Leadership Thought. Words from a Black Friend That Made My Heart Hurt.

Dear Friends,

I want to thank those of you who have taken the time to express your reactions to my Leadership Thoughts on racism. They have been encouraging, instructive and informative, and yes, sometimes painful as they force me to look deep within my own heart to discover any vestiges of racism that may exist.

Racial discussions are seldom easy or comfortable, and like political discussions, many friendships have been shattered because of them. This generally happens when those involved are unwilling to listen, learn and try and empathize with what the other person feels.

I am not foolish enough to think that people’s racial views are going to change overnight. Unfortunately, they may never change for change is never easy, and by nature most of us choose to avoid things that are hard.

We have been addressing this issue for 400 years since the first slaves crossed the Atlantic, and sometimes I think that we are not much further along in resolving the issues now than when those slaves first set foot on American shores. The racial divide is deep, and the only way we can bridge this divide is for us to honestly confront our actions, beliefs and behaviors in light of what Jesus calls us to be, brothers and sisters committed to loving each other in the same way he has loved us.

As I shared in response to a recent-mail I received, “Race is such a challenging issue to discuss for no matter what you say or how you say it, you risk offending someone. It is people like you that challenge me to want to think, learn and grow as I seek to confront and examine my own feelings and attitudes. You are right about the subtlety of racism. It is so subtle that people who possess it do not realize it is there because it is so ingrained in their thought process that they don’t think much about it. I confess, I am more guilty of this than I would like to admit.”

I appreciate what my former colleague in ministry Rich Hansen has said as he draws the analogy of racism to the Coronavirus.

 “For some the coronavirus infects major organs of the body and produces virulent symptoms. Get enough infected people together and the virus breaks out-many others get sick and a whole community is impacted”.

“Others carry the virus but without showing any symptoms or ill effects. They are not physically sick but (they) remain part of the system that keeps the virus alive in the community, even without knowing it. I am one of these “silent carriers” of the virus of racism.”

I confess with Rich that at times I also discover active but hidden symptoms of my feelings, attitudes or conclusions about other people that I might consider inferior to me for various reasons.

I close with the words of a black friend I have come to know and love and with whom I have communicated  over breakfasts, in a leadership group, and through frequent  e-mails. I regret to say, however, that most of our time together was spent talking about sports and our children. Unfortunately, I don’t recall once ever asking my black Christian brother, “What’s it like to be a black man living in a predominately white society?”

Let me share part of his long response when at last this question was addressed.

In his e-mail to me he writes. “Far too frequently blacks are targets by the police despite our religious, military, financial, academic and our social class through a lens of guilty until proven innocent. How do I know this? I have been dealing with this my entire life as an African American. This is a REAL concern for black people from my grandparents to my children. Inequality in our great country is so exhausting, but as a good citizen I have been conditioned to smile, brush it off, and continue to strive for excellence despite the overwhelming injustices I have dealt with or what I witness towards black people. Until it is so blatant that we must take a stand, albeit peacefully we must stand and speak out! Unfortunately, even the outcry within the religious community has been woefully lopsided, primarily  from black churches and younger progressive white pastors being boisterous in their disdain for racial injustice.”

“I believe this unbalance is addressed in a warning from Luke, ‘But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue every herb, and neglect justice and the love of
God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others,” (Luke 11:42).

And he continues with these words: “Riots are distractions by non-protesters, but more likely rebel rousers and opportunists. I say (this) to those of you who CHOOSE to focus on the unproductive acts of the violent protesters and senseless looters by stating these acts of those people overshadow the death or George Floyd and the Black Lives That Matter. To you,  I would say you may need to listen to “The Why” these events occur from Martin Luther King in a message at Stanford in 1967.”

“(Dr. King states) ‘Certain conditions continue to exist in our society, which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promise of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity.’”

And then my friend concludes with this statement: “For those friends that will critique my message to fit in some narrative that is not intended, let me say that Looting/Rioting is BAD, and SHOULD NEVER happen. Protests ALWAYS SHOULD BE PEACEFUL!!!!!! As Martin Luther King says, ‘A riot is the language of the unheard.’”

I conclude his remarks by quoting Isaiah 1:17 which exhorts us all of us as believers to “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, and peace to  the widow’s cause.”

What can you and I do about the situation? On Monday I would like to try and tackle this question in the final of my “Leadership Thoughts” on the issue of racism.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom