A Chapel Service of Hope and Reflection Following Siege on U.S. Capitol

“Today, the United States of America, while shaken, stands unbowed and will continue to bear witness that no individuals can subvert the will of a free people.”

Headmaster Temba Maqubela delivered a message of hope during a special chapel service on Thursday, designed to help the community process the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol the day before and find hope amidst the turmoil.

“In the midst of unspeakable suffering, with close to 4,000 people per day in the U.S. losing their lives due to coronavirus, and even more worldwide, we witnessed our democracy stumbling, shaking, and reaching the edge of the precipice. People died, and the beautiful Capitol building was breached by rioters who desecrated the people’s house, our beloved seat of Congress. All because the leader of the free world refused to accept the will of the people."

“Yet,” Mr. Maqubela continued, “this attempt to thwart and subvert the will of the people failed miserably as people of goodwill from both sides of the aisle, saddened and shaken as they were, counted votes, upheld the Constitution, and bore witness to the will of the people.”

The headmaster also spoke of the school’s collection of presidential letters and portraits—“a tradition and honor that I do not take lightly”—and how carefully he is weighing the words he will use to request Joe Biden’s contribution to the collection. “Long after Mrs. Maqubela and I are gone, the presidential portraits will continue to inspire and serve as a symbol for future generations,” the headmaster said. “These portraits remind us that without education, democracy is fragile. They remind us that a combination of education, patriotism, and truth should be prioritized over ignorance, nationalism, and populism.”

In his chapel talk, Mr. Maqubela also read from a letter he received from Theodore Roosevelt IV ’61, in which Mr. Roosevelt wrote about his excellent history courses at Groton—but also how his “teachers never explored the economic and political consequences of the provision of the Constitution which counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for purposes of representation,” giving Virginia twenty-one Electoral College votes, the most ever controlled by a single state. "Madison crafted the Constitution to ensure that wealthy slaveholders would control the new government. . . . In order to avoid teaching by omission, Groton will have to revise how it teaches and acknowledge how deeply racism is embedded in our history. We must take a hard look at economic inequality,” Mr. Roosevelt wrote.

Chaplain Allison Read opened the service—broadcast virtually and attended only by those who were participating—with Psalm 31. Dr. Stacey Spring, head of Groton's History Department, read an excerpt from Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865, delivered shortly before the end of the American Civil War. English teacher and Director of Diversity and Inclusion Sravani Sen-Das shared “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes. The service concluded with prayers offered by Obinna Nwaokoro '21 and Eric Spierer, a history teacher and member of the Spiritual Life team. 

“Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be.” As Ms. Sen-Das read, Langston Hughes’ words seemed written for this very moment.