Hate is such a strong word. Let’s try discrimination on for size. Does it fit nicely or is there room to grow?
We all watch the news and see story after story about one race discriminating against another, some to the point of death. We scratch our heads and wonder how we got here.
Allow me to offer a glimpse into a small way that does not go back two hundred years. Perhaps this look behind the curtain is a short thirty or forty years ago. Maybe it was the way our parents tried to raise us.
Innocent comments were not so innocent when age was applied. The comment of pride in the confederacy seemed justified when the slant was against the “yankees.” A joke told in private was innocent until one realizes there was a reason it was told in private.
Growing up in retail had a few perks. My love of dust collectors began in my parents’ shop. Ironically, I hated dusting all those figurines that I now seem to have in my house. My father’s idea of me working for them was “free” labor (or as he put it, “I feed you, clothe you, and put a roof over you”). They trained me in all things retail. Displaying, wrapping, framing, and believe it or not cleaning the store. [For those that did not know my parents, the front of the store was clean, but the back was chaotic.]
I remember hearing “watch them” the first time. A group of ladies came in with large coats and large purses. I followed them around like a shadow. I watched them as instructed. The thought of that now makes me want to cry. Recently, I heard a story read by some ladies of color that dealt with racial profiling or “my own personal escort”. It did not sit with me very well. As you can see, I was trained to be a personal escort in a retail environment to darker skin tones than me.
To my knowledge criminals have not just one color to them. They can be a rainbow of skin tones. Skin does not define sin, the heart does. Skin does not reflect what is in the heart. Luke 23:32 “Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him [Jesus].” It does not say what the crimes were, nor does it say the color of their skin, just that they were to hang next to Jesus. One criminal blasted Jesus, mocked him, scorned him. The other one believed in him and defended him. Which are you?
