In Memory of George, and So Many More
As I reflect on the tragic and horrific murder of George Floyd, I don’t think I can add anything new to the conversation. I have no way to directly understand the outrage we’ve seen expressed over the last week, and which has been simmering for generations. Or what it must be like to have to worry about how I'm perceived when just going about my daily life. Or what it must be like to be a "good cop" in an era such as this.
I have no wisdom to share that will fix the ways that racism is baked into the cultures, structures, and policies of our law enforcement, governmental, and economic institutions. I don’t know an easy, quick way to overcome inbred fear of those different from ourselves or why it’s there in the first place - or the hypocrisy in trying to deny it or mask it. I don't have an answer to how we can ensure education and opportunity is available for the poor equal to the rich. I am at a loss for how someone can drive a tractor-trailer into a crowd of hundreds of peaceful protesters. I cannot explain or make excuses for how many who claim to share my faith have such wildly-varying views on how we treat and think and talk about one another.
In echoing what I’ve seen many others say, one thing I definitely CAN do is start by working on myself. I can try to train myself to recognize my own prejudices and irrational fears and conditioned responses. I can use my faith as my lens, trying to hear, learn, and infuse what the Bible tells us about the subject: that there is no inherent difference among any of us in God's sight, regardless of our ethnicity, the color of our skin, or our socioeconomic status (Galatians 3:26-28, Philemon 16, Romans 10:12, Acts 10:34-35, 1 Corinthians 12:13, James 2:1-9). We should not act as if there is.
If more of us received the gospel message - the TRUE gospel - and let it govern our attitudes and transform our thoughts through Christ, these ridiculous differences would not matter to us. We would all be our neighbors, and we would love our neighbors as ourselves. Reconciliation is also a biblical value. I don't know how to do that yet, or even what it looks like, or if it is possible in the current climate since it requires both parties to participate. But if there is a way, I will try to do my part.
Aside from having tried to teach our daughter these principles, and having intentionally placed her in schools in which she, as a white person, is the minority, so that she might be able to more easily see and overcome subtle racism and avoid it in future generations, I am feeling powerless. Not in the same way as the people who are actually downtrodden by these abhorrent attitudes and policies, but powerless nonetheless. In the end, I have no influence except over myself. It is incumbent upon me, and all of us, to exercise that influence for the elimination of racism and prejudice in all its forms, using the tools available to us - spreading the principles of my faith, giving my money, and casting my vote.
Photo by Lorie Shaull
