We Wear The Mask

As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said, “How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said: The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.’ David himself calls him ‘lord’; so how is he his son?” The great crowd heard this with delight. (Mark 12:35-37)

I’m reminded of a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) entitled “We Wear the Mask.”  It reads:

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

I’ve read that Dunbar “is speaking about the facade that many blacks wear (wore) to hide their inner pain. The mask in the poem refers to people hiding their true feelings behind a false expression.” Considering Dunbar lived during and after the Civil War, I suspect his poem speaks to the unspeakable cruelty of slavery and racism.

Our Gospel mentions placing our enemies under our feet.  Many African-Americans still feel they are under white America’s feet.  Racism and oppression still abound in our nation.

I write this blog a few days after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a policeman.  Floyd was killed by the officer who placed his knee on handcuffed Floyd’s neck thereby suffocating him despite Floyd’s cries that he couldn’t breathe.   An investigation was begun, but a video of the killing went viral and protests and riots ensued.  Floyd was under the knee.  He was not the “enemy.”

The enemy is racism often masked by those who encourage that evil.  Dunbar’s poem is powerful.  Today's racism and injustice have many ripping off their masks to reveal their anger.  Masks for coronavirus are important.  Masks to hide inner pain, tears and tortured souls are being removed.  Christ hears the cries; we all should.

Deacon David Pierce