I was out on my morning walk (I do 4 or 5 miles each morning before 7:00am) and needed to make a "pit stop". There are some ball fields near my home. The Little Leagers hone their skills there, and middle-aged, pot-bellied softball players try to hold tightly to their fleeting youth. I slipped into the port-a-pot and was confronted with some of the most hate-filled, racist, profanity-laced graffiti I've ever read in my life. I stood there and began to boil with anger at the thought of children and teenagers going in there and being confronted with that filth, that hate.
Later in the day I drove past the ball fields, got out of my car and re-entered the toilet. With a can of black spray paint I covered over the revolting words. Now there was a big, black blob on the wall. So I'm confessing that I defaced someone else's property with my own brand of graffiti. As I walked back to my car I was well aware of the fact that I hadn't really changed anything. The person full of racially-charged hatred hadn't had a change of heart, hadn't been held accountable for discharging his venom in our community.
Why so much hate? The outermost layer of a person's skin has more or less pigment than their neighbor's, but beyond that they are made of the same stuff. Racists come in all colors--it's not just "white" against "black" or vice-versa--but it is always ugly.
There is one race--the human race. One species--homo sapiens. When the Apostle Paul spoke to the crowd in Athens, Greece nearly 2,000 years ago he pointed out this truth:
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one blood He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'" Acts 17:24-28
From one blood we are all made, and with one blood we have the possibility of being made new. The Bible describes the scene in heaven:
"You (Jesus) are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." Revelation 5:9
God is not a racist. Racism is born out of ignorance, fear and/or pain. If I could find the person who spewed his hate on the inside wall of portable toilet, I'd ask who hurt him. I'd want to know why he's so afraid and full of anger. I'd want to know who taught him to look with disgust at a fellow human being just because their skin tones vary by a few shades.
I try to make the posts here upbeat and inspirational for the most part, but I'm kind of bummed out right now. It's my blog and I'll rant if I want to. Racism is such a cancer in our communities. I keep wondering when we, as a people, are ever going to get this lesson right.
Racism is deeply ingrained in our society and some view change as an idealistic dream.
1 John 2: 9-11: “anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.”
We need a radical wake-up call about the evil of racial prejudice.
"But if we walk in the Light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
“Fellowship” is a wonderful word. My friend and mentor, Pastor Charlie, used to say that "fellowship means we are 'joined together at the heart.'”. How can you possibly reject someone because of one thin layer of skin when you are joined together at the heart?
One blood. One blood. One blood.
~ Father, forgive me for reacting to people different from me out of my own fear, ignorance and pain. Help me to see my neighbor through your eyes. Amen.
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1 comment:
Great post. I find that writing in anger is sometimes a very good way of dealing with the stress of the situation. I have been known to go back and delete a post or two after I've calmed down a bit. ;)
I think it's cool that you blacked the statements out with a marker. At least people will know that someone took the time and effort to blot out the offending words.
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