Galatians 3:28

There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

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It is 1981. Judi and I are leaving a large shopping mall in Indianapolis and walking toward our car.

I become aware of two young black men walking behind us. An uneasiness comes over me, and I find myself saying to Judi that we need to hurry up and get to the car.

So we pick up our pace, (this is back in the day when I could pick up my pace).

When we get to the car, I nervously fumble with my keys and can’t get them in the door lock before the two black men are upon us,

and pass us by

and continue to walk on.

For them, it was one more moment in a litany of moments wherein white people were afraid of them because of the color of their skin.

The incident bothered me deeply. Not the actual events, but my reaction.

Fact: there was nothing that had ever happened to me,

no experience I ever had,

no trauma or drama that should have led me to believe that two people walking behind me were a threat to me simply because they were black. But I was afraid.

Why?

I was an enthralled with Dr. King, whose books “strength of love” and “why we can’t wait” were life-changing for me as a young adult. I saw myself as enlightened, quite confident that there was no prejudice in me. So, why was I in the south parking lot at Washington Square, seized by an irrational fear of two young black men walking.

Why?

That question lingers to this day, 39 years later. Why? What was it that caused me to be afraid?

Was it the racial stereotyping of African Americans I saw on TV?

Was it the depiction of black people on the evening news?

Was it the distorted and misused statistics that were often quoted about black crime?

Was it things I heard in school hallways as I was growing up?

Was it the vilification of black people in political discourse?

I would never have guessed that the fear I felt that day was inside of me. From where did it come?

I know for certain that nothing ever happened to me personally that might be the root of that fear.

And yet . . .

The rest of this message represents my attempt to answer that question. Why?

According to Ibram X. Kendi, racism is a marriage of racist ideas and racist policies.

These racist ideas and policies have been perpetuated over the years through stories, through myths and through lies told to bolster the idea that people who are not like us

are inferior to us

are different from us

and dangerous to us

and therefore, must be kept in check.

Systems, both structural and informal, help standardize racism and induce unfounded fear toward people of color, toward immigrants, toward anybody who is other.

I am convinced that most of us are victims of this fear-bating, society wide racism.

People of color have taken the brunt, of course, as they have experienced the pain of discrimination and have experienced violence against their bodies, because a direct consequence of fear induced racism is violence against the other. History is replete with examples; as is the evening news.

But I think a lot of white folks are also victims in a prevailing culture of fear and tribal indoctrination that causes us to see black and brown people as essentially different and fear-worthy.

This racist indoctrination has repeated itself through successive generations, over the decades, over the centuries and leads to a place

of massive distrust,

of unfounded fears,

of ever more destructive policies that lead to ever more oppressive attitudes and behavior toward those we are taught to fear.

White people have been victims on the other side of racism- as it has taught us to fear, and to hate.

It is time for us to declare that we will no longer be victims of fear and that we will stand against racism in all its forms.

The very first thing that we can do is to confess that we have been duped. Racism is a construct used to keep people in their place. And as a white people, We have, in a myriad of ways, been influenced to believe people who are different than us are a threat to us.

But here’s some truth:

Some people of color are bad people,

Some white people are bad people.

But, most people, regardless of race, are decent, caring folks who love their families and their friends and just want to figure out a way to get by in this world.

We have been fooled into thinking something else. We have been coached to look at people who are different than us with suspicion. It has been falsely instilled in us to be afraid of young black men walking behind us in a parking lot.

Of course, the two black men walking behind you in the parking lot could mean you harm, but so could two white men, or two women, or two people covered in tattoos, or two guys in business suits. There is reason for men and women to be aware of their surroundings.

But, It is a false narrative to believe that just because people are other than you that they are out to get you. We must call that narrative what it is- a racist lie.

The second thing, it seems to me, that we must do is embrace the fact that we are all One people.

Systems:

governmental systems,

justice systems,

religious systems,

systems that control wealth,

separate us into categories,

categories that are reinforced all of our lives.

But the Scripture teaches us something different. We learn that we are One in Christ Jesus, that there is neither male or female, slave or free, Jew, Gentile, black or white or brown, straight or gay or trans, but that we are One in Christ.

And since the scripture also teaches that Christ is the agent through which creation takes place, I take that Oneness to mean that we are all One as part of the Creator’s work.

We are one family, all equally children of God.

Rather than irrationally fear members of our family, we are called to embrace each other as beloved of God.

And of course it is important to recognize that within our one family, there is incredible diversity of culture and tradition. It is so important for all of us to celebrate diverse cultures around us even as we celebrate our oneness.

A third thing we can do to counter this racist paradigm in which we live is to intentionally get to know people who come from different cultures, who have different skin tones, who worship differently, who identify differently. This is so simple, yet so essential to the breaking down of racial barriers. I am convinced, through personal experience, that the surest way to defeat prejudice and racism in your own life is to get to know people who appear to be different than you.

And a fourth thing that strikes me as necessary if we desire a world free of racism is that we must work together for change.

Many of us have participated in peaceful protests to call attention to the scourge of racism and racist policies.

And beyond the protests, there are many ways to work together to create change. Read.

Pray.

Engage.

Volunteer.

Sign-up.

Serve.

Stand up.

Be heard.

March.

Give.

Rise up together.

Vote!

For change, systemic change, to take place,

for personal attitudes to evolve,

We must stand together for justice.

We must stand together for fairness.

We must stand together and work toward the transformation of all systems that preserve racism.

It is in response to this racist challenge, and in response to violence against black bodies, that we say Black Lives Matter.

When I say Black Lives Matter, I’m not saying That all other lives matter less and I’m not being anti-police. I happen to believe that you can affirm that every life matters and respect proper policing and also stand up for the rights of those who are often oppressed by the system.

I recently read a re-imagining of one of Jesus’ great parables. It goes something like this.

There is a shepherd who has 100 sheep.

One of them goes missing, and is in danger and so the shepherd leaves the 99 to focus on the one at risk.

The 99 shout out, “Why are you focusing on that one. Don’t we matter as well?”

The shepherd responds, “Of course you matter, but right now we must focus on the one who is in danger, the one who is most at risk.”

Black Lives Matter means it is time to focus on preserving lives that in the scheme of history, have not seemed to matter much.

And the truth is that all lives can’t matter until black lives do matter. Let’s work together for it.

Amen.