Systems or Relationships: How do we engage discrimination?

All of us are blind, including those that believe they are "aware"

When considering the issues of discrimination, injustice, and racism, I've heard many on the social justice train say that we need to seek out corporate forgiveness (I believe that was laid at the feet of the indistinct "majority"), and have endured the ardent push-back of many in the majority that bite down hard on dialogs that create further divisions saying that we need to just move on and quit talking about it to achieve unity. 

 

For followers of Jesus, does either perspective bring believers together?  Where do I even start?  

 

Perhaps its in understanding.

 

Do we have prejudices? Of course. Do each of us have blind spots? Yes. Is the answer to bringing restoration the systemic engagement and corporate forgiveness of a majority -- or is it individual relationship that seeks first to understand? 

Personally, I believe its the latter -- and being willing to engage individual dialog from foundations of mutual respect and interest that start with valuing the contributions of each people group -- whether male, female, Asian, Latino, Africans, Caucasians, able-bodied or disabled, etc. With appreciation and understanding, we can continue to look for opportunities to engage injustices that are discriminatory.

The only way to find a blind spot is to be examined.  To be willing to have someone else offer a perspective that, perhaps, you've not considered.  And if you've not considered it, it may be a blind spot. So it starts with conversation.

People vs. Systems - Both needed, but for different reasons

But here's what I've learned in my conversations with people: Not everyone feels the same way. Some of my African American friends feel like most systemic barriers have been removed. Some still see rampant racism. Still others see improvements with more-subversive prejudices that lurk from shadows. Some believe that you find what you're looking for while others believe its there and impossible to not see. Holding up one person's perspective as representative of a people group, while informative, is hardly defining.

The key is that there isn't a single, systematic answer to address everyone's perspectives in most cases. Systems are designed to engage a majority, and are horrid at engaging nuance. People are nuanced and require individual engagement. But engage individually within contexts of community we must. And where systemic discrimination occurs, we need to do our part to change it.

 

System change can have benefits. But systemic restoration does not work unless it meets individual need.

 

After World War II, the United States spent millions in its occupation of Japan to bring healing and rebuilding. (It is a unique trait of who we are as Americans, and a reflection of our Judaeo-Christian character.) For people -- individuals -- it was not the systemic engagement that was the solution, but helping prop up families person-by-person with education, housing, training and food that made a difference.  Systems don't offer and create forgiveness.  People do.  And that's why relationship is important to overcome racism.

As one who has spent months in training on this topic, it's also a false dichotomy to believe that racism is the unique mark of the majority. It actually cuts all ways. However, it's important to understand that those in the majority who hold power do have a greater impact to bring about necessary changes. 

The hard part is that even the terms we use create barriers to unity.  If we say "Everyone's a racist", we immediately turn off those that believe they're not. What if we instead said, "None of us has full understanding of what it's like to be someone else, so let's learn what life is like for someone who is not us?"  And what if that started at a place of valuing contributions rather than critically perceiving short-comings and differences? Maya Angelou captures it well in her ending of the poem, "Human Family": 

I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

WWJD?

My calling is unity and restoration through Jesus -- knowing full well that many cultures engage the truth of Jesus differently throughout the world and that it doesn't require adopting mine to become and adopted one of the King. Jesus followers in Latin America are different from those in India who are different from those in Illinois. You don't have to do it like I do it to follow Jesus. You just have to know Him through God's Word and live in the richness of that relationship as bounded in scripture.  (Read some of the writings of Dr. Samuel Betances as one of the most-challenging and compelling authors ever on these topics.)

Likewise, all that claim to believe Christ is the Redeemer are also bound together in the Kingdom and must be known by their love and faithfulness to His calling. If you are called to fight injustice, then fight it with all the fervor that the Holy Spirit empowers you with as you point others to Jesus. If you are called to be in relationship and understand others, then be a bridge-builder like no one has ever seen using the Cross to bring others together.  But perhaps all should stop biting down on the "Here's the only, right way" to engage areas of discrimination, racism and injustice".  Perhaps it's as simple as it just starts with me, entering into relationships where I can learn and grow, and seeing how I can help others be seen and heard.

Our reality is an eternity where all peoples that have accepted Christ will be one family. Only those that live in comfortable isolation and the insula of their own finite communities need be concerned.  Better still -- reach out and get to know those brothers and sisters before the celebration begins.  (It's always better to party with friends than strangers...)

And finally, my ending suggestion would be that these dialogs are meant for face-to-face relationships rather than engagement through tit-for-tat social media. If no opinions are changed and followers of Jesus divided, then what is the value? I think a lot of good people are misread through the faceless interpretation of intent in a Facebook, Twitter or other media post. 

 

FWIW