FORGIVING
BIGOTRY

Topics: Bigotry; Conflict; Forgiveness; Hatred; Racism; Reconciliation

References: Matthew 5:43–48; 6:14–15; 18:21–35; 2 Corinthians 5:18–20; Hebrews 12:14–15

Vivian Malone, a young black woman, enrolled as a student at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 1963. Federal troops helped ensure her entrance into the school, but Governor George Wallace tried to block her way. When he failed, Malone became the first African-American student ever to graduate from the University of Alabama.

Years later, Governor Wallace was taken in his wheelchair to Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, where he asked black people to forgive him for his racism, bigotry, and specifically his ill-treatment of Vivian Malone. He asked Malone for forgiveness. Malone said she had forgiven the governor years before.

When asked why she had done that, Malone said, “I’m a Christian, and I grew up in the church. I was taught that we are all equal in the eyes of God. I was also taught that you forgive people, no matter what. And that was why I had to do it. I didn’t feel as if I had a choice.”

—“Transition—Vivian Malone Jones,” Newsweek (October 24, 2005)