Race and Death in America. A Response

The names, are too many….  Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Dontre Hamilton…..

The emotions, run too deep….  Outrage.  Unbearable sadness.  Despair.  Shame.  Hope….

The Images, are too graphic….   Grieving parents.  A community in flames.  An unarmed man being choked to death…

The Left and Right Media covered these events in predictable fashion, further ingratiating themselves to their echo-chamber audiences.

I’ve learned that writing about Race is a fool’s errand.  We live in a hyper-political and racial atmosphere, where instant reactions rule the day. The Politicians, Pundits and Talking-Heads push their personal agendas, which only served to re-affirm our own stereotypes. 

Let me just ask this…. What type of country is it, where an armed white man can threaten federal officers and be turned into a Conservative folk hero -Cliven Bundy- while unarmed black men are killed and then blamed for their own deaths….?

I’ll leave it up to others to wrestle with the legal, moral and ethical implications of these events.  

The question I want to answer is this: How should Christians -of all political stripes- respond to these events?  As a pastor of a multi-ethnic, economically diverse congregation, let me offer a few suggestions…

Identify with the brokenhearted

The Bible commands us to do relate to those who are suffering.  We see this clearly in paces like Romans 12.15, ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.’  We do this because God identifies with those who struggle in life.  Psalm 34.18 tells us, ‘The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.’  Christ-followers need to identify with those who are suffering, grieved, and hurting.

When faced with a choice to side with the powerful or the oppressed - side with the oppressed

God draws near to people who are oppressed.  The commands to care for the poor, the widowed and orphaned are found throughout the Bible.  Jesus declared that he came to bring, ‘liberty to those who are oppressed,’ Luke 4.18-19.  The prophet Isaiah in Chapter 1.17 declared, ‘Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.’

Realize that we all have our own internal biases

White Privilege is the term used to describe the reality of those who are born into systems that deliver access to power and resources -to the neglect of others.  White Privilege doesn’t mean that someone is racist; rather it implicates the corrupt nature of our social systems.  Conservative Pastor Matt Chandler affirmed the reality of White Privilege by declaring that his, ‘Blond hair and blue eyed sons will never be seen as suspicious by the Police.’  Acknowledging that White Privilege exists is helpful in deeply divisive times like this.

Listen to other narratives

Take time to listen -not just hear but truly listen- to the stories of others from different racial backgrounds.  Invite a friend over for dinner and seek to understand their experiences and opinions is critical in bridging perceptions. Christianity affirms that all people are created in the image of God and therefore have equal worth and value.  Learning the life stories of fellow imager-bearers draws us closer to our Creator.

Christians are required to address reconciliation

We are commanded to love one another, with the same love that God has for us.  Jesus tells us in John 13.35 that, ‘All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.’  At one point Jesus is asked, ‘Who is my neighbor?’  He responds with a story that crosses racial and ethnic divisions -setting the Good Samaritan as the ultimate example of reconciliation.  

We can argue the merits of rioting, we can shake our head in anger at those grabbing the spotlight for self-promotion, we can debate the conflicting eye-witness accounts of each incident, and we can take sides in the predictable ‘us vs. them’ narrative that plays out in our Country…

Or

We can chart a new course, one where Christians join in the suffering, where Christians embrace the sorrow, side with the oppressed, assess our own personal biases, listen -sincerely listen- and take the lead on racial reconciliation.