Racism Recovery

This has been a muddle in my heart for a couple of weeks now...

"For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him." Romans 10:12

I recently saw THE HELP, you may recall that I absolutely could not put the book down this summer and I anxiously awaited the movie. I laughed and cried with and for these women for while their characters may be a part of fiction their stories are apart of a more recent history.

The society that the generation before me grew up in baffles me. My mother and her best friend easily recall the days of segregation. So much energy wasted hating people because of a skin color or a culture. Closed minded and just plain ignorant my mind would RAVE as I read the stories of these women or watched them unfold on the big screen. I was just in awe that people lived like this and so many of them did not see anything wrong with these beliefs, especially the ones that called themselves "Christians". It sickened me.

And then......well, to be extremely transparent with you, I caught myself in a pious frame of mind reading this book, thankful that I did not grow up in such a society and what an absurd use of energy had been wasted. Pious because racism is still very much alive...and maybe its not just black and white, infact I know its not just black and white. Just what was your opinion of a woman wearing her hijab or turban in the grocery store after 9/11 or a middle eastern man speaking his native tongue??

Here we are in a post 9/11 world, and while racism may not be black and white it's very much alive between the middle east and America. Again, I will point out that we were all created by the same God who died for us all. He did not die just for me or just for you. He did not come to just save the white man or just Americans. He came for all! Every last human that has ever walked on this planet we call Earth. Yes, He died for "them" too.

John 13:34 tells us "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." Sure, its easy for me to sit here and act like I have this figured out, truth is I do not. Truth is, I am just as guilty as the next person with my stereotypes and prejudices. However, I hope and I pray that I become a better person without those prejudices and that I truly do see people as God sees them. I pray that I love them just as my Lord loves me, because I am no better than the terrorists on 9/11 or the leader of the KKK, both were on Jesus' mind when He died on the cross just as I was.

Sure, this is a touchy issue for us all and probably to some point taboo, an issue no one really wants to think about much less bring up in conversation over coffee; but it is truth. While it may not be a truth we can quite grasp or hold on to all I can say is that its a process. Every day is a process in life. I strive to love people regardless of race, beliefs or lifestyle and even that is a process.

“At the heart of racism is the religious assertion that God made a creative mistake when He brought some people into being” -Friedrich Otto Hertz