Everyone has either been glued to their televisions this week or to their Twitter accounts. In comfortability, we have become critics, perfectionists, and judges from the living room. Saying that “if they would only stop what their doing” or “he should have been guilty” doesn’t lead to love or action. We are merely sitting on the bench, writing this off as a distant problem when it has everything to do with us.
In light of what has taken place in the Ferguson events; the trial, the decision, and the aftermath, we have all been exposed to America and how broken the land of the free and home of the brave really is.
Unarmed black teenager, Mike Brown, was shot several times and killed by white police officer Darren Wilson, on August 9, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. A few days ago, officer Wilson was not charged for the fatal shooting. Was unarmed Mike Brown a threat to his life? Did the police officer do everything he could before releasing the fatal shots? The country is currently dividing as you read this sentence because of these questions.
The last couple of days on social media have been aggravating to say the least. To see friends and even Christians taking sides on the issue and voicing them on Facebook and Twitter has been difficult for me to witness. Many people have a lot to say about the murder (from both sides), the indictment (on both sides), and the riots going on across the nation (on both sides). Just as the charges, or lack thereof, of officer Wilson are disturbing the peace, so are the riots.
I have seen comments such as: “those people are stupid for thinking that messing up the entire town will fix anything!” I totally agree with this statement, after this particular individual identified the rioters as those people.
The reality is this: racism will exist until the world comes to an end. Harsh, sad, but real. What is racism? It is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.
To break it down, it’s me thinking that a white man will receive better pay because of the color of his skin. Or it’s me walking into a local store and being followed around by the Indian owner. It may also be my family telling me that I’ve began “talking white” since I moved to Wichita Falls after growing up in New Orleans. Are you getting what I am trying to say? Racism is everywhere. And until we admit this problem, all attempts of solving the issue will be futile. We thought that it was solved, but the truth is that we have been unsuccessfully addressing an issue as external, when the root of this conflict lies in our heart rather than our words.
In my Gender Development class at Texas Tech, we learn about many touchy subjects relevant to our culture. Bear with me as I get a little off topic to hit on the subject we discussed that is coined as white privilege and explain why we all take part in this phenomenon.
Definitively, white privilege is a term for societal privileges that benefit white people beyond what is commonly experienced by non-white people under the same social, political, or economic circumstances.
Many of my white friends understand what this means and many are unaware that this still exists today. The thing about white privilege that people don’t understand is that everyone takes a part in it. This is not an action, but a culture that many of us don’t want to accept is prevalent in America.
When my family accuses me of “speaking white” it’s another way of them telling me that I speak properly. Many black people use this phrase to say that the white speaking, black person is a cop out.
So we see the correlation between speaking properly and speaking like a white person, but we do not acknowledge it and fix it. We are essentially encouraging this white privilege mentality without knowing it.
Just as prevalent are my white friends who use the term “ghetto”. This is as much as an example of white privilege as the whole “talking white” deal. Every city has an area that has a high concentration of black people. People that don’t live there, usually whites, coin it as the ghetto.
I have lived in the ghetto until I moved to college. It was my home, not a part of the city to which we were restricted and segregated (which comes from the Holocaust era and segregation of Jews). Not only do we name high concentrated areas of black people ghettos, we also label our schools, our friends, and our speech the same way.
You look ghetto.
You talk ghetto.
You act ghetto.
White privilege is right before our eyes and we are obliviously participating in it.
This is a cultural issue that will not be solved until partiality and every other broken thing about us and this world is burned by the light of Jesus Christ.
Here is my ultimate response to the issues of Ferguson: America has been broken since it has been founded! Issues like these only expose and reveal our hearts.
Sad story; an 18 year old dead, a police officer who people want dead, innocent bystanders and workers suffering the affects of the ravaging of their stores and city, and many of us are just sitting on our couches pointing fingers while increasing the partiality, hate, and racism.
The light in this darkness keeps me grounded in these trying times for our country. I know that there is a God who loves me when I rioted against Him, when I murdered His name, when I pointed fingers and blamed Him for my broken heart. I was an enemy of God and wanted nothing to do with Him.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8
In my rioting, complaining, and ignorance, God not only made a way for me to be with Him forever, but He did it Himself. He didn’t just save me, He loved me and died on the cross for me in the midst of my disobedience. I am on fire for Jesus, not because of His rules or His sacrifice, but because of the love that I have witnessed from His sacrifice that leads me to be obedient.
How in the world can a people, a city, let alone a nation, be radically changed without the power of love like this?
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
-Martin Luther King
mitchjay 