America, We
Have A Problem
by Rev. Paul
J. Bern
People of
good conscience everywhere are still processing what happened in
Charleston, South Carolina this past Wednesday. Much has been said
and written about this already, so I will be careful to not be too
redundant. What is not being emphasized anywhere nearly enough is the
gravity, the scope and the depth of the massacre of the Charleston
Nine. To call this a 'hate crime' only scratches the surface of what
actually transpired this past week. Many of my African-American
friends on and off the Web are accurately calling the events in
Charleston an act of domestic terrorism. Dylann Roof and others like
him are an offense, an embarrassment and a humiliation to every
white/Caucasian American citizen and/or legally residing foreign
national. I saw President Obama on the Internet yesterday talking
about America's “gun problem”, but I do not share this view. If
Congress or the president outlaws guns, those with evil intent who
manage to get their hands on a firearm will be more emboldened than
ever before. Outlawing guns will make America less peaceful, not more
so as has been suggested. Besides, being the Constitutionalist that I
am, I'm a firm believer in the Second Amendment, the right to keep
and bear arms. The issue isn't guns, it's race.
America's
race problem dates back 400 years to before there was a United States
of America. Slavery in the 'land of the free' was and always will be
what some historians call “America's peculiar institution”. The
ugly truth of the matter is that today's African Americans are the
descendants of slaves who arrived here by being forcibly removed from
their homeland. To put it in modern terms, these African slaves were
victims of human trafficking. They are the descendants of kidnapping
victims who had no way to call home. They had no phones, no internet,
nothing at all! One day they are at home, wherever that was, and the
next they're in chains on a ship bound for North America. After that,
they were enslaved for 300 years and endured another 100 years of Jim
Crow. And we wonder why some black folks mistrust white people to
this very day, or why they're seemingly so “uppity” towards us.
If my ancestors were enslaved, humiliated, terrorized and murdered
for 400 years, I'd be mad as hell too! It's ultimately white people's
fault that the state of race relations has gone backward instead of
forward so far in the 21st century. We brought the black
folks over here to begin with. Even after slavery was abolished by
Abraham Lincoln and the passage by Congress of the Thirteenth
Amendment in December of 1865, former slaves lacked the skills and
the resources to build ships to return to their homeland. So, even
after the emancipation of former slaves, the brutal reality is that
they were all stuck here, stranded, and they've been here ever since.
This, I am convinced, is the true source of white rage towards black
folks – their rage exists to hide their inescapable guilt.
What did
Jesus say about hatred between races? How many people know that the
Bible has several things to say about racial hatred? The first
example comes from Christ himself, who stated, “You have heard
it said to the people of long ago, 'do not murder' and anyone who
murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who
is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone
who says to his brother, “Raca” is answerable to the Sanhedrin.
But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of
hell.” (Matthew chapter 5, verses 21-22, NIV)
“Raca” was an Aramaic word of contempt expressed towards those
who were somehow deemed inferior, such as Samaritans. So Jesus was
telling us that human equality is in fact ordained by God, and that
there is no such thing as an inferior or defective human being. But
then Jesus took it a step further when He said, “...anyone
who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
Simply put, any human being who considers another to be worthless,
unredeemable, inferior, useless, or who considers others as enemies
based on pure bigotry, hatred, contemptuousness and condescension
because of race, creed, nationality, heritage, or just plain conceit
and maliciousness, could very well wind up in hell in the very place
of those he or she condemns as being allegedly of lesser worth than
themselves. Anyone who holds in contempt that which God has created
holds their Creator in contempt as well. This is the exact reason
that racial bigotry is so evil! Who do we think we are questioning
God's motives or rationale, as if rationalization were even possible
for the Lord to begin with!
The
apostle John, the younger half brother of Jesus, summed hate up in
one little sentence in 1st
John chapter three, verse 15 and I quote, “Anyone who
hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has
eternal life in him.” Jesus
once said, “It is written, 'You shall not commit
adultery'. But I tell you that if you even so much as look at a
married woman with lustful eyes, you have already committed adultery
with her in your heart”. (Matthew 5, verse 27)
As it is with adultery, so it is with hate in the eyes of the Lord
your God. If anyone hates another without just cause, or hates
because he/she holds a grudge or refuses to forgive someone, they
have already committed murder in their heart. Morally, in God's
sight, such a person is no better than an unrepentant death row
inmate in a maximum security prison. The apostle John resounded this
theme again later in chapter four when he wrote in verses 20 and 21,
“If anyone says, 'I love God', and yet hates his brother,
he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has
seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And He has given us this
command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
My dear readers, it doesn't get any clearer than this, and as for me
John's point here is well taken. You either love the One who made you
or you don't. If you don't, then you despise God, meaning you
ultimately despise yourself. If anyone reading this is wearing those
kind of shoes, it's high time for a new pair of shoes.
Here
in the early 21st
century there is simply no excuse for racial hatred towards any
person by any other individual. Those who continue to harbor hatred,
intolerance, bigotry and prejudice towards others who are allegedly
inferior to themselves cause themselves to devolve into a lesser form
of human being, one who has not yet developed an open mind, or who
refuse to repent from being closed-minded, hateful individuals. Under
no circumstances are these things any just cause to murder another
human being, let alone nine of them. This kid Dylan Roof has put the
spotlight on America's ongoing race problem. He has exposed racism
for what it truly is – one group of people wanting to commit
genocide against another based on skin color. I want all my black
brothers and sisters to know that Dylan Roof, and all the others like
him, are an offense, an embarrassment, and a humiliation to white
people everywhere. Racism is deeply ingrained into American culture,
but it has its roots in slavery. Although this has been going on for
several hundred years, America could do away with its race problem in
a single generation. How can we accomplish this noble task? There are
two ways to approach this problem long term. The first is what every
American needs – free higher education at the public college or
university of their choice. Education is not a privilege, it's a
basic human right. Knowledge is power, and no one has the right or
the authority to deny that power to anyone no matter what the reason.
The
other way to level the playing field for all people of color is
already underway. To sum it up, it's computer and information
technology. Even poor black kids have smart phones. Within 10-15
years we will see all minorities catching up to their white
counterparts because of access to technology and the Internet. This
in turn will be the trigger for an entirely new industry of space
exploration, colonization and commerce, and that's just for starters.
Of course, this is all well and good for the future, but what can we
do right now? What's the least common denominator that all races,
creeds and nationalities have in common? Remember what the apostle
John said? “Any man who says, 'I love God', and yet hates his
brother is a liar.” God is our least common denominator. We all
bleed the same shade of red, and we all have five quarts of that same
blood pumping through our veins and arteries 24/7, that is also true.
But Almighty God made all of it, just as King David wrote in his
psalms, “The earth is the Lord's and everything in it”. So, in
solving America's race problem, what's the first step? Here is what I
insist needs to be done. Next Sunday morning, I'd love to see an army
of white people attend all-black churches somewhere – anywhere! A
dozen here, ten more somewhere else, or just take your family down
into the inner city, find a church and find a parking place. After
all, the healing process must begin within ourselves, and the process
of being able to forgive also must begin within ourselves. If they
ask you what made you pick that particular church simply tell them,
“I want to help heal the wounds of slavery we have inflicted on
your people, and I'm/we're here to ask your forgiveness, and if you
would mind if we came and worshiped with you this morning”. I'd
actually be surprised if anyone turns you away, all you Caucasians.
So go ahead – I challenge you to worship in a black church if
you're white, or vice versa if you're black. Go ahead, what are you
afraid of, all you well-to-do white folks? I think I know – it's
acknowledging the sins of our ancestors. But it's got to be done.
It's long past time for America to begin to heal from slavery, and
the best place to start the healing process is at church on Sunday
morning.
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