Fear Itself
By Bernice Powell Jackson

November, 2001
Volume 38, Number 9

I think it was Franklin Delano Roosevelt who said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." It was his way of telling the nation that our fears for the future were keeping our nation from economic recovery from the Great Depression. We, too, must be careful not to be immobilized by the fear - fear of war, fear for ourselves and our family members, fear of Arabs or Muslims, fear of anthrax or other deadly diseases.

Fear in these days is perfectly understandable. Never before has our nation endured such a massive attack. Never before have we been forced to deal with terrorism. Never before have we had to experience what it must feel like to live in Colombia, a nation which has experienced war for 50 years, in which terrorism is a daily part of life. Never before have we had to experience what it must feel like to live in Indonesia or the Philippines. The truth is that many nations have suffered terrorism, sometimes on a daily basis, for decades and many of us ignored their cries for justice.

Just as we must be careful not to be immobilized by the fear, we must also be careful not to become driven by the fear either. Vengeance and blind retaliation can result from the fear. Racial and religious stereotyping and profiling can result from the fear. Bad foreign policy - the support of repressive regimes just because they support us, for example, can result from the fear.

Fear is a funny thing. It can cause us to forget history. In all the stories about those terrible attacks in New York and Washington, for instance, we talked about the massive loss of life, forgetting that thousands were killed in the Tulsa race riots in 1921, where an entire 35 block community was destroyed only because it was black. Thousands of black families were forced into exile, most never to return. We forgot the story of Rosewood, Florida, where a smaller version of the same kind of annihilation occurred.

Fear can even cause us to forget recent history. Many Americans, including even some of the African Americans who were victims themselves of racial profiling, closed their eyes to what was and is happening to Arab Americans and Muslim Americans. As we continue to hear stories of Arab Americans taken off airplanes only because they made some passenger or crew member uncomfortable, not because they were acting suspiciously or had done anything threatening, we know that fear is still in control. Fear can cause us to allow our civil liberties to be eroded for the sake of "national security."

Make no mistake about it, I want our county to protect its citizens from attacks of whatever kind. But I worry when I hear that there are dozens, perhaps hundreds - no one really knows the number - of Arabs and Arab Americans being held by the government in the Manhattan Detention Center in New York City, with no charges and perhaps no attorneys. I worry when the president's press secretary warns the media about its coverage of the president and the bombings. History tells us that when fear takes over, nations allow their freedom to be curtailed and that is always dangerous.

These are fearful times. But we must not allow the fear to consume us.

Bernice Powell Jackson is the Executive Minister of the Justice and Witness Ministries of Witness for Justice, a United Church of Christ organization. To contact Witness for Justice, call (216) 736-3700.