Embracing The Discomfort of Racism
Once Again, Riots
The previous two blogs have been done with topics suggested by the Rev. Don Conley. This one is my own inspiration and may or may not suit the Rev. Don’s plans. However, I think it is a topic Christians need to think about.
Back in 1968 I was a year out of high school and working at the Hecht Company department store when the news came in that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot and killed. Our assignment as stock boys was to go into the warehouse underneath the parking lot and load up big sheets of plywood, which would be used to board up the windows of the downtown store. It didn’t happen; the store was damaged, according to period photos from the Washington, D.C. Library.
We finished loading, then came back to the store, where all the TVs in the electronics section were tuned to coverage of what was happening, with occasional breaks for singer James Brown’s attempts to soothe the troubled nation. That didn’t work, either, although Brown gave a concert the next night in Boston that was telecast live, calming that town for at least one night.
Interesting as that history might be, it doesn’t answer the question of why, more than 50 years later, mass demonstrations are happening around the country. And what obligation do Christians have to do something to make the situation better?
We are called on to love everyone, even our enemies, as Jesus loves us. That includes people of different races, backgrounds and religions, even if the things they do sometimes puzzle us. In this case, millions of people saw a white policeman kneel on a black suspect’s neck for more than eight minutes. Three fellow officers stood by, seemingly oblivious to the protests of bystanders, one of whom was videotaping everything. No wonder people got so upset; not to protest would be to accept what happened as just somebody else’s back luck.
Even if the man had been guilty of the alleged offense he was stopped for — passing a counterfeit $20 bill — the penalty for that is not — and cannot be — death.
In this sermon June 7, Pastor Don recalled the words from the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Those words refer to those who grieve over their sins, but they also have meaning to those who are grieving the loss of someone’s life. As Christians we know there is another, better world that awaits us, but we still mourn the loss of those we’ve known in this world. What else might they have done here, or said to us? How many of us have said, after the death of a loved one, that we wish we’d spent more time with them?
The loved ones of George Floyd are feeling that loss now and many people of all races are trying to propose solutions to what, in this case, was certainly police brutality. There are many things on the table and I have neither the knowledge or the intelligence to evaluate them. The only thing I know for sure is that what happens will depend on elected officials crafting solutions that will improve things without stirring up more hate.
Is hate too strong a word?
Is hate too strong a word? No. Imagine this scenario: You arrive for the first time in a new town. You have never been there before, never spoken to anyone who lives there or shopped in any of the local stores. I guarantee this: If you are black, you will be viewed with suspicion and perhaps even become the target of racial taunts. Physical violence is even possible, all because of the pigment of your skin. That’s what black people live with.
So, how do we help resolve the hurt of our fellow citizens and improve our country’s race relations? First we pray, first for ourselves, that we have the wisdom to do the right thing. Then we look for good leaders, those who are servant leaders, as Jesus was. And we need to urge them to do the right thing, even if it’s the hard thing. Sometimes the right thing is not the popular thing and doing it may lead to a loss of high office.
In the 1950s, when U.S. Sen. Jospeh McCarthy accused many people in government of being communists or communist sympathizers, many were reluctant to call him out. But in 1954, during hearings McCarthy called, attorney Jospeh N. Welch responded to McCarthy’s charge that a young lawyer in Welch’s firm was a communist sympathizer, by saying ""At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
During the Red Scare of the 1950s, some Americans were branded as traitors and blacklisted, which made it impossible for them to work. Welch risked a lot by challenging McCarthy. But he did it because it was the right thing to do. I hope as the nation goes forward, there are more leaders who will do the right thing. As Luke said in Ch. 14:25-33, there is a cost to being a disciple. So too there is a cost to doing the right thing, especially when it is not the popular thing.
Bob Maginnis a former newspaper writer. This blog is his opinion and not that of Ringgold Church, its staff or its ministers.
