Here are my follow-up thoughts brought on by an incredible Martin Luther King Jr. Day experience a week ago...
I pride myself in having diverse friends, and despising racism. But let me be honest. Let me self-reflect for a moment. Of the 210 friends and family contacts in my phone only 26 of those people are of a heritage other than Caucasian. Wow I really don't have a vast circle of non-white friends. Even the church I call home is primarily white even though it is an inner-city church. How does this happen? How do I find myself in a personal 1950's?
Growing up in Merced California in the 80's, the city was (and still is) very diverse. Out of a class of 30 kids, 1/4 might be white. The remainder of the kids were black, Hmong, and Hispanic. My family was probably the only white family who participated in a community garden. And a block away from our home was "the projects". I wasn't allowed to go over there, it “wasn't safe”. Looking back now I don't know how my folks determined that it "wasn't safe"… It just wasn't.
My "Christian" grandma from Texas would whisper "those people" when referring to her black and Hispanic neighbors. Every Christmas my mom would think it was funny to call Brazil Nuts, "nigger toes". I even remember one occasion where my mom told me not to let someone "Jew" me. Really?!
Even with all my exposure to other cultures growing up, the seed of mistrust for non-whites crept in through the conservatism that my folks partook in. And unfortunately these seeds of racism and discrimination are still being taught in "Christian" and conservative circles. Here are a few that come to mind:
- Blacks all use drugs, are deadbeat dads, and want to live on welfare instead of work for a living. [Hence, blacks cannot be trusted.]
- Asians are all Buddhists, and are secretly communists. [Hence, Asians cannot be trusted.]
- Hispanics are "illegal", and if they're not illegal they are helping illegals. Hispanics want to take your job from you, and are criminals. [Hence, Hispanics cannot be trusted.]
- Homosexuals cannot truly love anyone, they want to molest your kids, and want to destroy marriage. [Hence, homosexuals cannot be trusted.]
- Arabs are all Muslims, and are secretly suicide bombers in waiting. [Hence, Arabs cannot be trusted.]
Did you laugh? I kinda chuckled myself when I wrote those bullet-points, but I think it was one of those nervous laughs; like when you’re scared and you need to break the tension. If you think I’m exaggerating turn on conservative talk radio and hear what Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham or Rush Limbaugh have to spew, I mean “say”. These people have the same message as the American Nazi Party but because they are mainstream, “conservative” and paint themselves as Christian; somehow their message can be trusted and is deemed safe.
There is so much fear pushed upon us day in and day out. This is probably one subconscious reason that I don’t keep up with the news. If I continually listened to the media, whether conservative or “liberal”, I’m pretty sure that I’d have an overwhelming sense that the sky is falling. This paranoia leads us to ideas and ideals of self-preservation. In this state of paranoia we’re discouraged to lend a helping hand because we may get taken advantage of and we’re to treat people differently because they didn’t have the benefit of conveniently being born within the borders of the United States. I could drag these cause and effect relationships of this paranoia out but I’d much rather press on than create a grand list. Needless to say – fear is not of the Lord and anything that pushes us away from loving others is anti-Christ.
I’m not looking to start a debate, and I can leave writing about the Gospel’s call to love everyone unconditionally for another time. I am just saying we Americans and Christians are not as awesome as we tend to think ourselves to be.
So why would I publicly “process” these thoughts? Well, maybe because I’m not the only one who has begun to realize that we need to love better, i.e. love like Christ; and that there are things lurking in the dark recesses of our hearts that need to be dealt with head-on in order for change to take place. It is this exposing into the light [even the messy things] that my Transparency Campaign is all about.
Lord,
Please give us the courage to seek you, and to live like Christ even if it isn’t popular, if it rubs people the wrong way and even our families think we’re crazy. Our world needs us to step up and love well. Help us understand how, and let us not overlook the opportunities all around us. We’re broken but use us anyways! We love you, help us to trust you. - Amen
Thank you so much for processing these things out loud. I'm only just beginning to discover all the ways that I have insulated myself from anyone different from me. A month ago, I noticed how my entire social circle consists of educated, Christian white women, and I was ashamed. But how do I rectify this? Can I just walk into a neighborhood on the other side of town and ask a black or Hispanic woman to mentor me? Can I show up at the local mosque or synagogue and start conversations about integrating faith and life? I would be almost certainly be met with barriers, namely distrust, and with good reason. But I also don't want to give up before I even try. At the very least, we need to keep talking openly about white privilege, and help each other find ways to break out of our assumptions about the "other."
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