The past month or so has been rough for me. Obviously, not just for me. For the nation – but also for me. I bawled my way through the video of George Floyd’s callous murder, and then through a prayer meeting centered around racial justice just a couple of days later. George reminds me of my youngest son – large, baby-faced, and black. Every single one of the 174 times that video came across my screen, I saw my Jeremiah’s face under that man’s knee. I have an advantage in that, because George did look a little bit like my son. But regardless of the resemblance to one’s son, we should ALL see the face of our loved one under that man’s knee. That is empathy.
I am grateful for the conversations that have been had in the ensuing days since George’s brutal murder. They aren’t easy. And they aren’t comfortable. And they are exhausting – to everyone, to those who have to relive their own racial trauma in every conversation, and to those who have been gut-punched with their own racial bias – but they are important. And I think they are a way forward.
I have been paralyzed in what to say in the wake of this horror that most of us would like to believe either belongs in a history book, or in a story from another “less developed” nation. There is SO much to be said. But even more to be heard. For the past few weeks, I haven’t wanted to say anything. I have wanted to listen. To hear the voices of my brothers and sisters of color. To hear the voices and stories of my own children of color. To process with them, ask questions with them, seek answers with them…
There have been SO MANY helpful things said in the past few weeks. The stinking bandage we have placed on racism has been ripped away, and the pus and death and rottenness has been unveiled. Truths that have been kept hidden for decades and generations are being revealed. Jesus said, “Nothing has been covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” (Luke 12:2) Praise God for that! Because with light comes healing. Jesus came to the world bringing light, and exposing the deeds of darkness. And He proclaims that darkness will never overcome light. (John 1:5) I feel like every day there is something else exposed – historical events that have hardly been mentioned, policies enacted that were couched as one thing but have been revealed for the oppression that they were, whole systems that have served half of us well but we were unaware of their harm to the other half. This is hard. And this is good.
I hear people asking questions – “What can I do?” “I didn’t know! What do I do now?” “How can I be part of the solution?” And in response to those vulnerable questions, there have been a plethora of articles and blogs written to address that. Articles such as “75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice.” Or, “11 Ways to Support Black Lives if You Can’t Go to a Protest.” Or, “21 Children’s Books to Spark Conversation about Race and Tolerance.” And these are good! Do them! But I read some of these lists and they are paralyzing. So. Many. Things! All good things. Great things. But so many.
And let’s not forget that I am in the business of justice for oppressed people day-in-and-day-out. The weight of injustice is often unbearable. And depending on your Enneagram number – may be crushing. But “crushing” doesn’t move us forward. We need something we can grab onto and press in – hard.
Let me clarify something for the purpose of this article. It’s good to understand our definitions. For the purpose of this article, I am defining racism as “systemic racism” – the systems that are put in place that stack the societal deck against people of color. I don’t have time to go into ALL of those – that would take more time to write and to read than ANY of us has. But for a concise and easily understood summary, watch this video. It’s well worth your time. And I will refer to “racial bias” as the individual beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that each of us manifests with regard to people of another race. And these biases, when left unchecked and fueled with power, lead to systemic racism. I realize that there is much more nuance to this statement and that arguments can be made against these simplified definitions, but I think that for the sake of conversation, it is easiest to draw this distinction. There are many people who would loathe to call themselves “racist,” and therefore, when conversations about racism come up, they automatically exempt themselves. “That’s not me – I love black/white/brown people.” But I think we can all get behind the idea that we have racial bias. Well, maybe not all – but most. (We all should – I just know that we all won’t.) This distinction ends the nauseating and dizzying argument about “but black people can be racist too!” and allows ALL of us to be able to do something toward the solution. Because while black people (and ANY people) can have racial bias, the issue of systemic racism falls squarely on the shoulders of white people. That one is ours, white folks. You don’t have to like it. You don’t even have to agree with it. Just like you don’t have to like or agree with the idea that the oceans are rising, the ice caps are melting, and our planet is changing. It just is – like it or not.
Racial bias shows up in the things you don’t even notice. Holding your purse more tightly or crossing the street when approaching a large black man wearing a doo-rag on a city street. Arguing that black people commit more crime against each other than white police officers commit against them. Thinking you can ask a woman with gorgeous curly hair if you can touch it or “boing” her curls. Asking if a baby of color with a white woman or man is adopted, or a grandchild, or whatever. Thinking that a black man who was arrested during a “random” traffic stop deserved to be arrested. Believing that black men are more dangerous than white men, with “proof” of your assumption, since there are disproportionately more of them in prison. Thinking that pronouncing certain English words in a “black” accent is “wrong” or “uneducated.” (Ask a Brit or an Aussie what they think of your American Southern white pronunciation…) Thinking every Asian is good at math and science. And a million other things. We don’t often think of our racial bias, because it is so innate to us.
I believe it is incumbent on every. single. human. to begin to address our racial biases. Every one. We all have them. And if you are white, it is also incumbent on you to begin to dismantle systemic racism. Both are hard – but both must be done. But for the sake of moving forward with simple, immediate, actionable steps, we’re going to focus on racial bias.
As I said, when I read things like “75 things you can do…” it’s hard to know where to start, and whether any of those things are going to bring about the change I desire to see. And if you feel the same way, I want to bring just ONE thing to you, that you can start doing today, to move the needle on your own racial bias, and that of your kids. A quick note: The first step toward progress is to acknowledge your bias. You can’t change what you don’t own. But when you do own your bias, don’t judge yourself. Nobody makes progress by being judged. That is true if the “judger” is the Church (against gays, or prostitutes, or poor people…), or if the “judger” is a loved one telling you what’s wrong with you and what you need to change, or if the “judger” is yourself. Judging rarely gets us where we need to go. Judging makes us defensive and resistant. Just gently notice. Notice where you have bias, and begin to combat it with this one simple thing. It’s simple, but it isn’t easy. Because we are human, and we’re not very good at this. But we can move in a positive direction – especially if we are believers. If you are in Christ, the curse of sin AND the power of sin, has been broken for you, and you can live into new life.
What is the ONE thing?
Love the Imago Dei.
That’s it. Love, truly love, the image of God in the face of every single human you see. Always.
In issues of oppression and injustice, the root is ALWAYS the same. It begins when one group of people determines that another kind of people is not equal to them, not quite as good or advanced, not quite fully human. This denial of the Imago Dei – the Truth that every human being is made in the image of God Himself – is the root of every sin against people groups. It is the sin that allowed white slave owners to buy and sell humans and beat them senseless. It is the sin that allowed Nazis to pack cattle cars full of humans and ship them off to concentration camps and march them into gas chamber. It is the sin that allowed Nero to use humans lit on fire as torches for his garden parties. It is the sin that fueled the annihilation of the Tutsi humans by the Hutus in the Rwandan genocide. It is the sin that allows women around the world to kill the babies in their wombs because they are an inconvenience. It is the sin that allows police to press their knees into human necks for 8 minutes and 46 seconds while that human cries for mercy and his mother. It is the sin that causes humans with disabilities to be outcast and treated like trash in much of the world. It is the sin that made a white man demand that a black, female human get out of “his” seat on the bus and move to the back. It is the sin that allows politicians and law enforcement officers to cage tiny Latino humans because they crossed a border without a paper. It is a denial of the Imago Dei.
This is the sin that we must combat. This is the action that we must take. We must learn to recognize – and love – the Imago Dei.
If all of us work to cultivate this one thing – deeply cultivate – it will change every encounter we have with other humans, particularly those who are different than us in some way.
Mother Teresa said, “I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus. Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.” This is how to live out loving the Imago Dei. Our God is so much bigger than any one kind of human expression can contain. The diversity we see is – in itself – an expression of God.
This is the ONE thing that we can do to begin to live into the unity in diversity that God intends for His image-bearers. Start to practice this intentionally. When you pass the panhandler on the interstate exit ramp, say “This is the homeless, hungry Jesus. What do you want me to do for you, Lord?” When you see the trans woman or the gay man, say “This is the hurting trans/gay Jesus. I must love him or her.” When you see the black man, say “This is the black Jesus, my equal and my brother. I must be his ally.” When you see the disabled woman, say, “This is Jesus with a disability. I will care about her.” When you see the racist white supremacist flying the Confederate flag and screaming racial epithets, say “This is the image of God, broken by blindness and hate. I must love him/her back to wholeness.”
This has to start with our children. Children notice image-bearers that look different than them. Rather than explaining those differences in the sociologic and demographic terms that we have created, what if we explained them theologically?
“Look, Mommy, that man is brown!”
“Yes, Sweetie, he is. God is full of color and could not contain His image in one expression, so He made all of us bear His image a little differently, so that together, we might see and know Him in all His fullness and richness. Isn’t that the coolest?!”
Every. Single. Human.
This came home to me during the week of George’s murder. As I saw the video and read the hashtags and heard and felt the rage and sorrow, all I could do was cry. All I could say was, “I see the face of my baby boy under that horrible man’s knee.” And in the middle of a time of prayer, the Lord said to me “#SayHisName.” And I couldn’t. It was early in the narrative, and I realized I did not know the name of that “horrible man.” I saw him as an object – not an image-bearer, marred by sin and hate. And I wept. I had to go find his name. Derek Chauvin. Derek Chauvin is an image-bearer – a man, made by God, in the image of God Himself. I need to lament the marring of the image of God in that man, just as I am broken by the murder of the image of God in George Floyd. That’s the way it works. We don’t get to exempt people from the Imago Dei.
#SayHisName
#Jesus
#InEveryFace
#LovetheImagoDei
