Anti-Racist Education

Sometimes I'm a slow learner. I can't afford to be now. I've got so much to learn.

I want to thank my black friends for talking to me openly about this issue. I want to thank my daughter for posting a video by Nicole Walters that opened my eyes. I want to thank Chief for sending me videos that got through to my white mind. My friend Earnest opened up about his experiences through life as a black man in America. I'm sorry that I had not really asked him about it until now.

I have also had friends share with me a podcast that offers a different point of view, and one that I need to hear, even if I disagree.

It is not enough not to be a racist. I need to be anti-racist. I need to speak up. I need to notice injustice and do something about it.

I'm learning how the justice system and laws have worked to marginalize African Americans.

I have prayed and cried a lot this week.

I want to thank my black friends for being patient with me and loving me, even though I have no clue what they experience every single day.

I am so blessed with friends. They remind me that Jesus loves me, even when I'm ignorant, even when I am blind and deaf. It's Jesus in them that allows them to love me.

Riots and Power

Some say that power solves all problems. 

A heavy hand of brute force can bring the masses into submission. Just ask Stalin, Mao, or Pol Pot. Their power came from brute force. Millions were executed in pursuit of their totalitarian visions.

I want to contrast the American experience with that. In our Declaration of Independence, we acknowledge that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are gifts from God. They are not rights bestowed by an all-powerful government. We cannot sustain American ideals at the point of a gun.

The unrest of today, although polluted with violence and looting, began in protest for justice. George Floyd became only the latest of black men to be murdered by law enforcement. This pattern must stop. Justice is the rallying point.

To point guns at American protestors is asking for trouble. The threat only escalates the tension and possibility for violence.

Please, let's not stop the fight for justice. Please, let us tone down the rhetoric. Let us vow to love and listen. Let us unite behind the truth that all men are created equal. 

Force is not the answer. Not the violence of riots. Not the fire power of the military.