Dear America:
On behalf of the white people, allow me to say to my black brothers and sisters, I SEE you, I HEAR you, I mourn with you, I pray for you. I walk alongside you and my heart goes out to you. This can be, if ALL/both sides choose it . . . A WATERSHED moment of UNITY and we can come out of this stronger and better than ever as individuals, disciples of Jesus and relations between our two races! I believe in US— A BROKEN dream is not a LOST dream 🤝😢🤬😡✝️😀💪🏼🇺🇸
As many of you are probably, I am . . . Exhausted, heavy-hearted, frustrated, disappointed, sad, all of the above.
My world view has always been ‘woke.’ It’s just who I am and how I was raised. I’ve been the one white kid on a school bus many times, in elementary school, going to Oaklawn, went to school from Kindergarten through college with you, sat beside you, broke bread with you, hung out with you at my house, endured the blood, sweat and tears of playing sports as a kid through high school with y’all. I’ve watched the Black injustice films over the years . . . MANY Black films to shed Light on injustices and systemic issues.
I applaud and appreciate the Grey Challenge www.thegreychallenge.com, led by my brother Memphis Grizzlies, philanthropist and business man Anthony Tolliver, but my whole life has been a Gray Challenge. How do I navigate being white, while also seeing although it’s our part of our nation’s mantra— liberty and justice for all— that still hasn’t been achieved?
I remember in 7th grade watching a film of the apartheid taking place in South Africa and knowing, in my heart and in my mind, it was indisputably WRONG! I remember reading and seeing the “hard to look at” pictures— the sit-ins, rallies, riots, the fire hoses used to spray people just because they had darker skin and the night clubs used to beat them. I remember seeing the signs above water fountains colored people drink here and white people drink there. Just like the schools themselves. From slavery to Jim Crow, all of it broke my heart, made me mad and I believe had I lived in the days of segregation, I would’ve been on the right side of it— the right side of history. I believe I would’ve been arrested for being part of the sit-in at Woolworth’s in Greensboro, been called despicable names and probably been beaten myself.
The powerful speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. resonated in my spirit! He had a hope and a dream, just like Jesus, that we would all walk in UNITY and while there have been strides made in some ways, the DREAM and PRAYER, uttered by Yeshua/Jesus in John 17:20-26, sadly remain unrealized and unanswered.
Any white person, who feels our government and certain systems, have not only been terribly unfair, but cruel, to people of color, I simply think you have your head in the sand or even worse not being honest.
From the horrors of slavery to the Trail of Tears and the entire annihilation of a whole race in the Native Americans, forcing them off their land then having the audacity to think they should be applauded for giving them reservations . . . The powers that be always have treated people of color as LESS THAN.
That is NOT right!
Our Government fashioned over 500 treaties with Native Americans and do you know how many it kept its word on? Exactly NONE of them!! That sickens me . . . From shackles, to rape, to murder to where we are now— changes need to take place.
I do believe racial profiling happens and it’s not right. I also feel a person’s decisions are vital in this fight for a better tomorrow for us and for the generations to come. Racism, toward any race, is WRONG and spits in the face of the God, Who created us! But one thing, which must change, is calling when we, respectfully, disagree racism. That does nothing but trivialize when racism, in all its vileness, actually happens because we are so desensitized to hearing the word. While we should, if we choose not to CELEBRATE our differences . . . At the very least, we should TOLERATE them.
I remember when I was little, my Mom telling me to do unto others as you would have them do unto you and to love everybody— that we are ALL made in God’s Image (red, n yellow, black and white— they’re are “ALL” precious in His sight Jesus loves the little children of the world), so I’m in a weird place with ALL this. We are to LOVE our neighbor and, news flash, our neighbor will not always look like us!
I am not saying this to look good, but I have always seen Black people, heard them, walked with them and when I’ve seen wrong, spoken out about it . . . In other words, it DID NOT take a tragedy/tragedies for me to do that.
I’m hurting, like all of us, are, but I would be lying if I didn’t say I feel like I’m hearing “white people” as in ALL not SOME or even many need to _______ . . . When many of us have already done said-suggested actions or always have lived their lives with our eyes wide-opened. So, that’s frustrating too!!
Nobody likes being painted with a BROAD brush— no race and no person! I believe there are many white people, who have always ‘gotten it.’
There were, and are, good white people, like President Abraham Lincoln, who penned the Emancipation Proclamation, to abolitionists Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Seward, John Quincy Adams, William Lloyd Garrison, Henry David Thoreau, Benjamin Rush, Lucretia Mott, James Garfield, Franklin Pearce and many others . . .
On behalf of those— I can say we do NOT like being grouped in with the close-minded, prejudice and unsympathetic! I stand on the side of RIGHT, knowing what’s wrong, and I refuse to let somebody dictate my beliefs, tell me what my stance should be and guilt me into believing, or feeling, anything.
Let’s believe, and walk in, our own truth, which should be Truth itself vs. playing the part in somebody else’s narrative— a narrative of DIVISION!
I will NOT walk in white guilt, while I acknowledge as a white man . . . I do have the benefit of the doubt, or privilege, as most call it. Every race, and person, should be proud of who God made them and every person, and race, has imperfections, flaws and sins of the past and present. Unfortunately, there is much blood on all our hands.
I’ve, largely, disconnected from Twitter and Facebook, because the constant consumption and continual commentary of what’s going on. I encourage you to do the same. Your mind, heart and spirit will appreciate the rest. When we are STILL, we give ourselves a momentary reprieve of the fierce storms we continually subject ourselves to on social media. Everybody’s opinions, feelings and soap boxes, are simply too draining— spiritually, mentally and emotionally!
It will pierce and break our spirits, while weighing us like a two-ton elephant, which is ironic because it has become the elephant in America’s living room. Over the last three weeks, when I have logged into social media, I’ve just sat back, haven’t said much and observed. If the s*#-show I’ve witnessed is any indication of fertilizer; I believe we can grow something beautiful!
I see people who can’t even applaud peaceful protests, but have no problem pointing out just how terrible, and evil, the rioting and looting are! I read, and hear Black Lives Matter, which they do, followed by Blue Lives Matter, which they do, and it leaves me exhausted. I see the arguments, including out of all things what color Jesus was. Jesus was white, Jesus was black and guess what? Both are WRONG! Jesus did NOT have pale skin and blue eyes and He was not black. He was a Middle-Eastern man from Nazareth, Israel with brown skin.
I see SO many celebrities, companies, movies and things getting canceled when what I wish was canceled is the notion we are on different teams!
Most arguments lead to more division, while listening, and understanding, lead to compromise, forgiveness and reconciliation.
I’m an empath, so I feel strongly and deeply, but we don’t have to be an empath to simply be empathetic and as I survey the broken state of today . . . I don’t see much of that or the greatest tenet we were given— not just as believers but as human beings — to LOVE! We may not understand, but we can still CARE.
I see people, on all sides, being offended except for what we should be offended by the most . . . That we don’t have UNITY! I used to believe we are better than this, but we can not BE better until we DO better! As Christians, we must start fighting the ENEMY Satan instead of fighting each other! As people, we must put down our pitchforks and torches and exchange them for hearing aids and muzzles.
If I’ve learned ANYTHING over the past 3 weeks, it’s this— two things can be TRUE, and just as valid, at the same time. Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter!
But two other things are also true— we can admit we have made strides of improvement over the past 50 years, while acknowledging, to quote Robert Frost, we have miles to go before we sleep! I wish we would focus on what lies ahead instead of what’s in our rearview mirror because as long as we stay fixated on our past, we will continue to crash our car— both in the present and ruining any hope for the future!
From Jackie Robinson, George Taliaferro, Earl Lloyd to black athletes in every sport excelling and embraced. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Allen Iverson, Tiger Woods and so many who have used the sacrifices made by their ancestors to truly achieve greatness. From black movies to feature roles for black actors in Hollywood, like the Black Panther. From Stepin Fetchit, Lincoln Perry, Hattie McDaniel and Sidney Poitier to Denzel Washington, Tyler Perry, Jamie Foxx and Michael B. Jordan. From George W. Johnson, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Little Richard, Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin and Charley Pride to Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Usher, Darius Rucker, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Tupac and Biggie. From George Washington Carver and Garrett Morgan to the creatives of present day, the black community is well-represented in all genres— in film and television, on the airwaves, and on courts and fields.
From black people being teachers, lawyers, doctors, policemen, soldiers, media personalities to having the first black president in Barack Obama . . . we have made a ton of progress in our great land America.
A HORRIFIC past does not dictate a TERRIBLE future unless we let it by refusing to LEARN from our PAST mistakes and atrocities.
Black Lives Matter . . . Retired police chief, of 38 years, 77-year-old David Dorn, who was killed in St. Louis defending his good friend’s pawn shop— his life mattered! He was a HERO!
All the countless young black men killed in Chiraq AKA Chicago in the thousands of murders in the Windy City— they matter! Since New Year’s day in 2010, there have been 12,000 shootings, with 14,000 people struck and over 2,000 killed in Chicago alone. Chance cares . . . Does anybody else?!?
And finally, the millions of black lives, promising futures, beautiful potentials and amazing successes lost to abortion . . . Their lives matter too! Planned Parenthood, championed in some circles, was started by an evil white woman Margaret Sanger, who wanted to destroy the black community as she took a page out of Adolph Hitler’s book in pursuit of a ‘perfect race!’ What’s its impact now? They KILL 247 black babies EVERY DAY! Since Roe v. Wade, the benchmark Supreme Court decision, which legalized abortion in 1973, abortion has been responsible for killing an estimated 20 MILLION black babies. To put that number into perspective, that’s more than the whole black population of 1960! Even though they comprise 13% of the population, the black babies are murdered at a 36% clip in terms of the abortions in our country. Damn it, their lives mattered! But NOBODY wants to talk about that! I wish the black community would demand Planned Parenthood clinics, located in, or within foot, in 79% of black and Latina communities would demand for their doors to close!
Heavy-hearted but HOPEful
While the current state of our country, and race relations, leave me heavy-hearted . . . I am HOPEFUL because I KNOW Jesus loves BROKEN— He has a compulsion of HEALING, redeeming, restoring and reconciling people who are broken!
The blood, which flowed down from Calvary, can cover ANY sin! It covers racism. It covers hate. It covers any vile, heinous, despicable act that ever happens in this fallen world. It covers prejudices. The blood of Jesus makes me HOPEFUL! The blood sent a very simple, resolute, message throughout the history of time— NOTHING, not even this, is TOO big for God! At the foot of the cross, we are ALL loved. We are all equal and we all have HOPE! No matter how much blood is on our hands, His blood washes us clean!
It’s that blood I pray will flood this great nation of ours. I pray we will all start seeing each other as children of God, made in His image, for such a time as this.
I am HOPEful because there is no such thing as hopeless when we start viewing this world through the only lens that matters— LOVE! I am HOPEful because there is NO such thing as hopeLESS when it comes to God! I am HOPEful because if we can tap into our vulnerability, humanity and the deep resolve of the human spirit, we can chart a course for a not only a better future but a restored TODAY— one in which we are stronger, better, kinder and TOGETHER!
I am HOPEful because as long as we can have the difficult conversations, continue praying, growing in humility, sympathy and understanding; I believe this complicated and DIFFICULT journey can lead to a BEAUTIFUL destination!
