People of Color cant wait a moment longer for us to be comfortable enough to speak out
In 2014 we were foster parents to three black boys in midwest America. The 2014 shooting of Michael Brown had us thinking about racism in America in a scary new way. As the unrest in Fergeson grew we transitioned from fostering our three boys to adopting and in 2016 finalized our adoption of them. Although our adoption finalized, our realization of individual, instiututional and systemic racism was just beginning.
When your 9 year old son wants to spend his time playing first base in little league but has to deal with being called the N-word multiple times in school it's depressing.
When you have to have yet another conversation with your son about how not all police are bad but some are racist and you have to be careful it makes you angry.
When you watch George Floyd exhale his last breaths longing for his mama it makes you angry.
And we're just two angry white-privlidged-enough-to-adopt-black-boy's parents. We're mad about the opportunities they won't get, the confrontations they'll have, and frustrated that they won't be able to include their middle names on their resumes.
Honestly, all that injustice makes me want to set a Target on fire sometimes, yet, I can only imagine whit a lifetime of micro aggressions (and more) must feel like to the soul of a person with brown skin. I can't fathom the weight.
In 2015, after the unrest in Fergeson had been simmering for more than year, 9 black men and women were murdered during a Bible Study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, and churches in the south were being burned, I wrote these words, 'The sermon we need to live is one that confronts racism head on and supports our Christian brothers and sisters who face it's sting each day.'
We need to be more than non-racist, we need to be anti-racist.
Non-racists see those injustices and shake our heads.
Non-racists see a knee on the neck of George Floyd and wait for 'the full story.'
Non-racists will wait for too long.
Enough is enough.
Personally, I don't want to wait until it's an officer's knee on the neck of my now 10 year old son. I don't think I could live through hearing him cry for his mama.
Coronavirus gave us a push, church. Our houses of worship are empty. It’s time to empty the church pews and stand with People of Color.
The church I Pastor, Harmony Springs is committed to supporting the New Poor People's Campaign June 2020 Moral March. Read more about it, RSVP and help promote it on their site:
https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/june2020