A Few Thoughts on Racism

Considering all that has happened in America lately regarding racism, I am hard-pressed as a follower of Jesus to ignore it, even though a lot of well-intentioned Christians try to do just that, especially people who, like me, are of European ancestry and genetics. In fact, there is a lot I want to say about the topic of racism, but instead of writing volumes, which I could easily do, I want to acknowledge a few truths about the issue:

• Racism still exists in America. I know personally that it does, I see and hear things almost daily that make me cringe, and I'm saddened by what I hear. It's not at the levels of the 1960s, fortunately, but it's not gone. In some cases it's underground, whispered comment among friends, broad statements made dismissively in passing about people of certain ethnic groups and skin tones, things said in anger when an individual feels wronged. It's still out there, and it's easy to slip into even latent racism, where we just assume things about individuals because of the color of their skin or their appearance, even if we never say or do anything negative towards them. We should always be mindful of our attitudes in this way.
• Not every thing that happens is a racial matter. Being a white male, I'm not saying that callously or dismissively -  I've always been very mindful not to make anything I say or do come across as the least bit racist, because I don't want to be misrepresented. However, every conflict between individuals of different races isn't always a race-related issue. Many people are genuinely respectful of everyone regardless of their differences, and are still at risk of being accused of racism simply because of circumstances beyond their control. So we should likewise be mindful not to throw the race card on a whim without first discovering the truth of the matter and even the heart of those being accused.
  
  
• Regarding the Trayvon Martin tragedy, I do not listen to the media on either side - seeing as they have their own slants and biases - but instead pray for the families of everyone on both sides of the tragedy, along with everyone who has been troubled by the verdict, and also the societal volatility that has come with it. I do not know Zimmerman's heart nor his motives, and I do not feel right passing judgement on him - and I encourage others not to as well. But neither will I pass off the fear and hurt that African Americans are feeling, all that they have experienced that I haven't. I don't know what it's like to be looked at with suspicion while walking down the street. I don't know what it's like to be judged as a troublemaker or a lazy moocher by others before ever having a chance to speak or act. I don't know what it's like to be assumed to be a bad father just because so many people who share my skin color don't man up to the responsibility. Yes, I've been called 'white boy' in a derogatory manner before, and someone even tried to accuse me of being racist simply because I was white (which was in and of itself a form of racism that too needs to be confronted), but I do not know from personal experience what it's like to deal with what so many of my African American brothers and sisters have had to deal with, and I'm not going demean their experiences by pretending I've been through the same. Instead, my heart hurts with you and genuinely mourns with you.
  
  
• History matters, but it shouldn't have to be atoned for. There has been great wrong done to people of other races and cultures throughout the history of our nation, and we are being nothing but callous and cold-hearted when we try to dismiss that as insignificant. It's not unpatriotic to recognize how we've historically failed as a nation to recognize God's fingerprints in those who don't look and act like we do - in fact, if you're mature enough to recognize the mistakes of the past and learn from them, you can be even more patriotic by helping the people in your nation become better for it. But we also need to remember that the past is the past, and while we should never forget or downplay it, we should also never expect that all collective wrongs should be paid for by those who didn't commit them in our day or in any future day, that there exists some debt of wrong that needs to be settled at some point in the future, nor that the tables should ever be turned and vengeance ever be justified, for all of those things would only create more evil, more bitterness, more division, more despair, and would do nothing to eliminate racism. Jesus gave his life so that all of our evils and wrongs could be wiped clean, shouldn't we be willing to extend that same grace to one another, especially considering our troubled history?
  
  
• The church needs to stop burying its head in the sand about this matter. We have to be the source or healing and reconciliation for all peoples, not outsourcing this important task to lobbyists, activists, and governments. It's time to stop rolling our eyes at the mention or racism and it's time to stop being quick to point the finger and accuse others of racism. We need to have open ears and open hearts, encouraging others to bury the hatchet, to get to know people different than them, and celebrate the great and vast diversity of God's creation as He always meant us to, rejecting the ways it has been twisted to turn us all against each other. Only grace, forgiveness, honesty, and genuine love for one another will ever help us move forward.
• We can't lie to ourselves anymore. We have to look at our own hearts first, and ask God to help us see ways in which we judge others based on what we see - this goes beyond race to even other differences such as gender, hair color, body shapes and sizes, clothing, physical challenges, accents and speech differences, tattoos and piercing, even political affiliations, for any way in which we judge another without getting to know them we belittle them and treat them as less than human, turning them into a type, category, or label instead - certainly not treating them as someone Jesus genuinely loves and cares about. In fact, as Jesus says in the beginning of Matthew 7, we shouldn't judge anyone anyways, so even if we meet someone who fits a negative stereotype perfectly, what good do we do anyone by judging them? Wouldn't it be better to get to know them, understand what's going on beneath the surface, and help them find love and liberation in Jesus and in the relationships he's called us to establish with one another?

• Likewise, I want to discourage people from jumping on the bandwagons of 'liberal' or 'conservative' on this matter either, for just like every divisive matter in our society, these two factions turn every issue into a battleground, fighting to win at any cost and doing nothing to actually make things better. We do no good when we make cynical or dismissive remarks about those who are concerned about racism, and neither do we do any good when we attack and accuse others on matters of race. We need to be both sensitive to the concerns and troubles of others and willing to consider grace and love as a means to move forward. That's not to say that we should have nothing to do with people entrenched on either side, for they desperately need this wisdom and to see how grace and compassion can both be exemplified in matters of race and reconciliation, but we shouldn't allow their mentalities and mindsets to infect us and turn us against others. Partisanship is a disease that threatens to divide and destroy societies, nations, and even the church, leaving only a desolate wasteland of bitterness and despair, and therefore we should take no part in the 'wars' either side fights, for it is through grace and compassion, found in Jesus and expected of us from him, that we will ever find the path forward. This is where the we need to find strength and courage, not to fight enemies of flesh and blood, but to confront the mentalities and ideas that only cause more division and anger.

• This is a very interesting read regarding racist tendencies in Korean culture, although what he says about it, especially about heuristics - which, while essential to human survival, is often a key component in modern-day racism - has universal implications in understanding how and why racism tends to happen.