The week of May 24th will be remembered as a week of lament, mourning, grief, and outrage. Death has been a constant presence throughout the world as lives have been impacted by loss and pain. The most troubling aspect is the fact that so much of it is unwarranted. The simple fact is that people are dying needlessly due to the reality that the resources of this world are not equally nor equitably distributed. Our grief is compounded by the fact that there is intentionality in the suffering inflicted.
The killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man, is a tragic opportunity for this nation to come to grips with the fact that the country in which we live has never truly repented of its racist roots. Despite our magnificent words of freedom and justice, neither have ever been evenly distributed to people of color. We want an end to racism and its devastating impact, but that takes determination and, ultimately, sacrifice.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) has compiled a record of speaking against injustice, issuing statements, and defending the oppressed. Every Presbyterian who has seen the video of the death of Mr. George Floyd has to be filled with repulsion and disgust. The fact that one human being could kill another so blatantly and without hesitation in the presence of eyewitnesses, causes each one of us to wonder, “what type of world do we live in when something like this can happen?”
The racist elements in our society must be named before they can be expunged. The excesses of the criminal justice system, which result in the murder of people in the streets and unjust sentencing in the courts, must be ended. Wealth in the hands of a few must be fairly distributed for the benefit of all.
We are people of faith who believe that God is the “creator of the heavens and the earth.” God is a God of love and equally a God of justice. So how do we, as a people called to emulate the actions of a just God, respond? More specifically, for our white brothers and sisters, how will you seek justice for and protect our neighbors of color who are burden by racism?
Are you willing to do what it takes to achieve racial justice in our country? Are you ready to make sacrifices so that others might have a more meaningful life? Are you prepared to let go of your privilege so that others may benefit? How will you respond?
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”- James 2:14-16
My Take...
The above statement comes from our PCUSA office of Pubic Witness and I strongly agree. For people of color, there is often a different standard that is applied in our society. Too often minorities are treated with disrespect and inhumanity, suspicion and a presumption of guilt. Many other segments of our society simply do not understand the struggle that people of color have to endure daily. We still live in a very segregated country. There have been so many names, Breonna Taylork Ahmaud Arbery, George Flyod, Tony McDade among just a few that have been victims of injustice.
Charlottesville showed the country at white supremacy is still alive and well and gaining influence in both the United States. It has been 75 years since the holocaust and it has been shocking to see how Jews are still being targeted by hate groups. In October 2018 a man stormed the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburg, in 2019, a man armed with a rifle fired shots inside a Chabad synagogue, in December, attackers killed three people at a kosher supermarket, and on and on the lists go. A deadly mass shooting in El Paso where 23 people were killed, was the deadliest attack on Latinos in modern American history.
Racism is alive. Too often, the church in the United States has been complicit in the institutional racism that exists in different parts of our society. We have to acknowledge our role in promoting racism and racial stereotypes, in excusing discrimination against minorities, in casting suspicion on movements seeking justice, on seeking to discount, discredit and belittle the experience of minorities.
Collectively, the church must name this sin as our sin, we must lament and strive against it, help to empower communities of color, stop and listen to the stories that we may be too unfamiliar with. Our world is too filled with injustice, hate, and inequality. The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of justice and righteousness. It is a kingdom that seeks to set free those that are oppressed, and to honor the humanity and dignity of all people. We as Christians must lead the way in saying enough is enough. We must continue to work to demand that racist attitudes in our society be changed by changing our hearts, by seeking to understand before being understood.
May we strengthen our resolve to see a fairer and just society this Pentecost season.
Pastor Omar
Forest City, Florida
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