A few years back , I was traveling home with group of colleagues. That morning there were four of us on the
same flight so we shared a cab and checked in together at the airport. As dumb luck would have it, we each received
pre-check status for the security line and thought we would easily breeze
through.
As we were moving through
security, one of my colleagues, a black man was selected for a little
extra scrutiny even though we were in pre-check line. As I watched him have his bags searched and
having to remove his shoes and belt, I couldn’t help but think that often my
experience as a white person in this country is radically different than that
of my black brothers and sisters. It may
have been random, but I wondered given all that has gone on in our country in recent years.
A few years ago, I was shocked
to learn about “the talk” that black parents often have with their
children. I don’t know if you’ve heard
about "the talk," but this talk has nothing to do with the birds and the
bees. This talk is about how to act when
approached by a police officer or person in authority. Black parent tell their kids thing like be
polite, stay calm, use words like mam or
sir or officer, keep your hand where they can been seen at all times, don’t
make sudden movements and follow the
directions of officers. They remind
their kids not to wear their hood over their heads and many many other things that I’ve never had to
talk to my kids about.
As we celebrate and
commemorate Martin Luther King Jr's’s birthday tomorrow, I thought today would be a good day to just
talk about all this.
If that isn’t enough
shortly there after in the liturgy we the entire church will renew our
baptismal covenant and in that covenant on the last question we will promise with every fiber of our being
to strive for justice and peace among all people.
Some of this work begins
by looking inward. As many of you know
during my last call I worked in the suburb of Buffalo called Orchard Park. One of Orchard Park’s claims to fame is that
the Buffalo’s Bills stadium and practice facility are there. So it was quite common to see football
players and coaches in the community at restaurants or grocery stores and
living in Orchard Park. One day as I was
out and about, I saw a black person in the local coffee shop and my first
thought was to wonder who that player is. A few seconds later I realized just how
subtly racist that thought had been and how whenever I saw a person of color I
wondered if they were part of the team.
Ever since that day I
have been troubled by those thoughts…why had I assumed a person of color would
be associated with the team… what subtle forces around me had acted to shape my
thoughts in that direction. Ever since
it has reminded me that racism can be very subtle and even unintentional. I wouldn’t think of my self as racist, but
somehow racism had shaped me to think in certain ways.
A few weeks ago just
after Christmas I came across an article in Christianity today entitled Ten
myths white people believe about racism[1]
I’d like to share with you two of those myths.
The first myth is Racism
is not our problem. The article says if
we’ve ever felt uncomfortable in the presence of a black person racism might be our problem… If we’ve felt the impulse
to ask a black person where they are from.... it might be our problem. If
we’ve ever thought a black person was this occupation or that… then it might be
our problem.
Another myth… is
racism is about hateful actions and words… that it’s about people who use the “n”
word ….while racism is about this…. it’s also about many more subtle things
that go on in our country like differences in pay, housing discrimination,
mortgage lending, or increased rates of
policing and incarceration.
Racism is seen when we fail
to work to change these sorts of things.
These are but two of ten
myths, I invite you to read the article,
I will blast it out in the next few days.
The article concludes
that this work is about deep relational conversations about the myths and misconceptions we have. This work is about wondering why we feel or
think this way or that. It’s about understand the complexity of the
problem and then working to address it.
Folks this is good and
holy work.
When God lays down his head at night God
dreams of a world where there is no racism and where justice and peace are afforded to all people. If it is God’s dream then as followers of Jesus it is our dream and our work too.
AMEN
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