While We Wait Pt. 2- The Narrative of Racial Harmony
Coming out of COVID...felt like a maskless breathe of fresh air, and then that air was knocked out of us with the media frenzy story of Ahmed Aubrey's death/murder. We take another deep breathe through our tears, only to exhale to the sharp pain of the recorded death/murder of George Floyd. Our paychecks are cut, our social time is distanced, our senses are heightened, and now our cities are in flames, bricks placed on the corners in a neat pile, windows of local businesses and franchises alike smashed and looted.
We're stuck in a silent scream now...there are more bodies in the street, arguments on social media platforms, silence at the kitchen table, moms on their knees in their prayer closets, asking God for direction...
What narrative are you reading? Whose voices are you listening to? How are you fighting injustice? How are you turning your face from the pain of those stuck in the silent scream?
"My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish."- John 10: 27-28
I write this from the viewpoint of a young Christian. An African American mother raising children in this broken world. As a wife to a Caucasian man. As a friend to all ethnicities and religions of friends and family alike. As an advocate for all life from conception to the very end. As a pursuer of justice but most importantly, as a pursuer of the New Jerusalem, the kingdom that's yet to come.
What narrative do you follow?
"A man of knowledge restrains his words, and a man of understanding maintains a calm spirit. Even a fool is considered wise if he keeps silent, and discerning when he holds his tongue."- Proverbs 17: 27-28
"Do your POC friends a favor and stop asking them for resources, do it yourself."
"POC need space to breathe, that's the best thing you can do for them right now."
"If you're silent, you're part of the issue right now."
"If you're white, you're stuck in your Whiteness and therefore a part of the supremacy problem."
I could keep writing out the things I'm seeing, but I won't give them anymore light.
There is beauty in diversity, there is healing to be done. But shutting down narratives won't get us very far. Muddling personal opinions with history and blanketing it over every African American only muffles the harmony of each individual lifting their voice to sing through their frustration and tears.
If proximity is how you can teach, why would you move further apart at a time like this? It's because it's the easier thing to do. It's easier to push someone to Google or Duck-Duck-Go for answers instead of picking up the phone to have a talk that may end with vulnerably shed tears. Let me pose this question- how many times do you offer the Gospel to someone who's not a Believer until you tell them-"Just go look on Google."
It's so easy to forget that social media is just the highlight real. It's snippets of life and not the whole story. It's not the fully story, so your friend's silence doesn't automatically mean they are part of the problem. It warrants a telephone call, or perhaps even minding your own.
If police brutality is the issue, how has whiteness so quickly become the narrative? If the broken system was built from the thoughts or plans of sinners past, how on earth are we condemning our lighter-skinned friends or strangers for the actions of those unrelated? Please, tell me how...
Which narrative are you listening to...?
That pushing and pulling some might be feeling in your souls right now, that giant angry void that wants your arm to throw a brick or kick a kidney, that wants to collapse into silence and the eagerness to get back to normal, I'll tell you, that's either the Holy Spirit trying to encourage you to press in and seek the living word of God to soothe your soul, or contrary, the prince and his principalities seeking to draw you further from God Almighty. It's pertinent you sit back and ask, which voice are you listening to? Which narrative are you following?
There is a King, who came and died. Hung on a cross on Calvary, in about 33 A.D. His name was Yeshua, Jesus Christ, and he was the Son of God, yet God in flesh at the same time. He died so that the brick you just threw wouldn't separate you from your loving Father for all eternity. He died and sacrificed his blood so that after you berated you Caucasian sister in Christ over text or type, that you could be able to call on his BLOOD in repentance. He died for the racist who wants a second chance. He died, but most importantly he's coming again.
Which narrative will you follow? What foolish words will you give into? Where will you ask God to intercede. Where will you step into hard conversation saying, "Jesus, please go before me?"
We all have a different viewpoint. We all have a different truth. We all want to be right. We all want to be heard. But a conversation takes multiple voices. If we're to lift every voice and sing, let us do it in harmony.
Resources to begin learning about the historical and modern issue of African American oppression in America-
Click on the logo to go to the NAACP website
