We Don't Brag on John Anymore

I started researching one day, looking for the outcome of such a promising young man, wondering why he just dropped off the radar screen, sort of "out" of the historical record.

By age 24, John Evans had a medical degree. Soon he helped found Indiana Central State Hospital, and founded the Illinois Medical Society.  He prospered, founded the Illinois Republican Party, and became a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln.  He helped other Methodists found Northwestern University (and the city of Evanston, Illinois), and was elected first president of its Board of Trustees.

Check the longer story here:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Evans_(governor)

He was appointed governor of the Territory of Colorado, and founded the parent institution of the University of Denver.  And that is almost the end of the story.  As governor, he appointed the Rev. John Chivington as Colonel of the Colorado Volunteers, with a commission to "quiet the Indians".  Which led, to make a long story short, to the Sand Creek Massacre in November 1864.  There was a cover-up, and President Andrew Johnson asked Evans to resign.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_creek_massacre

So much good, so clearly Christian (streets in Evanston are named for heroes of the faith), and so much accomplished.  But John participated in a moral blind spot of significant size, and a popular one:  the only good Indian is a dead Indian.  And on November 28, 1864, the bad trumped the good, with tragic consequences.

Somehow, along the way, his tragic flaw has been shared by many.  Only lately have we begun to re-discover history grossly re-written to hide flagrant flaws.  And as we do, an admiration grows for those long-hidden and much-abused people who brought great dignity to life, even as they were being so badly used.

It's a reminder:  whether we've seen it or not, God has not left Himself without witnesses among every people, and especially among the American Indians, where there is a richness of poetry and faith.

Today, am I so caught up in my own busy-ness that I fail to see God's hand at work, even in people I don't clearly understand or value?  It happens.  And long after, an Act of Repentance will be part of the 2012 General Conference of the United Methodist Church, which will include a call to awareness of the values of indigenous peoples in other places as well, and to awareness of Christ's call to brotherhood.