(his b-day was actually on the 15th, but today is the holiday... hence the day for the post.)
I didn't really know what racism or prejudice was until I was probably 12. I grew up in a big neighborhood where I was 1 of 2 white kids. My BEST FRIEND in the whole world from the time I was born until around 13 or 14 was Colin Lomax. He was my next door neighbor for those 13 years. We did EVERYTHING together. Every day! Colin is an African American... but I didn't really know it. That's the great thing about kids... they're colorblind.
Colin and I have since drifted as we grew up, but still keep in touch. He was at my wedding and that was pretty awesome. My oldest friend in the whole world (since I was "zero") celebrating my wedding day with me.
So, in my mind, to think differently of people with a different color skin is the most ridiculous, ignorant, and craziest thing I've ever heard. Crazier than martians and flying pigs.
I celebrate anything that destroys racism and prejudice. God celebrates that too.
I never really knew that much about Martin Luther King, Jr. growing up. (My school didn't even take the day off.) But about 2 years ago I started paying attention and reading some stuff about him here and there. Last year on MLK day I posted about it too = HERE.
I guess I just don't think any white person has the right to think anything about a black person voting for Obama no matter their political beliefs. And I have a million examples why. But I would love to let MLK speak for himself on this one. This is something he said when they were about to take action to bring about civil rights for African Americans & politicians were telling him to "wait... just wait and let us take care of it in due time..."
“We have waited three hundred and forty years for our constitutional and God-given rights. Perhaps it’s easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say ‘Wait,’ but when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters… when you have to concoct an answer for your five-year-old son’s question, ‘Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?’; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading ‘white’ and ‘colored’; when your first name becomes ‘nigger’ and your middle name becomes ‘boy’… when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of ‘nobodiness,’ THEN you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.” - MLK
WHOA. I hope that gives everyone a taste of the emotional background of a people with a different skin color than you. I don't think white folk can truly even imagine it.
Yeah, no joke. Faded obviously because it hadn't been used in years, but nonetheless evidence of a HORRIBLE and INEXCUSABLE EVIL where people who simply have a darker pigment in their skin were degraded and forced to use a different entrance to buildings! Are you kidding me???
Think this kind of racism and EVIL is only a thing of the past? Think again. I just had a conversation with my mom the other day about a white girl I grew up with marrying black man. The girl's parents can't talk about it without crying - they're so disappointed. They were going to refuse to go to the wedding... OF THEIR OWN DAUGHTER (but apparently changed their mind). I'm sorry, but that's freaking ridiculous!
This is as insane as hating people with blonde hair! so ridiculous... such an arbitrary thing. It's just color!
I mean even the "christian" (and yes, I use the term very loosely) Bob Jones University - peeps who claimed to love Jesus were full on racists. They didn't even admit black students until 1976! what in the world!? But they would expel anyone who even thought interracial dating/marriage was ok. In 1983 they LOST in the Supreme Court case Bob Jones University vs. The United States!!! for real!!!? They lost their tax exempt status (& still don't have it back) but stood firm that their "racial discrimination was what God intended and founded in Scripture." That is SICK. I'm sure God is saying "LEAVE MY NAME OUT OF YOUR EVIL!" (To their meager credit the college lifted the interracial dating policy in 2000 because of intense media pressure and actually issued a public apology about 2 months ago. God can change anyone.)
From what I've read, I think MLK was a great man. I admire him greatly. I can't believe what he went through just so everyone could enjoy life without sanctioned hatred.
He had a vision and believed in it. Years later, I am behind his vision still:
"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word." - MLK
Me too, Martin. Love Wins.
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7 comments:
AWESOME post! It blows my mind to think that 50 years ago in a country that prided itself on "rationality," "reason," "progress," "enlightenment," "modern," etc. human beings, ones created in Imago Dei just the same as any other, would be asked to use a different drinking fountain because there was higher melanoma levels in their skin cells. That's progress? Advancement? Technology? No, that's barbarianism. And the forces of that barbarianism continue in our country and around the globe every day when a child's life is snuffed out because it's presence is an inconvenience. MLK, may you rest in peace knowing that the world is a much better place because of your unrelenting insistence upon the equality of a human beings. I am afraid there will always be racism, but God be praised that its grip has lost much of its power.
sweet bro. love your thoughts. def. "barbarianism". thanks for sharing.
*I'm thinking though, that there will NOT always be racism... as the kingdom comes here on earth -whenever or wherever that is - racism will die. as we, the people of God, start living like kingdom peeps = i think things like racism will change.
AWESOME POST DUDE! I was watching a program on the History Chanel last night about MLK. It blows my mind to see the things that him and his people went through. Things you don't hear about in schools. It is an absolute shame to think of what people did to them because of their skin color. I sometimes wonder why we (as a country)were so against the mass genocides of jews in Nazi Germany, the persecution of men, women, and children who were handicapped during that time period, and then here we are a few years later basically doing the same thing in our own country to people who look different. It is terrible that we still view people like that as not "abnormal" or "strange." Everyone has a story, regardless of race, nationality, handicapped or not, and those stories all play a huge role into the big picture God has painted called life. There is so much that we can learn from one another if we would just take the time to do so. My God sees no color and his love is for everyone... AMAZING! Martin Luther King, Jr. was an amazing, man and there is a lot that we can learn from him. From his non violent protest, and to his faith in God, this nation is different because of him. Together we can continue to carry out his dream, and send racism back to the very pitts of hell where it belongs.
haha, i love it Brian -> "send racism back to the very pits of hell where it belongs"
that's awesome. thanks for sharing bro!
Hey Patrick, I think what you wrote is awesome! I wanted to say that before I brought up what I’m about to bring up, having to do with starting to move forward in unifying regardless of race. I have something for you to think about . . . regardless of your or anybody else’s political stance is not truly a concern of mine, because I think there are deeper issues at play when someone votes one way or another. But, one thing that I think we can all agree on that is good about Obama's being elected is that minorities now have more tangible EVIDENCE that they ARE free and though there might still be cases of racial injustice in this nation, they have the same opportunity as any other American. Now that we’ve established that, how are we to move on without people willing to believe in each other and people not trying to determine a subjective thing as to when someone is "race" hating. It would be extremely hard to determine unless it is outright obvious (which it was during the time of MLK and can be in certain instances now as well). But without objective evidence, I think we should move on past the idea of racial injustice and focus on unity, not to continue overemphasizing our differences. With that being said, please take a minute to read Ms. Obama's masters thesis at the website I've provided:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2305083/PrincetonEducated-Blacks-and-the-Black-Community
I’ll be honest, I’m doing my best to be as unbiased as possible and to see both sides of the issue. But, this paper is straight from the wife of the newly elected president. My personal conclusion to this paper is that this paper is LITERALLY THE MOST RACIST and STEREOTYPICAL paper I've EVER read and overemphasizes our differences to a point where IF these philosophies are instigated in Obama’s policies we will see increased racial discrimination rather than unity. I don’t see how anybody can come to any other conclusion except to what I have come to. How is a person this racist to cause America to be a place of less racial injustice? I don’t know.
. . . and mind you, another issue in regard to this paper. I've read a lot of stereotypical papers being in an MBA program. I do believe that whatever people want to say about stereotypes, some stereotypes are "generally speaking", true. But, most people who are POLITICALLY CORRECT "say" they don't believe in stereotypes. I believe Ms. Obama would fall into the politically correct category, so why are there all these stereotypes?
Anyway, my point for bringing this up is not to discuss whether stereotypes are real or not, it is that THIS PAPER IS A PROPONENT FOR HOLDING ON TO RACIAL STEREOTYPES! Yes, it's promoting the continuation of our differences. If we continue on the road to believing theories like Ms. Obama’s (who we've just put in the White House) we are going to have racial discrimination in a different form, one that is just as corrupt and evil as the one in the 1930’s.
Please read the article before commenting if you have a thought. I’m praying for the president to take guidance from God the Father, the one who lays out the perfect laws of morality rather than the morality of the culture. And, I look forward along with the rest of America in "hoping" for a better future.
Outstanding! I was just telling erin the other day that it excites me that an african american man is now president. Even though racism still exists, it means that our country is in fact one step closer to abolishing racism! It's sad to think that even up until this last year(when God yelled at me) i thought that it was actually ok to say a "funny black Joke" around my white friends because it was just a joke and no one was being offended. I came to realize that the joke was actually offensive! Maybe not to those who I told it to but literally millions of people out there. They just didn't hear my voice. They saw my smiling face and my great attitude i had in front of them. I was never a racist person, but when I told those jokes it made me just as racist as the KKK!
1 Corinthians 13 says that love is patient & kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. LOVE DOES NOT DELIGHT IN EVIL BUT REJOICES WITH THE TRUTH. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails...and now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
My problem is that i'm not loving like Jesus. Unconditional! I've changed so much on this matter and still have room to improve. There are prob. so many others out there like me who need much prayer to keep racism in the pits of hell! May we all be in prayer for Obama and our leadership and move on with our freaking lives!!!!
Why is it still an issue with people who the president is? Serve Jesus, He is King! Not Obama or any other MAN on earth. Worship no other man than Jesus Christ!
Love this post as well bro. But if I might add something...racism is not just a black and white issue. All one has to do is live overseas for a time, be it in Asia, Africa, etc. and you will find that they also are racist...Been their seen it, it happened to me...so when we talk about it let's remember that it goes not just both ways, but all ways and it all stinks...just my 2 cents worth.
EZ
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