Racism and Community

Racism will continue to exist as long as fear, anger and hatred continue to be part of the condition. It can only be resolved by love and community.

Racism is an attitudinal problem that comes out of people hearts, so the following potential solutions will not work.

• Preaching sermons about racism will not change much.

• Posting pictures of policemen wearing riot gear talking to children makes people feel good, but it does not change much.

• Walking on protest marches makes people feel good, but very little will change .

• Governments cannot resolve racism either by passing laws or dishing out money.

However, followers of Jesus believe that all people are created in the image of God, so they should resist all forms of racism.

The solution is for the people of God to go and live amongst people who are disadvantaged and live amongst them and get to know them by serving them.

Before Jesus ascended into his disciples to go.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations... And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matt 28:19-20).

Jesus wants his disciples to go in pairs or small groups to live amongst all the people of the world who are different and disadvantaged. In contrast, most Christians in the western world have left the dark places and moved to live in the safety of the leafy suburbs. This is not quite what Jesus meant when he said we should go.

Going to live amongst people who are different and disadvantaged can be quite costly, but it is God’s pattern for salvation.

• Jesus left his place at the right hand of God was born as a man in a hostile world. He chose to live amongst people who hated him and wanted to kill him. They were eventually successful.

• Jesus dined with tax collectors and other sinners. He did not go to the nice people, but went to those who were in need.

• Paul did not stay in places where he would be safe and comfortable. He went to live and share the gospel with people of a different race. He began his ministry preaching in Arabia in the region beyond Damascus (Gal 1:17). The people there were not just Gentiles, they were people were racially different from Paul. He went and lived amongst those who were racially different.

• Paul continued to do to live and work amongst people who were racially different throughout his ministry. He travelled through Asia Minor, which is modern Turkey, establishing churches. He moved into the area which is modern Greece. He travelled as far as Illyricum, which is in modern Croatia (Rom 15:19). His partners in his work were often racially different. Paul obeyed Jesus and went to live an proclaim the gospel amongst people who were different.

• The Good Samaritan risked his life by going to the assistance of an injured Jew.

The most effective way to break down racial barriers is for followers of Jesus to go and live in the areas of town where the racial minorities in the poor areas of town. This could be costly. Some might lose their lives, but that is what Jesus called his disciples to do).

I witness with prophetic word shared by Ron Cantor.

“The key to the revival that you in the ‘white church’ seek, is the white church reach out to the black community with my love, healing power and practical help…” (such as listening and serving, and if possible, mentoring and tutoring)—”I am calling you to share your lives with them.

“If you want revival, then you will have to leave your neighborhoods and gated communities. You will need to share your riches and experience with a people not your own. Are you willing? What is your life to you? You were bought with a price. (1 Cor. 6:20)
“You want me to remove the agitators, so you can continue in comfort. Hear me, ‘I have not called you to a life of comfort, but comforting others—and in that you will find true comfort.’ The agitators are my servants, sent to wake you up to the need. If you respond to the need, I will deal with the agitators and send winds of refreshing—the ones you have longed for.

“No, this is not the revival ‘package’ you were looking for, but it is the one I am sending. I need you to be ME to them; not to make excuses why they deserve what they are getting.

“You fight for biblical values, but I am calling you to live them out. For all your fighting what has it gotten you? You are losing ground daily. Why? Because you have the cart before the horse.

“Is the New Covenant commission to fight for biblical values in the public square? Or to preach the Message of the Gospel that changes lives. ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Messiah, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!’ 1 Cor. 5:17)

Preaching biblical values to unbelievers is like driving a car without oil. It will not work. (And has not worked.)

“However, the oil is the Power of the My Spirit. When you preach the gospel in both power and love; in word and deed, when you truly represent my heart to a broken world, then you will see fruit. And then, they will gladly embrace my values.”

Racism

The roots of racism are in us all. We feel comfortable with people who are like us. We feel uncomfortable with people who are different from us. This means we tend to be uncomfortable with people of a different race because on the surface they seem to be different to us. I presume this unease developed because we trust our families and our families are like us. We extend the same feeling of trust to other people that we know well, and they are mostly like us.

Discomfort with people who are different, often develops into fear of them. That fear is mostly unfounded; it is produced by uncertainty about people that we do not know. We don’t know them, so we don’t know how they will respond when we encounter them.

The problem with fear, is that it can often develop into suspicion about the behaviour of those that we fear. Suspicion gives us a distorted view of their words and actions. If we misunderstand people that we do not know, we can easily start thinking they are a threat, even if they have done nothing to harm us. We easily belive untruths that we hear about them. Unfounded fear can easily progress into hatred and anger if we do not guard against it.

Personal fears are bad enough, but they are worse when an entire community develops the same false understanding and fears. When suspicion and hatred toward people who are different permeates an entire community, it becomes structural racism. People choose leaders who will keep them safe by protecting them from those who are different. This often produces structural racism.

Solution
The best way to resolve the discomfort that we feel around people who are not like us is to get to know them. The more we relate to them, the less they will seem like a threat to us. When we get to know people who are different, we will realise that they are more like us than we realised. When we have a deeper involvement with people who had seemed to be different, we will find that we like some and dislike others, but that is just the same as the situation with people who look us.

As we move with a diverse range of people, the outcome will be that we have common interests with some of them who are different from us. We will also find that we have nothing in common with some people who look like us. When we get to know people who are different, we can apply a deeper discernment to them. Our assessments of them will be based on who they are, not on their race, or their physical appearance. We will discover that people are different, but understand that those differences are rooted in their character and personality, not their race.
We will discover that intra-group differences are often greater than inter-group differences. Some people who look like us, will have very different character or personality. Some people of a different race will have a similar personality and character.

I grew up in a rural community where all the people were white. The only Maori person that I knew about was a “rabbiter” who was employed by farmers in the region to hunt the rabbits which had become a pest. We only ever saw him in the distance with his shotgun and his dogs, so I did not know him, even though he was a neighbour. When I was older and left home, I was suspicious and fearful of people of different races, because I did not know any.

When I became a manager of large division within the government agency, many of my staff were of different races and nationalities. A large group of analysts were Chinese. When I worked with people who were different from me, I found that many were just like me. I found that some who were different had similar interests as me, whereas others who looked like me didn’t. I found that some who looked different were very effective analysts, whereas some who of those who looked like me were not so good. My worst analyst ever was a white Christian. That was a good lesson.