Warning: Strong opinions backed up with fact to follow. The author is not responsible for the rash of emotions that you may incur. So, enjoy J
My Monday started off great. Slight Advil PM Hangover but moving rather fine anyway. Jade (Great Dane, spoiled rotten, lazy, pain-in-my-butt, please don’t leave me partner) was in a surprisingly good mood and didn’t give any trouble this morning. Kelcey has finals this week so she is in the OMG ITS FINALS/YES LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL mode. Jordan is Jordan. Not too high, not too low just show me the food, basketball and girlfriend (the order means nothing, I think even his girlfriend knows it’s a given that she’s in the top three and that pretty good considering). Tammy was getting ready, found all the clothes and shoes she wanted on first look so it was pretty peaceful. Remind me to write someday about what happens when she doesn’t. SCARY, I tell ya!
Anyway, while getting ready I heard the story about Trayvon Martin. The 17 year old shot in Florida. Very few people disagree that race was a factor. Sadly I don’t think anyone will ever prove anything except that the shooter was the only one that survived to tell his side of the story.
Nevertheless, I am passionate about racism. I have a high disdain for it. Passionately! Did I make that clear? I know, I live in Blount County where we talk of racism as something thousands of years ago as if it doesn’t run through our society like rust on metal destroying from the inside something that has the potential to be beautiful. Did I mention my slight displeasure for racism?
I got an inside view into race tensions early in life. For some reason I have always been drawn to befriend black people. It wasn’t and isn’t a crusade, it was and still is an opportunity to learn about people. I was raised in Townsend and growing up people were proud to be racist. It was and still today is sad. My parents didn’t participate in the hate so I got to make my own decisions about race. I loved basketball and the best basketball growing up was played on the outside courts in Alcoa. I enjoyed going and playing there. It was rough at first because the black guys made fun of the only white kid (me) showing up but they let me play and I made some friends and began to learn that they weren’t much different than me. Some of them grew up around racists also; it was just backwards from common thought.
I met who would be my best friend for many years in 1990. A black, very black, man. His name is JR. Because you may be like me and have trouble focusing for long periods of time I will skip most of the details even though they are very cool. He and I became extremely close. Playing ball together eventually led to visiting each other’s homes and families. Best story ever, he was eating dinner at our house and Kelcey was 2 or 3 years old. She had been around JR all her life but this day she made a discovery; He was black! While he was sitting in the living room waiting on the food (which he liked and still does today), he and Kelcey were playing. In the midst of the silly game, JR grabbed her, held for a second then let her go. It was as if for the first time she realized that he was black. She froze. Looked at his hands and then at her arms where he had been holding her. He held his huge hands out for her to see closer and then in his loud booming voice said, “Come’on girl, it didn’t rub off!”
Kelcey took one last look to make sure and the game was on again, all the while, I, JR, and Tammy were laughing hysterically. JR and I had conversations about race but it was more me asking questions and him educating me on his upbringing and his life. Still today I love him. Color was never an issue with him and me but it wasn’t ignored. We actually in our own strange way celebrated our differences and simply enjoyed spending time together.
Acts 10:28 says this, “God has shown me that he doesn’t think anyone is unclean or unfit”. Peter said this after meeting Cornelius, a Gentile, whom the Jews didn’t associate with at all.
Life is so much easier without this verse. As long as we can label people and categorize them we justify sweeping statements about race, addiction, politics and life. Categorizing others creates distance and gives us a convenient exit strategy for avoiding involvement.
Jesus took an entirely different approach. “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14 Msg).
Racism couldn’t keep him from the Samaritan woman. His Facebook friends included the likes of Zacchaeus the Ponzi-meister, Matthew the IRS agent, and some floozy he met at Simon’s house. His message is this, “no one is unclean or unfit”.
God calls us to change the way we look at people. Not to see them as Gentiles or Jews, liberals or conservatives, black or white. Second Corinthians tells of the New Testament believers approach, “We have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view” (5:16 NLT).
Honestly, I disagree with most of what comes out of the mouths of Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Barak Obama. And it has nothing to do with the color of their skin. Two of them are divisive, hypocritical, and care nothing about race relations and the other is just bad at his job. I could list many more white people that I wouldn’t want to spend time with for many reasons other than being white.
Let’s view people differently. In our lifetimes we are going to come across some discarded, alienated people. Tossed out. Black and white. And we get to choose. Neglect or rescue. Label them or love them. You know Jesus’ choice. I mean, look at what he did with you!
Comments
Post a Comment