We Need To Talk

Late Tuesday night I watched video footage of Alton Sterling being tazed, wrestled to the ground by two grown men and then shot to death multiple times at point blank range. I sent out this tweet after:

What I got in my twitter feed following this was very telling. Multiple white people called me all kinds of names I cannot and will not repeat here. I was cussed out by numerous people, and accused of things I have never been accused of in my life. I did not take any of it personally. I am very picky who I choose to engage on social media. It is almost exclusively friends. So I blocked and deleted all of these. The point of my post was missed in many ways, so I wanted to explain more in depth here.

For many years, when cases of a cop killing a black person have arisen my response was usually something like this, “Well, that’s bad, but what about all the black on black violence? Why is there no outage over this?!” That statement right there is best called ignorance, and ignorant is exactly what I was or so I thought. I have yet to meet a black person that is not deeply concerned about the black on black violence in their communities. They deal with and address it on a regular basis. Once I realized this, I thought, “Oh, I was just ignorant and now I see the real issue.” The reality is that I was more than just ignorant.

I was raised in an environment where words like “nigger”, “porch monkey”, “thug”, “gangster” and “criminal” were how black people were described. I was not taught to respect and honor black people as God’s creation. They were “them” and we were “us.” I grew up around racist jokes and comments. I was trained to view the news through this lens. This was not intentional, this was ingrained. It was part of who we were. Black people had no dignity or real purpose in my mind beyond causing problems and playing sports. I feared black people for this reason, and yet I played with black kids in my neighborhood and school. I was a huge hypocrite and didn’t know it.

Black people for much of my life were seen as a means to and end. They were not an end in themselves. I had “black friends” so I could justify my ingrained racism and prejudice by simply saying, “how can that be, I have black friends?” Yet it wasn’t until I was 21 when I first had a meal with a black person. I wanted to be friends with them so that if they made it to the NFL or NBA, I might get something out of it. Sick, I know, but this was true for me. Even more disturbing is that I was not alone in this thinking. Many, if not all, of those in my community treated black people the same way.

In my opinion, this is why we (the white community) need to talk. We expect black people to deal with their issues, so I think it’s only fair that white people deal with theirs. I want to specifically communicate to the white, evangelical community. I know in the white, evangelical community this is a taboo issue. I also know I risk people not coming to or leaving the church we are currently planting over this. However, when I think of hills I am willing to die on this is one of them. Why? Because this is one of the reasons Jesus died on his hill. The gospel is the good news that Jesus has not only died to forgive us our sins and reconcile us to God, but he has also reconciled us to one another and is making us a new humanity. This new people is made up of all peoples, everywhere. Every color of skin. Every ethnicity. Every language. We simply cannot believe in the gospel and hold to ethnocentrism, racism and prejudice toward others. We may for a time, but if the Holy Spirit of God is in a person it will not be long. Conviction will come, confession will be made and repentance will follow.

We can no longer bury our sin. It must be exposed, confessed and repented of in our lives. Jesus died to destroy this sin, and we cannot coddle it and pretend it is not there. It is there. We, along with all humanity, have it in us, and if we are in Christ it is no longer consistent with who we are. We are no longer marked by our sin and fallenness. We are declared righteous in Christ, and we are to live in his righteousness. God is not a tribal deity, and He despises ethnocentrism, racism and prejudice. These all stem from hate for others which Jesus associates with murder (Matthew 5:21-22) as does the Apostle John (1 John 3:15). I hope we will despise it as much as God does.

I am done trying to defend myself and my upbringing. My defense now is Jesus. He defines who I am ultimately, therefore, I am not ashamed to be white, and I am not ashamed of the privileges that come with that. God has and is redeeming who I am, and by the Holy Spirit is making me into a white man that gladly reflects God in this world. No one’s skin color is a sin. Sin comes from our corrupt hearts and minds and souls. So I want to be clear, this is not a white bashing post. That would be sinful, too. I am not ashamed of my family history, but I am also not going to defend it as perfect. I want cycles of sin to be broken in my life and in the lives of my kids. I want to use the privileges afforded me for the good of others without those privileges.

This is a plea and a call for us to be honest about the sins of racism, ethnocentrism and prejudice. A plea and a call for us stand with our bothers and sisters whether black or any other color to be treated with dignity and respect by all people. A plea and a call for us to stop leading with rebukes, snarky comments, questions about justifiable killing and black on black violence when a black person is killed by police, and that we would begin to lead with grief and mourning for loss of life and seek to listen and understand. A plea and a call for us to work with our minority brothers and sisters in Christ to create lasting change in our society at all levels through the gospel of Jesus Christ. A plea and a call for us to be vocal and no longer silent about injustice. A plea and a call for us to commit to raising our kids to love and respect and honor and affirm the imago dei (image of God) in our minority brothers and sisters. A plea and a call to cease with the racist jokes, derogatory terms and mockery, and instead use language that gives value and honor and dignity to those not like us.

I have sinned deeply against many minorities in my life both in my heart, my mind and in my actions and non-action. I confess that and am walking in repentance of it. I know there is still residue of racism and prejudice in my life, and I pray that those brothers and sisters in Christ around me will graciously call me out in my sin that I may confess and repent and walk by faith in Christ. I long for the coming of Christ and his reign. I long for the new heavens and the new earth when all sin will be no more. That is the “not yet” part of the kingdom, but let us not forget that the kingdom is “already” here. May all ethnicities and colors in Christ work together to see Christ’s kingdom advanced into all spheres of society and the world. Let’s, as the Church, make this a gospel issue again, and lead the world in reconciliation and healing and peace for the glory of God who has bought us and made us one in Christ!