The Evil of Racism
To hate is to express evil towards another. It can manifest in outright destruction or be as subtle as apathy. Either way, damage is done to both the perpetrator and the victim. Racism is an expression of hatred towards another based solely on an illegitimate concept of difference. This race looks different, acts different, speaks different, believes different, so therefore they do not deserve my love, my kindness, or even my recognition of equality. It doesn’t matter who it is expressed towards or what justification a person might feel they have, racism is evil. It is demonic at its core.
What we have seen unfold over this last week is not a new expression of racism. It’s the same expression of racism that caused one race to be captured and sold into slavery by another before America was even a thought. It is the same racism that killed innocent Native Americans in the name of destiny. It is the same racism that put nooses around black necks and dictated which drinking fountains a person of color could use. This is the same racism that refused to desegregate schools and told people what part of the bus they could ride in. This is not new. It is old. As old as evil itself.
Our hearts are breaking at these ever increasing examples of how this evil still rears its head in our country. To know that fellow human beings fear for their lives simply because their skin is a different color is abhorrent. When a man can be slowly killed by a police officer in broad daylight while people watch, it is clear that we have not come far from the evil that first threw a net over an innocent and dragged them to market. We may have made strides towards equality over the past few decades, but evil does not go quietly. It changes shape, dresses up as legislation and neighborhoods with invisible borders. But it doesn’t leave. Racism is not a new sin, it is an old evil.
I cannot justify the destruction perpetrated by some protesting in most major city across our country, but I do understand it. When the power structures that exist allow for this evil to continue unabated, what other response might there be? The anger and unrest we are seeing across the country right now accurately reflects the turmoil that runs beneath the surface of our society. Some of us, in our primarily safe existence, might assume that everything is fine in our world. But things are not fine in our world. The fires burning now have been burning for years beneath the surface. Thousands of small fires, destroying lives, killing innocents in ways that are invisible to anyone not living near the flames. We cannot sit in the safety of our homes and make judgements through the windows. What we can do is seek to understand, and when necessary, help rebuild.
We write now to those who claim to follow Christ because we are to be living and breathing the Kingdom of God in all that we do and say. Racism has no place in the Kingdom of God. Indeed, there are no races, countries, or borders in the Kingdom of God! We can no longer maintain the excuse that it’s not our problem because we don’t witness it in our communities, or because those oppressed do not live near us, or attend our own churches. As human beings created in the image of God, we believe that all life is precious and that inequality and hatred of any kind is an affront to His image. We should be ashamed that we have allowed the lack of minority presence to be a reason for turning a blind eye to the oppression that so many experience on a daily basis. We have to recognize that racism is a real evil that exists in communities that we are a part of, even if we don’t see it. It is imperative that we show kindness, love, and compassion to all people regardless of race, color, or beliefs.
We must stop hiding behind the mask of political affiliation, feeling that we are right because of who we align with. Instead, we step into the ugliness that is a country covered in darkness because we are the children of light! Stop looking to our political leaders for answers and begin living the love that the Kingdom of God calls us to. We are to rise above the institutions of man in an effort to live for a different King and a different Kingdom. A Kingdom where peace reigns and justice flows like a waterfall. If we fail to do this, then we fail our brothers and sisters of all races. And we fail to live as Jesus called us to live.