Opinion: Reflections on Martin

SALT LAKE CITY — Around this time of year, Utahns naturally take time to reflect on our pioneer forebears. Among innumerable stories, perhaps none best exemplifies the faith and fortitude of the Mormon pioneers like the story of the Martin Handcart Company and its experience at the Sweetwater River in Wyoming.

Immigrant converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who could not afford wagons were outfitted with "a wooden wheelbarrow of sorts," which they pulled (and, at times, pushed, prodded, and no doubt cursed and kicked) toward Utah. Ten handcart companies walked 1,300 miles from Iowa City to Salt Lake City between 1856 and 1860.

The Martin Company was the fifth of these companies, departing Iowa in late July 1856. On November 4, 1856, the pioneers reached the Sweetwater River, just over two weeks after an early winter storm had overtaken them. They had already forded one river in the snow and cold, and were now faced with fording another. The thought of doing so "was more than many weak and frozen pioneers could bear."

In early October, a party of fast-traveling missionaries arrived in Salt Lake City from Illinois. The missionaries sought out Brigham Young to report that the Martin Handcart Company, along with the well-known Willie Handcart Company, were still on the trail. Winter had come early, and Young knew the pioneers would perish if they were not rescued. He immediately dispatched several teams of men, loaded with supplies, eastward.

By perhaps the most familiar account, just as the Martin Company "had given up in despair, after all hopes had vanished, after every apparent avenue of escape seemed closed, three eighteen-year old boys belonging to the relief party came to the rescue, and to the astonishment of all who saw, carried nearly every member of the ill-fated handcart company across the snowbound stream. The strain was so terrible, and the exposure so great, that in later years all the boys died from the effects of it."

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The rescue of the Martin Handcart Company at Sweetwater, among other pioneer stories, inspires Mormons and others to this day. Each year, religious and political leaders reflect on Utah's pioneer heritage and recognize the legacy they left behind. Despite the years that have passed and the generations that have come and gone since the pioneers made their trek across America, we acknowledge that our lives, today, are still affected by what they went through.

Another Martin has been in our thoughts recently. The trial of George Zimmerman for shooting and killing Trayvon Martin has dominated the news for several weeks. Whether warranted or not, the trial has thrust the issue of race relations to the forefront of the national dialogue (the Supreme Court's decision invalidating a provision of the Voting Rights Act has also played a role).

It's an important and difficult conversation. Unfortunately, some have retreated into comfortable, calcified positions. There are those who believe racism is no longer a problem, while others assume it is ever-present until they are persuaded otherwise. As is so often the case, most of us are somewhere in between. It is in between where progress can be made, but only if we resolve to talk about the issue, and to do so constructively.

Last Friday, President Obama spoke of the Trayvon Martin case, and asked how we as a nation might "learn some lessons from this and move in a positive direction?" A lot has been made of his remarks — I encourage you to simply read them. The President relates certain of his experiences as an African-American man growing up in America, which are very different from my own. I've had African-American friends and family relay similar stories, and have seen actions similar to those he describes. Any productive conversation on race must include an awareness and appreciation of such experiences.

The conversation must also include an acknowledgment of our nation's troubling history on race. We should be as quick to consider the lasting effects of slavery and Jim Crow as we are to acknowledge the effect that our own pioneer heritage has had on us.

Several years ago, I volunteered with a program preparing immigrants to take the U.S. citizenship test (which, by the way, is more difficult than one might expect). One evening, we opened our materials and began to review the civil rights movement. Shortly after beginning our discussion of segregation, one pupil raised her hand.

"Pardon," she said earnestly, "but I think my copy is wrong. It says this stuff ended in the 1960s."
"No, that's correct," I said.
"Really? Like, less than 40 years ago?"
"Uh ... yeah," I said.
She was dumbfounded. I was embarrassed.

President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation three years after the last handcart company arrived in Salt Lake City. The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude," was passed seventeen years later. African-Americans' (and others') right to vote would not become meaningful until the civil rights movement of the 1960s — less than 50 years ago, now.

In his remarks, President Obama emphasized that "things are getting better." "Each successive generation," he said, "seems to be making progress in changing attitudes when it comes to race." However, that "doesn't mean that racism is eliminated." The President was dismissive of the notion that a conversation organized by politicians would be "particularly productive," and instead encouraged discussion "in families and churches and workplaces."

So, let's have the conversation. Let's acknowledge the past, without being bound by it. Let's ignore those who encourage fear and advocate anger. Let's continue to build "a more perfect union."

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