A FB friend shared this video asking for my input. I may not be in full agreement with all of what is being said and might have made a few tweaks here and there personally, but at the end of the day, Truth is truth. There is that very real component of personal responsibility in a broader context at play as well. There are many “side effects,” which result from the various manifestations of racism from our history and even the continued current status in our nation. These are not excuses for one type of manifestation (bad behavior) but often (not always) the cause and effect related psychological realities. These are indeed unfortunate, as is the case with any cancer-ridden body, and as I often say, racism is indeed a cancer in our society. Cancers are often hidden and go unnoticed and undetected as they lie beneath the surface, yet continuing to do severe damage to the host body. Like racist thinking and its biases, you can have cancer and not realize it. Not recognizing it does not mean you do not have it. Ignoring the reality of cancer does not make it go away. Radical surgery is needed, which is painful and can often damage other parts of the body, while effecting the whole, in route to destroying and ridding the body of the disease. When once made aware of its presence, quite often people live in denial or will choose to AVOID treatment for these very reasons. Yet, without treatment this deadly killer will eventually shut down the entire body. Like racism, cancer is no respecter of person and its manifestations can be experienced by anyone who has it. In this sense, racism is a human “sin” based issue, not a “race” issue. Racism merely becomes the flavor of the day. It’s man’s sin nature that turns us on one another. We will simply find a reason to do so, if it be skin color, economics, political affiliations, educational levels, cultural differences, size and body type, etc. etc. Therefore I contend that the solution is spiritually based. Racism is deeply rooted at this point in our society. Changing laws do not and never has automatically and magically changed minds, which have had years of indoctrination to the contrary, and this is what deniers of racism’s reality tend to miss. (For those that live in such denial I will politely ask that you give me the address of the rock that you’ve been living under so I can check out how you decorated your space.) So the commentator in the video is on point. But these issues would be true of ANY people group, which have been victimized by such harsh realities. So now we have the fall out (see Dr. Kenneth Clark’s Black doll/white doll experiments). Hurting people, coupled with a sin nature, will often: 1. Hurt other people and 2. Hurt themselves (engage in SIB’s – Self-injurious behaviors). It doesn’t always make sense, but it is what it is. A good current example of this is the destruction of ones own neighborhoods in the wake of the Michael Brown related verdict, yet this dynamic MUST NOT be confused with those mere opportunists who simply take advantage of such ordeals to steal items they want. These are 2 separate groups of people, which unfortunately are brought together by the circumstances. So ABSOLUTELY, we need to work on these things among our “own” people, and I have for many years since my college days and will continue to be committed to doing so. But I also believe that we are quite capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. This, as is the case with most issues, demands a “both/and” approach, not an “either/or” approach to change. So while we deal with “us” we must also deal with the “them,” the perpetrators in the cause portion of the effect. The “us” represents those on the receiving side of the fence of racism, and the “them” represents those who have and continue to impose it. Again, this aspect in its’ ORIGINS is NOT a “race” issue, but a sin-natured human one, so we must be cautious of this common mistake, which can side track or “hoodwink” us and take us off point. If we misdiagnose the problem we will most likely misdiagnose the solution. The solution, has to do with people who simply have a heart for other people PERIOD, (and this can even work for those who have unrecognized racial biases, which most of us do at some level or another) and exercise the LOVE of God, people who join together beyond this “race” (as we have come to know it) myth, who must be more intelligent, and fight against wrong. And that is what we are seeing and have seen since the beginning of this historical fiasco. We have had the John Brown’s (Harpers Ferry), and we’ve had the Quakers along the Underground Railroad, and we’ve had the protestors who marched with Dr. King. And fortunately, we have such human beings among us today who have the intelligence and godliness to see beyond their own back yards and care enough to do something about it.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 01:33:28 +0000
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