Race + Justice Aren't Politics...They're Biblical + Humanity Issues
Was talking w/ Baby’s Dad about #georgefloyd: “I think about if his mama had to see these videos, hearing him cry out for her...no mother should ever have to go thru that. I imagine your mama having to go thru this and...” He said, “Lets take it a step further: imagine if that was your Sage you were watching, hearing him cry out.” I’ve got another black child on the way.
If I had to watch my son die, be abused, if I ever get the phone calls so many of these mothers & wives have been getting for way too long, I imagine I might burn down buildings. Cause a riot. Cry out in ways that don’t appear to make sense to my white community. Not even “in his honor,” but out of grief & pain, a devastation words will never describe. Especially if my cries are continually dismissed, his death justified...ignored...without any actual consequences for the hands that took his life. And then if I saw people far more focused on my outcry’s ugliness than the injustice leading to it?
Nothing will change until real consequences are put into place; real consequences won’t happen until the majority of white people speak up & demand change.
The reality that 1 of my children could way-too-likely senselessly lose their dad (another lose his birth dad) at the hands of people who were never meant to play God, but get to, is a heaviness nobody should live with.
The conversation of racism + white supremacy isn’t political, it’s biblical. It isn’t divisive.
Choosing to remain silent, to do nothing, to not CARE about injustice is divisive.
I will never tell my children to be quiet, to repress WHEN someone attacks their dignity, value, humanity. I’ll never explain to a black friend “what so-and-so meant” (white-splain) when they used a “micro” aggression. I‘ll apologize when I’m called out or realize I’ve acted in my supremacy, which happens.
I will teach my kids to use the very voice God gave them.
Their voice matters.
Their lives matter.
As an American citizen, I want true justice for all.
As a Christian, I want freedom from the oppressing sins of white supremacy + apathy for the evangelical community.
Lord, have mercy on us—for we know what we’re doing & yet we keep doing it.
My kids will grow knowing without a doubt we value all of humanity. When an entire community has been crying out for generations —since the dawn of my forefathers enslaving them— we will listen, we will hear. We will open our eyes to see & keep opening them, even when its counter to what I was taught, counter to those I love. World changing starts at home. Gospel living starts at home. It’s intentional, not accidental.
I’ll spend my life detoxing from generations of sins, AND my own. Dont we “The Church” talk about generational sin? Why don’t we legitimately talk & teach & detox these? The costly sins of Apathy. Racism. Silence. Supremacy. Being an oppressor/participating in oppression. *even unintentionally.* Privilege + power are embedded so deeply into us we can’t even see it. We don’t see it’s poison or claws because it runs in our blood, our DNA. It is built into our systems, every system—it is everywhere.
For me, of course it’s personal: I have 2 black kids. I had 2 Black Muslim daughters. My baby’s dad is black. My baby has 3 black brothers + an entire black family/genealogy. As does Sage. I have many black friends & leaders in my life.
But you know what? It’s not JUST personal. Even if I wasn’t a mom to these 2 or had no Black friends, this is MORE than that. This is a humanity problem, a poison needing detoxed, dismantled, uprooted.
I feel on edge around people, anxious & unsure what they might say that I can’t ignore, wondering if a conversation will lead to a disrupted relationship, another boundary to protect my kids developing mental health. Emotional safety threatened around some people for my comfort? sure, but far more out of a protective, responsibility for my kids 👉🏻 THEN I think, “Do Black ppl feel this way around every white person? On edge? Both emotionally & physically unsure of what we might say or do, even out of pure ignorance & ‘well intentions’?” I mean damn. Exhaustion.
There are SO many resources available: Factual, informative, truthful. We‘re so behind, friends. We‘ve not been loving well, not how Jesus modeled. We sure protect ourselves well.
Can we —me included— set our fragility/guilt/privilege down to truly love others?
