There Is Something We Can Do

As I move among the several news sites on my iPhone this morning and read the continuing narratives from St. Paul, Baton Rouge, and Dallas, two things come to mind.

One, racism is a pernicious evil that creeps into the soul and relentlessly whispers lies until they become “truth” that is finally acted upon in words and actions both subtle and catastrophic. Racism is highly communicable, easily attaching itself to opinions that become belief systems and stories that manifest as primary narratives that shape families and networks of friends. What begins as a seemingly harmless joke or anecdote becomes lodged in a crease deep in our hearts only to become dislodged when jarred by a life-event or news story that seems to validate what the joke implied. And no one is immune from the disease. It’s part of our fallen humanity that crashed to the ground at the foot of a fruit tree in the garden.

Two, violence will not stop racism any more than a fire can be extinguished with gasoline. To the offended it offers a false and temporary sense of control in a reality where they sense no control over their situation. To the offender it merely reinforces the belief that they are right in their hatred toward another person or group. Perhaps Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. put it best when he said this:

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,

begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.

Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.

Through violence you may murder the liar,

but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.

Through violence you may murder the hater,

but you do not murder hate.

In fact, violence merely increases hate.

So it goes.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,

adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness:

only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

I believe that racism, along with every other scourge that besets humankind, began with that thunderous crash in Eden. But, I also believe that the fall of humankind began a series of God-ordained events that resulted in the opportunity for all of us to rise out of the ashes of our fallenness. The image of God we all possess was damaged in the crash at the foot of that tree. I believe that the ultimate answer to racism lies at the foot of another tree. This is why Jesus came. This is what Jesus does. He shines that light, to which Dr. King alluded, into the deepest crevices of our broken hearts and offers kingdom reclamation that will put us on a path toward wholeness. The beauty that fell from the tree in the Garden of Eden was restored on a tree at Calvary. Our job, as followers of Jesus, is to make it so in everyday living.

In light of what I’m reading in the news I am going to invite Jesus into those deep places in my heart with his kingdom flashlight and take a good look to make sure I haven’t missed something. I invited you to do the same. I wish we had the power to immediately heal the brokenness in St. Paul, Baton Rouge, and Dallas, but we don’t. We do, however, have the power to heal any brokenness in our own lives so that we may be messengers of peace, love, and reconciliation in our circles of influence. With Jesus as our Champion and source of strength, we might be surprised how far that could go.