Minorities, Majorities and Legalities

I grew up in the rural south, my hometown is divided by railroad tracks, and the white kids all went to the private school specifically established as a way to keep the races separated.  You would be hard-pressed to find a more stereotypical setting for racial prejudices to be fostered, and this was only 30 years ago.

My parents, for all their quirks and faults, did an excellent job of teaching me that skin color is simply a physical feature.  It has nothing to do with the value of a human being, and I was told that if I had to describe someone's physical appearance I should do just that, i.e., "She is tall with black, curly hair and medium brown skin," or "She is short, with red hair, pale skin and freckles."  Because I had never seen a person with actual black or white skin, I never used those terms. I was also taught to never assume I knew someone's heritage.  If I wanted to label someone according to ethnicity, I should ask the person first. My parents did a great job with the whole race thing, and I am very grateful for that.

My parents also defied the scholastic separation in our little town and sent me to the public school.  I started out as one of about eight "pale-skinned," "European-Americans" in my grade, but I finished as the only "white" student in my class.  I'm not really sure what happened to the other students who shared my lower level of melanin.  They may have moved, dropped-out, or switched to the private school, but I never really worried about it.  I had friends.  I liked my teachers.  It was all good.

That is the background I bring to this whole Ferguson debacle.  Everything in me wants to just ignore it all and pretend it doesn't affect me.  That would render me an ostrich, however, and I am definitely NOT a large bird.

I want to believe things are better now than they were 30 years ago.  I want to believe that we have grown in our understanding of racial divides and fears.  I want to believe that these events are anomalies, and that our nation is overcoming these base instincts to fear that which is different and to lash out at those whom we fear.  Is it naive to choose to believe this?  Is it foolish to dream of a more enlightened and understanding world?  I would rather be a fool for Christ...

I currently live in a home with students from eight different countries.  Our skin covers the spectrum of pigment hues.  It is beautiful here in our little sub-culture.  We are a family drawn together by a common bond; friendship.  All of these students worked diligently to qualify for scholarships and grants and various fundings to study in the United States.  They jumped through every hoop required to come here legally,  and they obey the rules set forth in their visas.  They appreciate the opportunity they have worked so hard to obtain, and they are grateful to God for His goodness.

I wonder, and will one day work up the courage to ask, what they think about all of the squabbles we have as a nation, about police brutality and prejudicially motivated riots, about our granting the rights of citizens to those who fled their impoverished and/or violent homelands and came to the U.S. illegally in search of a better life, about how we look at each other and judge each other and convict each other and punish each other without even meeting each other, about how we are a nation based on Judeo-Christian beliefs yet can't muster even the smallest measure of grace or mercy for our fellow countrymen.

I will continue to pray, not for Ferguson, not for justice, nor for immigration reform.  I will continue to pray that our country will believe and live these words...Oh, if we could only live this out:

1Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6Who, being in very nature^a God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature^b of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

8And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

14Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”^c Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. 17But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.