own it to grow

When we can own our brokenness and depravity, we can begin to grow and transform.  At the National Monument for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, there are rows upon rows upon rows of large iron rectangles hanging.  Each represents a county in the United States where lynchings happened.  Each block has the county and state listed on the top and below are the names and dates of persons lynched in that county.  

Outside of those hanging monuments, duplicates of each iron block lay flat on the ground with an invitation to each county across America to come and pick up their monument as a way to own their history and their contribution in the traumatic narrative of racism and injustice.  Most duplicates remain.  Few have been picked up and taken back to their respective counties.  It is a powerful visual display of how we as humans try to hide and deny our sin due to ego and the fear that we will be exposed and will live forever in weakness and inadequacy, in guilt and shame.  

Christian Scriptures, however, state that "the truth will set you free (John 8:32)," and that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)" 

What might we as individuals and institutions need to own in the traumatic narrative of racism and injustice so that we can grow and transform?