It feels like a bad dream to be saying this yet again…This has to stop.
Those words feel empty now; an echo that reverberates, what seems like every few weeks through our nation.
In our current world, there are lots of ways to speak out, and react appropriately, engage with culture to create needed change. My way is to write. So after feeling numb most of yesterday, I sat down to write.
George Floyd, was a man, who God loves, with a soul, a family, and the right to live. He should still be alive, but he’s dead….His story deserves to be told, and it is being told. As painful as it is, we need to watch and listen and grieve. But this article isn’t only about George Floyd, though he deserves our full attention, it’s about moving toward a solution to a culture that seems to be increasingly deadly for people who look like him.
So what do you find yourself saying and thinking in response?
“I don’t want to get involved…It doesn’t affect me…
Surely, he did something to deserve what happened….He was on drugs after all…You know he was a criminal, right?…
If I speak out, I’ll be aligning myself with people I disagree with politically on other issues…
If I speak out, it will diminish people’s respect for law enforcement and feed the narrative of “us vs them”…
If we don’t talk about it, it’ll go away on its own…From my perspective, there’s no way there’s a racial problem in our nation….
All reasons we might have to NOT acknowledge the killing of yet another black man in America and use our voice to make a difference and make things better for people of color in our nation. Yet, none of these reasons are acceptable. None. Not one.
On the contrary, biblical faith models speaking out against injustice. (Jeremiah 22:1-3). Christian faith demands (Ephesians 4:2) that we walk in humility, teachability and seek to listen and understand. This means, to the best of our ability, we must work to understand what it’s like to be a person of color in our communities, and to serve with all our might to reconcile the divides between us. (Galatians 6:2)
I almost hesitate to go on, because this is not about me, and there was a time in my life I would have stayed silent, but I can no longer do that. I care less and less about what people think of me every time I sit with my friends of color and see them grieve the loss of another black man, woman or child who didn’t deserve to die and wonder if they, or someone they love is next. This will, no doubt, be misunderstood by some, but I hope to be a unifier rather than a divider with these thoughts. I’m writing this as a member of the majority, a white man, who has never known racism, but who has perpetrated it, and who has “looked the other way” it when I saw it many times. Each of us has a measure of influence that we must leverage to move our culture in the right direction.
I pray this article gives permission to my fellow conservative Christians to grieve, to speak truth about race and racism, without fearing they’ll be accused of abandoning their values, which is the seeming dilemma many feel like they face. Let me warn you, you WILL be misunderstood.
Here’s what it sounds like…
“If you speak out against racism, and in support of black people, then you MUST be a proponent of abortion, socialism, illegal immigration, and a long list of other controversial political issues” This is completely untrue. Think for yourself, and realize that the world is a lot more complex than 2 opposing schools of thought. Being outspoken for the equal treatment of black people in our culture, doesn’t mean you don’t love America, or love America less, it means you think everyone, regardless of the color of their skin, deserves the benefits of what we say America represents. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
“You obviously don’t support law enforcement”….On the contrary, you will find no greater supporter of law enforcement. We work regularly with our local PD, some of my best friends in the world are police officers. We pray for them, we spend time with them, and I watch them do their jobs with the utmost integrity. To me, this isn’t about police officers, this is about people, some of whom happen to be police officers, or doctors, or construction workers, and yes, even pastors and ministers, whose hearts and minds are blinded to the full humanity of others simply because of the color of their skin.
“You must not be a bible preaching pastor/church with this social justice talk”…..On the contrary, you’ll find our church deeply committed to biblical preaching and proclaiming the gospel. We take the Word of God very seriously, and preach expository messages, emphasizing the gospel of repentance and the work of the Holy Spirit. I also believe James 2:9 “But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” Yes, racism is sin, and we preach it as a sin to be repented of along with every other.
If we are a follower of Christ, on some level, racism is our problem, and we have a part to play. Does this mean we fixate on race and racism and racial violence and every conversation has to be about it? No. It means that we’re called to be like the good Samaritan, (Luke 10:25-37) who didn’t cross to the other side of the street and avoid a hurting person who was different from himself, but instead bandaged his wounds to the best of his ability, did what he could do to ease the pain, and helped him get back on his feet. Did the Samaritan rob, beat, and leave for dead the man on the road? No, but he took responsibility for his healing. If you want to follow Jesus, hurting people matter, even if they don’t look like you. If you want to follow Jesus, part of the call is to love your neighbor as yourself, and take responsibility for those in our communities that we can help heal, feel safe and feel seen.
The problem is not only the racism that motivates people to kill or abuse a person of color, the problem is also the racism that when a person of color is abused, or dies, particularly in an unjust way, allows us to walk on the other side of the street and ignore it.
May we walk in the humility and teachability necessary to understand what it’s like to be a minority, and to wonder if your life matters as much to your community as those around you who are in the majority.
May we not walk in fear of judgment by those who say you can’t stand up for black people, because you disagree theologically or politically with others who stand up for them.
May we take responsibility for those people of other races who are hurting on ‘our street’, and do what we can to heal, bring safety and support to them.
In Jesus name.
Note from the author: If this article offended you, or you simply disagree with all or some of it, I’m open to dialogue, in fact, I welcome it. Please be loving, respectful, and intellectually honest in your comments, but before you respond, take a minute, humble yourself, and consider the possibility, that maybe the Holy Spirit is dealing with your heart.
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Dalton and Sylvia live and pastor in Republic, Mo