves to be on that twenty dollar bill!

As you know the slave owners were livid; their free labor source was ending and some slave owners in Texas continued to keep their slaves in the dark for several months after the law to end slavery was passed.
Our woes did not end with the abolition of slavery; there was Jim Crow and all its evils. We are now dealing with the prison industrial complex and mass incarceration, police executions, gerrymandering etc. our last election cycle brought to the surface all that is ugly about America. Thanks to Georgia! Stacey Abrams is a boss!
I believe that we have lost some of our resilience over time and it is largely due to assimilation, the process whereby individuals or groups of differing ethnic heritage are absorbed into the dominant culture of a society. I am at a loss as to why we want to be like the people who have done us so much harm? If anything we should be striving to not be like them. And yes I know that our ancestors lost much of their culture but the little that they managed to preserve we have turned our back on it.

Added to assimilation is our complacency with tokenism. We should never be satisfied and think that we have arrived because we had an African American president and now an African American woman vice president. We must reclaim our resilience; we must continue to advocate until all of us have access to high quality health care, education, clean air, affordable housing etc. All of our children and grandchildren ought to have the same opportunities like their white counterparts.

Storytelling is a powerful tool in stemming assimilation. The people of Israel were advised to continue practicing their tradition of keeping the law and the reason was that the younger generations would enquire. When they did it would give the elders opportunity to tell them about their exodus from Egypt and God’s promise to bring them into the Promised Land. We owe it to the children to tell the stories of how we overcame with God’s help.
We know that God is on our side; he stands ready to help us but we need to reclaim our resilience as a people. We have to want to be free from the shackles of white supremacy. We’ve got to remind ourselves that we are a resilient people whose help is the Lord. Ain’t gonna let nobody turn us around. Turn us around, turn us around. Ain’t gonna let nobody turn us around, We gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’ Marchin’ up to freedom land.
Amen