This month I am living in Pretoria, South Africa.
I feel like Rapunzel in her tower.
Why? I spend almost everyday locked inside of a secure compound. My ministry hosts feel that it is too dangerous here for my team to use public transportation or to venture outside alone.
Our pale skin puts us at risk.
And you know what? I’m frustrated.
My freedom is inhibited due to racial tension. I long to take a stroll through the neighborhood but can’t because people may take a look at me and decide that they hate me for the color of my skin. I’m forced to live in fear of the actions that this hatred might prompt.
But really? I understand.
I would be outraged too.
Only 23 years ago South Africans lived under a political and social system of white minority rule called Apartheid. Under Apartheid, South Africans were divided and segregated by race. Black people were not allowed to vote or enter certain neighborhoods and other areas. People of different races were not allowed to marry each other.
Apartheid ended in 1994 when equal rights were legally granted to both whites and blacks as Nelson Mandela became president.
Today, however, the effects of Apartheid still remain gapingly apparent. In 2012, a census found that the average black family in South Africa earns 1/6 of what the average white family earns annually. Poverty, unemployment, and inequality run rampant. By my observation it seems that even churches have struggled to move beyond segregation.
Wouldn’t you be mad? Wouldn’t you want to retaliate?
Well, black people in South Africa are understandably still very angry. Ephesians 4:26 tells us not to let anger lead to sin; however, sometimes that’s easier said than done.
Anger is leading many to more sin in South Africa.
South Africa has some of the highest homicide and rape rates in the world. Robberies have become more than common place in affluent largely white neighborhoods. Riots occur with clockwork regularity. Many still call for the murder of all white South Africans.
Since I have been in South Africa, I have found myself continually looking around and wondering how it could come to this.
How can people think about and treat other people so horribly simply because they have a different color skin?
How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? – Matthew? ?7:4
I grew up in a small southern town. I drove past Confederate flags on my way to church. The black church was across town.
When I was in 11th grade, I wanted to take one of my best friends to prom. He happened to be black. My parents forbid it, worrying what other people would think.
Even before becoming a Christian, I believed that these things were wrong. I thought that I could choose to overcome what society and my small town taught me about skin color.
Then in an introduction to psychology class during my freshman year of college, I took an implicit association test. If you haven’t taken one, I would highly recommend it. You can find one by clicking on “Race” here.
Implicit association tests measure subconscious biases by forcing test takers to make split-second inferences. They show what you deem as good or bad automatically without really thinking about it.
I was horrified when I received my results. Although I thought that I had squelched the racism that was spoon fed to me by society, my results showed a bias toward other caucasians. I subconsciously associated black people with negative words like “unpleasant” and “suffering.”
The test showed that, at least subconsciously, I am racist.
Few things have brought me to my knees with as much conviction as the results of my implicit association test. I was forced to think about all of the times that I had experienced nervousness when alone with a black man in a parking garage or had assumed that the black woman I passed on the sidewalk lived in the ghetto and supported her children on welfare.
I dwelled on what the Lord tells us about all of the people He has created both black and white.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. – Galatians 3:28
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. – Genesis 1:27
So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality.” – Acts 10:34
I began to repent. I asked the Lord to forgive me for thinking less of His black children.
Repentance, however, is not a once and done kind of thing. It requires a change of heart and mind as well as a decision to turn from sin.
Repenting of racism demands that I mentally correct myself every time I have an unsavory and untrue thought about one of my black brothers and sisters. I must reverse my thoughts each time lies like ‘he must be a deadbeat’ or ‘she probably has multiple baby daddies’ slip into my head.
I would like to say that this discipline of repentance has completely renewed my mind, but it hasn’t. Almost daily I catch myself slipping into my old habits and judging someone based on the color of his or her skin. And again I turn to the Lord to repent. I ask Him to help me love people impartially the way that He does.
I believe that one day the Lord will bring this work to completion and help me to fully shed my racism.
What about you? Do you struggle with racism?
I encourage you to repent. Bring your sin to the Lord and constantly renew your mind by rebuking the lies that you tell yourself about people who look different than you.
After all, making a change in the world, even in places like South Africa, starts with looking in the mirror.
