My news feed is constant with black friends posting about the atrocities that are done to people of their same skin color while white friends are posting about how sad it is and that they care about their friends. First off, if you have any friends who are black on Facebook, they already know that you aren't "one of those white people" who are explicitly racist. The fact that they are even our friends to begin with is them showing more grace with us than we do with them. It is harder for the repressed to show grace than the oppressor.
The point here is that what any person of color wants more than anything is to be treated equally. No one is asking to be treated better than white people, just to be treated the same. If you think that they are right now you are living in a very small bubble. I'm not the best person to express all the injustices, but I can tell you one thing. I've gotten out of a ticket from a police officer with just a warning or written warning the past five times that I have been pulled over. I guarantee you that this is not the case for any one of black skin color.
It must be frustrating as a black man or woman that over and over again, you see the discrimination, you read about, you experience it, and you live it. As a white person, we are either ignorant of it, refuse to accept it, or just plain out believe that it's not our fault or that it is even going on around us. We cannot see because we do not want to see. It is not the fault of the black man or woman because I guarantee you that they already speak out about this constantly. If you took the time to ask any one of them, there'd be quite a few stories that would be shared. Instead, it's the fault of us who are white and know better that we let this continually happen.
I bet that George Floyd would still be alive if a white man or woman was there and willing to go up and speak to the police officers and to do something. Or better yet, if George Floyd was white, he'd still be alive. I completely understand why none of the black people there would it. They would be risking their very own lives or spend a significant portion of the rest of their life in jail.
This brings me to the bitter truth on racism. As white people, we are okay to speak against racism, but we aren't okay if the system changes. We prefer the status quo. It is simply about power and control, or as you may refer to it as, white supremacy. As white people, we have built our lives on a country that would rather pick us for a better job or better anything over a person of black skin color.
We benefit from a system that is skewed in our favor and changing this, to give up some rights that we have is very hard to do. Ooh, wait a second you may say. What do you mean rights? The right for my kids to be considered over others, the right to be given the benefit of the doubt by our justice system, and the right to be given the best opportunities and income? Yes, these rights. Should I go on? We, as white people, have the best and highest posts of power and status in our society and thus control how our society runs. Giving this up is the worst fear of an oppressor, as it would mean being the repressed. This is why we don't want to give that up. Instead, let's just make sure we keep this status quo so there is less of a threat to our privileges.
Say all your nice things on Facebook if you're white. These messages aren't meaningless, yet they don't go anywhere outside of the black friends you already have. It doesn't require you to give up any of your rights or social status. It may even boost your social status amongst your other white friends to show that you have empathy. It doesn't require you to stand next to someone who is discriminated against when you walk the streets. You only have to walk on the other side. It doesn't require you to change your personal lifestyle because your personal lifestyle is full of carefree and careless living. We live in a society that protects their favored "skin color"...you and I.
I, personally, cannot sit here and condemn the riots going on right now. I agree with what Martin Luther King Jr. said, "It would be morally irresponsible for me to [condemn riots] without, at the same time,, condemning the contingent , intolerable conditions that exist in our society." Everyone who is black are tired and when nothing is done, hurt and pain is expressed in anger. Our fault is letting the voices go unheard and oppression to continue.
We live in a society broken by sin. Pride, envy, jealously, and idols control our society and create strongholds of sin that have to be broken down. It is not up to black people to do this, it is up to us, as white people to stand up to the broken system and say, enough is enough. We need to be here, standing with our brothers and sisters, and to be willing to give up our rights so that they can have what we have. Segregation will never truly end until all men and women are treated equally.
If I didn't have Jesus as an example who gave it all up for us to begin with, then it may be harder to say this than not doing so at all. I pray today for the courage to stand up for what is right when the time comes and to be aware when it is happening.
