Left Leaning and Racism

Today, I got a little “push back” from my journal post last night. Apparently I am a “woman” and “left leaning.” My gracious “push back” was met with a more mellow response and then an agreement to disagree.

I have never known I was “left leaning” until today. The swipe reminded me of a story Dr James Shields told in one of his classes about a student who went home over Thanksgiving to his parent's peanut farm. The son said, perhaps unwisely, “Dad, the way you talk about your peanut farm you would think it is the center of the universe.” The father looked at him and said, “That way is north, that way is east, that way is south, and that way is west. If this is not the center of the universe, I would like to know where it is!” So, left leaning is left of where we “stand” and what we “believe” which is always correct and in our Baptist world always conservative as we are “conservative.” “Left leaning” is a curse phrase spat with derision and contempt. In this culture war of today, “left,” or “left leaning” is always bad and is somehow flawed or cursed.

I read an Ethics Today post by a black pastor, Tyrone Keels(see in an earlier post) about why is “now” the time. I hear the anger and the pain, and I have no good answer. I believe that such questions will never have good answers. Watching the first season of “The Chosen” I was reminded of the slaughter of innocents in Bethlehem at the time following the birth of Christ. Why was only Joseph warned in time to rescue Jesus? What about the other mothers and fathers who watched helplessly as the Romans slaughtered their children two years and under?

This is what I do know. I know these recent deaths of African American men and women have somehow touched the heart of White America for reasons I cannot explain. I know, for me, there is something in me that says, “When is enough going to be enough?” “When is racism finally going to be faced, and resolved?” “When are we all going to be people equal in the sight of the law as we are before God?” “How long will our Constitution and Bill of Rights only apply to a few and not to all?”

After all these years, it is more than time for us to stand up(all of us) move forward to make the promise of this nation real and just for all. Some months ago, I started a couple of journal entries by saying, “I don't understand Black people. One of the things I had in mind is the reality that African Americans, Hispanics, and other people of color enlist, serve commendably, and yet come home to a culture in which they are not fully accepted. I don't understand how one can do that. However, I know thousands have, and continue to enlist and serve. The rights which should fall to all Americans should not have to be earned. They should not have to be proven in terms of worthiness but each and every day, soldiers of color prove their valor, their loyalty, their courage and hopefully return home only finding so little change for their people.

Why must the “white community” get behind the march for equal rights? We are over 60% of the population while 37,144,530 non-Hispanic blacks, comprise 12.1% of the population. That is why. That is also why People of Color have not had the opportunities and access to power which could tilt the scales of justice to more equality. When you look at those numbers above, Martin Luther King Jr did an amazing work of leveraging action from his marches and influence. However, today, I want to believe there are far more White Americans who realize it is time for this nation to get up, grow up, honor all as equal participants in this opportunity and enterprise. Listen to the African American voices. We cannot wait any longer.

Wash your hands, wear your masks respecting others, mind the gap and be kind.