March 25, Good Friday: John 18:1-19:42
There are many reasons to deny Jesus, and we all have one.
The term passing refers to a person’s ability to identify with and belong to one group, class, or—most often—race while secretly belonging to another. It implies an intent to deceive, which is why the illustration that may come to many people’s minds—of Thomas Jefferson’s affair with Sally Hemings—is not a case of passing. Hemings never claimed to be white nor denied being black, which is the primary reason their six children were and remain in the margins of Jefferson’s public narrative. It was not Hemings herself but some of these children who disclaimed their heritage in order to enter white society. They were successful, and no one said a mumbling word.
One of my favorite stories of passing belongs to Long Lance, a writer for Cosmopolitan and spokesman for Indian affairs. Lance claimed to be the son of a Blackfoot chief. He was, in a 1920s magazine’s opinion, one of the “few real 100% Americans” left, and his 1928 autobiography was an international best seller.
Except—well, have you ever told a lie that became too public and got exposed? Long Lance became a silent film star, and pretty soon people started fact-checking. Turns out he was born not in the Sweetgrass Hills of Montana but in North Carolina, and his name wasn’t Long Lance but Sylvester Long, and his father wasn’t a Blackfoot chief but a school janitor, and he wasn’t Native American at all but Negro, through and through.
