Destroying Businesses, Taking of Life, Destroying Dignities Are Not Solutions
The paradigms of everything we have held as near and dear to our hearts are all upside down. We all are attempting to find our stance as humans in a crazy world. What started out as a biological pandemic has now turned into destruction of cities, lives taken, radical disruption of community norms, and the hijacking of national narratives. We are not living in an environment that brings positive solutions to the fore-front. With a fevered, frothing energy running across our nation, are we in any position to appropriately discuss whose lives really matter?
For myself personally, I refuse to allow the national craziness to prohibit my desire to learn and grow my awareness. First and foremost, I am continually looking through the lens of scripture. This gives me an eternal perspective. I attempt to read and learn from others so that my thoughts can be enlarged, and my character continually shaped into the image of Christ. Because so much has been made about the book White Fragility, I decided to read it with a hope that I could expand my comprehension about racism. The author, Robin Diangelo is a white female PhD in Cultural Diversity.
Dr. Diangelo gives an interesting opening description of herself that causes me to ask, Could this become a beginning point for a positive dialogue on racism? She writes; “I am a white American raised in the United States. I have a white frame of reference and a white worldview, and I move through the world with a white experience. My experience is not a universal human experience. It is a particularly white experience in a society in which race matters profoundly; a society that is deeply separate and unequal by race…..” I have added the underlining for emphasis. If you insert your race in place of “white” references we all can at least begin with a confession that we all are uniquely and wonderfully created. This is a small but significant acknowledgement. The denial of a race can lead to disastrous conclusions. Hitler’s Arianism and the Jewish race being seen as sub-par led to an attempt at extermination.
Billy Graham personifies what I am suggesting in an article; Footprints of Consciousness. The article states; “From the time he became a Christian, Billy Graham said, “I could not understand segregation in the church.” By 1952, he felt compelled to take what was considered at the time a dramatic stand. He was scheduled to hold a Crusade in Jackson, Mississippi, and the seating had been arranged to accommodate a segregated audience. Ropes were erected to keep blacks and whites apart. When Graham arrived at the meeting, he personally went over and pulled the ropes down and refused to let them be put back up.”
While cities are burning, today is a great day for a Biblical worldview of humanity to emerge!
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