White Christians' response to Ferguson and the Eric Garner case

kikigirl

Well-Known Member
Hi fellow sisters,

I have an issue that has been causing me a lot of pain, and I really need to deal with it so that resentment does not grow.

I have many friends and acquaintances: blacks, whites, and various shades in between. These are also people from all around the world (I'm an African immigrant myself).

In recent weeks, I've grown so frustrated about people's reactions on FB. My African immigrants friends (mostly Ph.D./professional degrees holders) are mostly about shaming AAs. They point out the troubles in the AA community, and say AAs should work on "getting their act together", obey the law, marry before having kids, etc... I can see why an African immigrant can think "all it takes is hard work." However, even those of us who grew up under difficult contexts were not racially discriminated against. Through my AA friends, who have many racially-based issues that I can't readily identify with, I have learned to empathize and now understand, at least to a point, how it may take an AA kid who grew up in the projects extra emotional strength to overcome things that are not even on my radar, even though we are both black.

The second group that really aggravates me (and the real object of this post), is that of my white Christian friends/acquaintances, and even family members (my husband is white).

I shared a message from Russell Moore on my FB page. It admonished white Christians to listen to their black brothers and sisters. It was a short blurb, with testimonies from various AA pastors. It was ignored completely. My throngs of white Christian friends, acquaintances, and family members scrolled past it. I know many of these folks; they volunteer at shelters where blacks sleep. We had at some point been part of the same small group, or attended the same church, worked or volunteered together. They have black people in their lives, and may even talk about racial matters around the dinner table. But they can't "go public" in front of other whites.

They bristle at anything that may come across as a judgment on whites about racial matters, especially from a black person. I was relaying a white evangelical leader's message. A former pastor of mine (he is white) shared the same message (I actually got it from his page), and his post elicited a constructive conversation. So I came out of that incident really angry at my white Christian friends and family members. Sometimes, it's not enough to act. If you wash black people's feet every Sunday, but can't even say a word in front of other white folks when there is an injustice on a black person, then your silence makes you an accomplice.

Am I overreacting?

DH has been doing a lot of the admonishing on FB. I bet him that he would receive a lot of the knee-jerk "obey the law and you'll be fine" responses and he didn't believe me. People either stay silent or engage to say "...but the stats show..." A few actually empathize and admit there is problem.

How are your white Christian friends and acquaintances reacting to these cases?
 

NICOLETHENUMBERONE

Well-Known Member
I don't have any white Christian friends, but let me tell you how God dealt with me on this subject of empathy/sympathy or showing grace, understanding and compassion towards others.

God speaks to me through dreams and visions a lot, also simply by the Holy Spirit but when it's through dreams, it provides a better sense of what others may be feeling. And so, there was this one time in my life, where I was all black and white but a lot of times in life, it isn't just cut and dry. There are heart issues and experiences people have had that make them feel a certain way.


First Way God Dealt With Me*

I had this personality in which I would call anything obnoxious or refer to a matter that seemed low grade as ghetto. Oh how wrong I was about this. So, I had this friend who could hear God very well and have an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. I liked her as a friend but there was this one aspect that I would call "ghetto." I would simply be thinking, "Wow, Amanda reminds me of so and so because of her tattoos," and in my mind, I'm thinking, "That is so ghetto." But while were on the phone one day, the Holy Spirit started to address me about being judgmental and how I view the world. It's not to say that God is giving a nod of approval regarding some aspects of the hip hop culture, but to not come at someone in a judgmental manner but one of love.
How can I evangelize or speak about God's love to someone when I just finished mentaly insulting them because of his baggy pants? Clothes, tattoos, piercings is not what God is truly concerned about but he is concerned about the person's soul foremost.


Second Way God Dealt With Me*
I remember not truly getting or understanding why mom or certain family members did not feel the same way I did about interactions with white people or interracial relationships. And so, God gave me this dream where I was in a classroom but it was in the 1940s and 50s. There was this young white young lady behind me and when I when I say she was simply mean and cruel, it is an understatement. Every single white person in that class was just very mean and cruel to me and it wasn't as if when you are awake and someone is being mean but you can't point it necessarily to them being racist. In this dream, it was like their intent was fully uncovered by the Holy Spirit.
So, from that, I was able to feel what older African Americans may have went through and it gave me a better perspective and understanding.


Having said all this, God wants us to be able to show compassion and understanding sincerely. When someone finds out they have lung cancer due to smoking, it wouldn't be proper to say to them, "Well, that's the reason you shouldn't smoke cigarettes." There is a time for everything under the sun and son, a decorum or art of discourse in which certain things can or should be address and then refrained. A lot of times, love makes it easy to address or speak with a flow in regards to matter. But if someone doesn't have love to that degree, then it's hard for them to easily say what would help. There sentence choices are more calculated but can still be offensive.

I would not tell a Hispanic immigrant, "Well, you should not have try to come over here, that's your fault." Brashness is not needed, nor does it help the interaction among groups of people. It's cold and disheartening.
 
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JaneBond007

New Member
It would also help if they'd allow G-d to step them out of their position of pedestal. Not only do they need to develop empathy, they need to be on the same level ground. They just might find out that the people doing the helping are people of color and those receiving the help are them.
 

kikigirl

Well-Known Member
Thank you for your testimony. You are so right that empathy and compassion are gifts from God. We are each dealt with differently. Despite coming from a humble background, I've had my shares of experiences that knocked me down a peg or two, and taught me how to put myself in other people's shoes. I'm still a work in progress, but it's encouraging to hear stories like yours.
I pray for a revival in the Christian community in general. It's very sad that the church remains divided along racial lines. Several decades after the civil rights movement, it's an aberration that the Church, aside from pockets here and there, is for the most part silent in the face of racial injustice.
 

kikigirl

Well-Known Member
It would also help if they'd allow G-d to step them out of their position of pedestal. Not only do they need to develop empathy, they need to be on the same level ground. They just might find out that the people doing the helping are people of color and those receiving the help are them.

Yup. That's often how God works. You walk in with a savior complex, and are humbled by an unexpected interaction with the person you wanted to "save."
 

Shimmie

"God is the Only Truth -- Period"
Staff member
Reading this situation I'm reminded of Peter's denial of Jesus:



Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written,

'I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED.' "But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee."

But Peter said to Him, "Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away."…

Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.

Matthew 26:31-36

Peter Disowns Jesus

Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.

But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”

Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”

Immediately a rooster crowed.

Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.


Matthew 26:69-75


In reading these scriptures it is clear that there is nothing new under the sun. Trials show us strengths and weaknesses of those in our lives.

Privately, in our private circles, there's the promise of support. Yet, in the midst of the public, there's utter silence; no appearance of association; there's scatter and denial and it's because of the fear of a consequence that one holds more dear than the other.

The one thing I've learned in this life about African Americans is that we are loyal, even to those who deny us.
 
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kikigirl

Well-Known Member
Shimmie
You nailed it with that passage. Even the sincerity of the person privately vowing to provide support. Peter genuinely thought he would publicly stand up for Jesus in dire circumstances. Yup, fear of consequences is nothing new under the sun.

Thanks for those verses! I was really struggling to find a biblical analogy. This helps a lot.
 

Shimmie

"God is the Only Truth -- Period"
Staff member
@Shimmie
You nailed it with that passage. Even the sincerity of the person privately vowing to provide support. Peter genuinely thought he would publicly stand up for Jesus in dire circumstances. Yup, fear of consequences is nothing new under the sun.

Thanks for those verses! I was really struggling to find a biblical analogy. This helps a lot.

God bless you kikigirl :kiss: God bless you and your husband, your beautiful marriage to a man who truly loves you and will never forsake you, who has taken to heart what God has asked, 'Cleave unto your wife'...forever.

In Jesus' Name, it is forever for you two. :yep:

Amen.
 

kikigirl

Well-Known Member
God bless you kikigirl :kiss: God bless you and your husband, your beautiful marriage to a man who truly loves you and will never forsake you, who has taken to heart what God has asked, 'Cleave unto your wife'...forever. In Jesus' Name, it is forever for you two. :yep: Amen.

Amen. Thank you Shimmie. You have such a beautiful soul! Blessings to you and yours!
 
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