I have spent much of the year reflecting on the concept of racism, watching events unfold & having many different thoughts about all of them. It would have been easy to float in the frustration pool with the many people around me who were just as confused and uneducated as I was.
However through prayer & some bold friends who weren’t afraid to share their heart & story I was able to reject my own ignorance and come to a place of understanding & humility when it comes to the reality of minorities in this country. One of my closest friends has played such a huge part in really shaping my understanding of the injustices that have taken place in regards to minorities & specifically the African American population. Her boldness in sharing her experiences & her personal pain opened my eyes to how much we as a country & more importantly we as Christian’s have failed to show love & compassion to those around us who are crying out for justice. I asked her to write out her personal thoughts to be incorporated into this blog post. I am so thankful for her raw honesty and more importantly her heart for Christian culture to be defined by the love of Christ and to reflect that to those around us.
"I thank God for people who intentionally seek to go beyond surface level and care to understand things they may not be able to directly identify with."
"The world is divided & we all are quick to point fingers at where the division stems from. The perception based off comments & actions of some white christian friends reflect that they do not care to understand the pain of minorities. Whether or not this is truth, the lack of effort to attempt to understand, or to have compassion & sympathy for other cultures is sadly lacking. Instead it is perceived that many are actively choosing to overlook & masque the brutality towards African Americans and other minorities. This perception comes from witnessing so many disregard the problems that are spoken of & instead making mention of other problems that completely disregard the cry for equality & acceptance. It comes from sensing a level of avoidance to people who look different or were raised different. Especially witnessing it amongst Christian friends is especially difficult & goes against everything I know to be true about God who created each and every one of us equally."
So many have decided to label the cry of human beings as angry outbursts with no foundation. They have done so based on ignorance & little to no understanding of the level of pain, bitterness & anger that has been cultivated over years of being discriminated against & undervalued. For one second put yourself in the shoes of a human being who has spent their life being told they aren’t as important, worthy, accepted, beautiful or as able as those around them! Imagine being labeled or worse treated as worthless because of where you came from or how you looked?
“Then He will turn to the ‘goats' the ones on His left and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! Your’e good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because I was hungry and you gave me no meal, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was homeless and you gave me no bed, I was shivering and you gave me no clothes, sick and in prison, and you never visited.’ Then those goats are going to say, ‘Master what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?’ “He will answer them, I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me - you failed to do it to me.” Matthew 25:41-45
Imagining yourself in this scenario most likely will infuriate & anger you. There is also of sense of hopelessness & despair that most likely would set in if you were treated in such a way. You would expect people around you to see this and be appalled that you are being treated in such a sick way, to join you in fighting against this injustice, to come alongside you & assure you of your worth & value. Sadly although this makes the most sense this is not what is taking place in our country & worse our churches. Instead many have decided to turn a blind eye and by doing so have enhanced the feelings of worthlessness that have already been planted. By doing so they have created a seed of bitterness & anger that they then have the boldness to be offended when they see it lived out in the form of “angry outbursts or violence”.
"I hope and pray that we would all come to a place of humility where we can view sin as sin as opposed to labeling one as being greater than the other."
"When we scream black lives matter our cry is that black lives have been forgotten and devalued by many white Americans and American systems. To which most responses are black people kill black people too. That is the equivalent of someone saying sex traffickers kill babies too in response to babies being killed by abortion. As a christian myself, I know I can and I do mourn the deaths caused by abortions as well as the deaths caused by racism. To mourn the loss of lives of African Americans does not mean to discredit the lives of other individuals. I believe to some people, that idea is so far out of reach because they cannot accept that racism still exists. More specifically, many white people cannot accept that racism is an issue because to speak on slavery, to speak on lynchings, to speak on police brutality, to speak on unequal opportunities in America is to reflect on the injustices induced by many of their own people and to therefore, protect minority America, which was never the function of this country."
"If you are not a racist, the idea that African Americans are being oppressed and have been for decades should not threaten you or make you want to create a response to negate that truth unless you feel personally attacked. Instead, the idea that African Americans are being oppressed should enrage you. Many Christians preach sermons, write posts, and like statuses about loving their neighbors, bearing each other's burdens, and esteeming others higher than themselves while in reality, they can not stand with their brother at a time of his sorrow without denying the relevance or source of his sorrow if it stems from a racial problem."
"The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself, there is no commandment greater then these.” Mark 12:31
"I am disheartened to admit that most of the hurtful, racist remarks I have heard in my life, have come from fellow white christians. Remarks including, "you're pretty for a dark-skinned girl," "turn on the lights because I cannot see you," or "I saw a group of black girls and I was scared they were going to jump me,” are all words that created feelings and memories that have never left me. Prior to those occurrences I have never had insecurities about my skin color or my hair texture. I noticed changing the way I interacted with my white friends and I found myself constantly feeling like I had to make up for something that I was lacking; straightening my hair more often, changing the way I spoke, changing the music I listened to, going above and beyond in my classes so that I did not appear as "the dumb minority". I even thought of possibly dating one of my white male friends, who was interested in me, just to find acceptance and approval by the white community. "If he is willing to date me it must mean we're not all ugly, we're not all dirty, we're not all ghetto, we're not all deserving of being mistreated,"--all characteristics attributed to minorities and African Americans in general. While interracial dating is beautiful, I considered dating him with the wrong reasons. I thank God for His Grace being sufficient in my weaknesses because it was in those times of insecurity that I was positioned to look towards Him."
"I saw His love that saw my color, my curls, my culture and valued it, cherished it, selected it to be a part of His unique plan for my life."
"In addition to those feelings pointing me to the love of Christ they brought me to points of conviction. God revealed to me the many negative thoughts, prejudices or even subtle remarks I may have used loosely that still held so much weight. Just because you spend time with different groups of people does not mean you are not a racist. You can enjoy someone's company and still think your race is superior to theirs. I'd like to offer the "crazy" thought that many times we refuse to offer others the grace that has been freely given to us, as if it were ours to withhold from people. As the church, we as Christians should not be so secluded and immersed in people just like us that we exclude others."
"When violence is fought with violence instead of chastising people we should pray for them. Maybe even consider the idea that we would react in the same way, if not worse, if we did not know Christ."
"As Christ loves the church, let us LOVE our neighbors, ugly-face-cry for our neighbors because they matter to God just as much as we do. I really beg that whoever comes across this post would take time to earnestly pray and ask God to reveal any racial slurs, prejudice thoughts, or incriminating stereotypes you may hold towards other groups of people, if any."
"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time." Ecclesiastes 3:11
