Racism troubles me. Up front, I feel certain I don't think I get it. I doubt I know enough about it to address it. Yet, it so hurts and exasperates my spirit because it's too big for me to envision as to how to tackle effectively. Is it so poisonous no one(s) can bring resolve? Has it been allowed to churn over a slow heat for decades while races agreed to disagree over its divisive pain that now it just can't be fixed? When any of us discuss it does prejudiced tension undermine productive dialog? Have radicals on all sides developed in us a dishonest bias in general?
Baseball camp opened my eyes to a side of race issues I knew nothing about. I have listened to Curt Flood, Bob Gibson, and Ted Savage talk for hours of injustice in the baseball world. They would tell of all of the players deboarding the bus following a game and entering the grand hotel. As the whites would go to their rooms the blacks would be ushered down the hall and out a side door and be driven on another bus a few miles out of town to sleep at a funeral parlor with the corpses.
Curt and Bob rehearsed how one year at Spring Training a young boxer invited them to a Black Muslim meeting. Afterwards Bob told Curt, "That's nothing but White Power in reverse" and they never went back. The boxer named Cassius later converted to become Muhammed Ali.
Barack Obama and his pastor are front page news. They have been headliners for a week or more. It's interesting this story has surfaced and how it has come about. Complete and diabolical opinions will be nated for days, if not months, to come. I have two questions: Do we have a grasp of how deep this runs? The second is, What can we do about it?
For the first one, I don't think we white people get the depth of injurious racism any more than those who have not been depressed get depression or those who have not gone without food get starvation. Yes, I think we brush against it on occasion, but I don't believe we identify with the angst our black friends harbor in their hearts.
Discrimination, I fear, is in general more of a topic of discussion to Caucasians than painful experience. But racism runs many rivers. I find Pastor Jeremiah Wright to be the very racist he detests. This emotion presents a deep-seated strain on our world. It's heavy. Lightweight forums won't cure what ills urban America.
So secondly, what are we going to do about it? What can we do about it? For one, I would like to hear from African-American readers as to your opinion....the honest what-you'd-really-like-to-say one....as to how you see both this problem and how you think Christianity should move to resolve it. I don't believe for a minute Pastor Wright represents Black America. I do believe his sentiment is strongly spewed in more corners than we would guess. Maybe I am wrong.
I don't think I am naive that good things are going on to assist progress. I think I am naive as to how bad things are for many. Racism may be too big for me to get my heart around. How do you see this struggle as an opportunity for the Christian race to persuasively impact a people we simply cannot ignore. They need our love. We need theirs.
In Him may be become one.
4 comments:
Thanks for addressing this topic, Terry. I don't know how to solve such large problems, either. My wife and I are white parents of a 5 year old black son whom we adopted at birth. One of the first good pieces of advice that we received was to teach our son to respect authority at all costs. This is more important for a young black man than for a white child because he will be more likely to get into trouble. Black boys (rather than white boys) will be treated with suspicion. He may not be doing anything wrong, but he will not be given the benefit of the doubt that a white boy would. Therefore, our son will need to learn to respect authority earlier. His conduct must be beyond reproach in order to do well. This puts more pressure on the black community than on the white community, and it is something that the white community is generally blind to. Understanding this may help the white community relate better to the black community, especially among Christians. I realize that this was a long answer, but I hope it helps in the discussion you have started.
Terry L.
Terry,
I have a different take on the issue. I grew up in Iowa, racism never entered my mind as we were a 99% white community. I went to a large public high school which had about a 10% black enrollment, still a non issue. We all got along very well.
Then I moved to Little Rock, wow what a difference. The racism here is open and visible. I have worked with the youth of the black community for 10 years and the differences here are vast. The good bit of the lower class black community in Little Rock lives a stereo type lifestyle. The families are non existent, the rate of teen pregnancy is staggering. Single mothers who were raised by single mothers, Boys who never become men because they never knew a man. A culture that is vile and disturbing that values little, especially life. It is a problem that only the Christ could fix. I don't have a solution. Is racism wrong and disgusting? of course. It is against the teachings of our Lord. Is the stereo type wrong, not in my opinion. not here. Dr. Bill Cosby in his new book points out the problem, he even offers some solutions. It is a message that seems to be lost on the people that could make a difference. I will continue to try to make a difference when I can but it going to take a miracle here to fix the racism problem. Oh, how I pray it will happen.
Jon
BTW; Terry L is correct in my observation.
I was a teacher in an urban middle school for 30+ years. I found it incredibly hard to NOT be racist, given the circumstances I faced every day. Since I am white and the troublemakers were usually black, the brain immediately rushes to the conclusion that whites are superior.
To counter that, I tried to take the blame from the kids and attach it to their parent(s). But then you have to factor in the circumstances that have raged against blacks historically. It gets very complicated.
Still, I consistently ran into minority kids who, despite their terrible environments, excelled both academically and socially.
In the end, I tried as best I could not to prejudge, not to jump to any conclusions about any child, but to remember that each is a child of God, made in His image. I would be less than honest if I said this approach worked every time. It was something I battled every day.
Terry,
Ever seen the movie "Mississippi Burning"? I grew up there. Right in the town depicted in the movie.
I was in high school there when the civil rights workers were murdered. I remember when sailors from the local Navy base were marshalled to search for the bodies. And I remember the hatred, division, fear and smell of violence that hung in the air all the time.
I remember the anger of the white community as blacks "invaded" the lunch counters in "dime stores" (boy, that's a term you don't hear much anymore).
As a kid I took it all in stride. We accepted it as "the way things are". But we whites also feared the racists who would quickly use violence to keep all of us (black or white) in line (although our fears couldn't come near the terror inflicted on the black community.)
As I entered college it began to dawn on me that this racial hatred wasn't right. I'm sad to say it took that long, but when you live as a child, day after day, in an insane situation, you tend to accept it, like soldiers in a combat zone who accept an insane level of evil as normal.
As one who has seen the monster up close and personal, I have an idea how we can change it.
Paul told the Corinthian church that their divisions were rooted in the flesh - they were "unspiritual." (1 Cor. 3:1-4).
Spiritual growth can clear our "divisional" thinking - the idea that "they're not like us".
If we walk as Jesus walked, we'll become as He is - truly spiritual.
Sorry to go on like this, but your blog exposed a still-painful nerve.
Love you, brother, for what He has done in your heart.
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