Is it possible, however, that America is letting their emotions get to them and making a big deal about race when race isn't the underlying problem?
Let's play a little word association. I want you to think of the color that comes to mind when you see the following words:
Criminal.
Police officer.
Why did you think of the color you did? Was it because you're racist? I don't think so. I think it is because you're a keen observer. Before you think you know what I mean by that statement, hold on a second and keep reading. I'm sure you don't know where I'm coming from or headed.
Now, let's play the same word association game. This time, don't even try to escape racial profiling. What race comes to mind when you see the following words:
Terrorist
President
Politician
News Anchor
Basketball
Hockey
High school dropout
Doctor
Cartoon
Janitor
Model
Baptist
Presbyterian
Hmmm. That's interesting. A race immediately popped into your mind with each word. Why is that? Of course you thought of a Chinese terrorist, a Colombian president, a Cherokee politician, an Indian news anchor, a Western European basketball player, an African American hockey player, a Japanese high school dropout, and a female, red-haired Scottish doctor. No? What does that say about you as a person? Are you discriminating?
Where am I going with this? Well, let me demonstrate the very sad racial problem with America's response to Ferguson. You see, the very sad reality about America is that we are a country full of racial discriminators, and most of the racial discriminators don't even know that they're discriminating. The problem in America isn't that people with different colors of pigmentation are treated differently, but rather, that we're still seeing skin color and letting it affect our decisions and worldviews.
Point in case, is the problem in Ferguson that a black man was shot by a white man? If that is the underlying problem and the one that needs to be addressed throughout this nation, then we need to hold every man that shoots a person of a different ethnicity accountable for his actions. If a black man shoots a white man, then that needs to be addressed by a congressional committee. Or if a Hispanic man shoots an Asian man then that needs to be addressed with the same amount of outrage. However, that's not happening.
Shouldn't the real problem in Ferguson be that a police officer shot and killed an innocent man with his hands up (if that is what really happened)? Isn't that the real issue, here? How did this become about black and white? What made the citizens of Ferguson and America blow this problem out of proportion and make it a black and white racial issue?
I've grown up in Colorado Springs all of my life. The community that I grew up was a suburb filled with primarily white people. There were about a dozen black kids in my elementary school. One thing that separated them from me and the rest of my classmates was the color of their skin. But, as kids, we didn't really care. We didn't see the color of their skin as something that should cause us to treat them differently. It wasn't until adults started making a big deal of the disproportionate numbers of white and black kids in schools and the disproportionate amount of time that we focused on "white" history that us kids started to think that the color of skin should matter.
By the time I was in high school, things had progressed even further. It was a harsh reality to me and many of my classmates that our eligibility to attend certain colleges around the nation would be determined by the color of our skin and the college's quota for our skin color (something called affirmative action). What's more, we would all find it hard to stomach that our ability to pursue certain jobs in certain large corporations would be hindered by our skin color in an acceptable form of racial discrimination.
In my junior year of high school, I started to apply for jobs to pay for gas money and car insurance. Towards the end of every application, I was asked to check a box next to my ethnicity. The options were always disheartening to me:
- Native American
- Asian American
- Hispanic American
- African American
- White
Some things haven't changed since the 60s. We're still not color blind. Our country is still obsessed with discriminating color. Did you know that the definition of the word "discriminate" is simply: recognize a distinction; differentiate? There is a lot of racial discrimination in America these days. Most of it is by people pointing fingers at other people and calling them out on exactly what they're doing. A lot of people in this nation need to recognize the log in their own eyes before they start complaining about a speck in someone else's.
Criminal.
Police officer.
I want to revisit my statement that you probably thought black criminal and white police officer and that's because you're a keen observer. I didn't want you to jump to conclusions based upon that statement, but rather, I wanted you to hear me out. I said you were observant because the attention this story has garnered by the media is causing a form of brain washing on those who are not thinking critically about the story. When you listen to the radio talk shows (who does that?), watch the news stations, read the newspaper, and check out the blog postings posted on Facebook, you keep hearing and seeing black and white juxtaposed with the words criminal and police officer. The more and more you hear it, the more and more you let your guard down to discern the connection and/or disconnection between the two race words and the words they are attributed to. It's actually a form of propaganda and brain washing, and I'm watching more and more of my friends and family fall victim to the media's mind games.
Take a step back, now. Is the problem in Ferguson that a white man shot a black man? Or is the underlying problem in Ferguson that a police officer shot and killed an unarmed man and that there was little to no investigation into the officer's actions by the department and outside agencies? I really don't think it is both.
Does the color of these two men's skin really have a bearing in the problem? If a Hispanic officer in a predominately Hispanic police department shoots and kills an unarmed Asian man in a predominately Asian neighborhood and the department hardly investigates the officers actions is this country going to respond the same way? Would we have a racial problem that needs to be addressed or would we a problem with the system that needs to corrected?
From a theological standpoint, it's interesting that God's Word completely neglects to mention skin colors. Nationalities played a huge role throughout Scripture, but never the color of people's skin. As Christians, we have to recognize that this negligence in Scripture does have theological implications.
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27, ESV)
Many Christians seem to think of Adam and Eve as two white people with brown hair and fair skin. However, such a view of the first two human beings is quite pathetic. Every race that covers this entire globe was present and represented in the genes of these two people. We know that throughout history "selective breeding" occurred often in nations, and over thousands of years we have a full spectrum of the human genome's skin pigmentation possibilities. Every unique feature of every race on Earth was present when God created Adam and Eve in His own image. Therefore, diversity, beautiful, precious, lovely, colorful, pure, genetic diversity is part of the image of God created in humanity. And yet, Scripture blanks on mentioning skin color when speaking about a person's humanity. Our humanity rests in our being image bearers of God and that alone. Skin color plays no bearing.
Therefore, as Christians, we have to set aside the race issue. Nothing in Scripture leads us to believe that we need to unite as a race and battle against other skin tones. Rather, Scripture clearly demonstrates that what is precious to God about humanity is His image and not our skin color. When a life is lost, no matter what color that person's skin is, we should always be up in arms, confronted with our sinful natures and our constant need to be restored to the perfect image of our Creator through the blood of Christ, our Savior.
Christ came to redeem mankind. Every color. Every tongue. Every gender, Every nationality.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:14 ESV)
[For] in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
(Galatians 3:26-29 ESV)
If you call yourself a Christian, therefore, you must rally behind Christ and not the color of your skin. For it is not the colors of our skin that need to be restored and redeemed, but rather, it is our fallen humanity that needs to be restored to the image of God by being united and conformed into the image of Christ. Christ became flesh and dwelt among us so that those resting in Him are sons of God despite their nationality, their political position, or their gender. Union with Christ is the light that bleaches all racial, national, and gender lines and unites all who rest in Him as sons of God and precious offspring of faithful Abraham.
The true tragedy of Ferguson is that a precious life ended. Even, perhaps, a life that was not united to Christ. In the last resurrection, the color of our skin won't matter. Rather, union with Christ will separate the wheat from the chaff. Is this the message we're rallying behind as Christians when it comes to what is taking place in Ferguson and everywhere around the world where human lives are being snuffed out by sinful actions? Or are we, even as Christians, divided by racial, national, political, and gender lines?
Who I am and what I do has nothing to do with my skin. It's freckled, dry and flaky, constantly needs lotion, is easily burned by the sun, and will rot with the rest of my body in death. It doesn't determine who I follow, what I believe, how I treat people, who I hire for jobs, who I love, and what social issues I will rally behind. Rather, it is my faith and union in Christ that defines me as a person created in the image of God, fallen in my federal head, Adam, and redeemed in my federal head, Christ Jesus. That is what's worth rallying behind, but you don't see much of that, anymore.
And that's my opinion about Ferguson.
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