The Monster of Racism

By Diane Faison -Mckinzie

All lives matter, and that includes black lives too. The last breath of a black man not only ascends upward toward the sky as his neck is stretched in a noose hanging from a tree, but in our day that last breath is pushed into the ground as “the man” presses his knee on the neck of that black person until his life is no more.

What will it take our society to finally understand that all men, black, white, or brown, shed the same color blood, RED! I don’t know when that day will come, but we all need to be intentional to be headed that way. It is my hope too, as I’ve heard others say, ”I hope there will come a day that children will ask, What is hate?”

As a black woman and black mother, I am under a sad obligation. That obligation forced me to teach my children how to try and survive in this still-prejudiced society. I had to teach them, because their skin was black or their hair was kinky, that they would be treated like “sub-humans” in many situations. I had to teach them that they may be stopped by law enforcement in many cases only because they were black, and in those situations I had to teach them, “Don’t resist!” I had to teach them that no matter how educated they become, in a lot of minds they would still be viewed as stupid negroes. Is this an obligation that I should have inherited? NO!

Having protested in the sixties for the simple right to eat anywhere I choose, to ride in the front of a bus, drink water from any water fountain, and go to integrated schools, I really thought that the ugly disease of racism had been at least partly eliminated. Now I see that I assumed too much too soon. Today’s protests seem to be starting to make a difference in America, and I am pleased to say I feel the difference is spreading across the world as well. It makes my heart fill with joy to see so many white people protesting along with black people. I think this has come to pass because this new, young, white generation has never been taught the prejudices of things like, “You can’t go to school with black people…”, “Black people can’t eat in a restaurant with white people…”, or “Black people can’t live in my neighborhood.” These are just a few of the “can’ts” the young white generation have not had to struggle with. So being void of those “can’ts”, they are able to see more clearly the injustices that their black brothers and sisters are still facing.

We need to stand together in this battle. The enemy is not black or white; the enemy to defeat is the ugly sin that manifests as the monster of racism! We are like different colors of yarn, that with care and patience can be woven together to make a quilt that will keep us warm when the freezing wind of prejudice blows over us. In Revelations 5:9b it is written,”…by Your blood You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (ESV).  God has not excluded any group from His love. So, let’s pass His love that He has given us on to our fellow man.

In Ecclesiastes 4:10b, Solomon described how vulnerable we are when we’re alone when he wrote, “But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” (ESV)

Let’s stand together in this fight!