“Do I have a sunburn?”, Randy asked me. We had spent the previous day at Myrtle Beach, it was early spring, 1994. A group of us had piled into a couple of cars and driven the 4 hours from Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA to hang out at the beach.
I looked at Randy, “did you really just ask me that question?” was the message I was trying to convey in the expression on my face, “Do black guys even get sunburns?”
“Would you mind rubbing some of this on my back? It feels like I got a bad sunburn.”
I gave the look to him again, as forcefully as I possibly could. Do guys rub aloe on each other’s backs? (the only time I ever need aloe rubbed on my back is when a cutie-by cutie, I mean a girl, [and that was a long time ago, pre-Linnea]- is available to put it on).
He was serious, he had his shirt off and his back turned to me, the bottle of aloe was sitting with in reach.
“How the heck am I supposed to know if you have a sunburn?”
“Hey, we can get sunburns”, Randy assured me.
“I’m not rubbing that stuff on your back”
“C’mon man, I’m serious”
“Alright, you weirdo”, I said and put the aloe on his back.
Randy was one of the first friends I had made at Liberty, a really good friend. He was not quite black as night, but he was very black, and we hung out together in the weight room. He was one of those guys that does his bench press with his hands really wide and could get 225 for something like 25 reps, and was studying to be a pastor. Randy at 18 years old and 200 lbs could just rep out with some pretty impressive weights, which gives instant respect in these circles (the barbell doesn’t care what color a person’s skin is, or how much money they make, cold iron is a great equalizer).
I was serious about his sunburn- I really couldn’t tell-and really thought it was weird to put the lotion on his back. Randy is one of the guys I have lost touch with, so Randy Franklin, from (Frederickstown?) Maryland, if you read this, send me your email.
I thought of this story because of the words of a pastor from Zimbabwe, who we met at the school in Backdoor, named Joshua. Joshua gets this really serious look on his face when he speaks, like he would kill me if I were not listening, and he has one eye that is a bit lazy, so I am not sure who he is talking to and I answer him, to prove I am listening, even when he is actually talking to someone else.
Joshua was talking about racism. The African type of racism.
I don’t know enough about the subject of racism, either American or African, to write about it, and would be wise to just leave it alone, but I am a little foolish, and will try my luck. I don’t really know the history of apartheid and all that, I have no idea how racism looks in Zimbabwe…. But Joshua was talking about his experience here.
Joshua shared how it feels when he and his team (of black africans) go into a white church and the people don’t even want to shake their hands, afraid of the physical contact. Afraid maybe that the black will rub off? He thinks the whites are afraid they will get AIDS from the black man (he said he appreciated the hugs and handshakes our team gave him). He shared how discouraging this disdain feels, especially in the church. Joshua asked about racism in the States, but did not pause long enough for an answer, as he went on a tangent about division.
Joshua talked about division in general, the racism between the black tribes, between towns and countries. He said this division is not limitted to the color of skin. He discussed division in the church, the denominations, divisions in one local church body…he talked for a while, and I spent most of my time trying to figure out which eye to maintain contact with.
I am not sure where to go with this subject now…I have no answers for solving divisions between humans, except to pray that we will open our eyes to each other, one more area to learn love in, I guess.
We know these divisions are not ok, we know we will all bow our knee to the same Jesus at some point…what should our goal be? We know that all tribes and nations and tongues will be represented before the throne. (Revelation 7:9) I don’t think we will all be morphed into a homogenous group, I believe every tribe and nation will be recognizable, and we will see how much God loves the differences in styles of worship, speech and life.
So how do we change things now? Is this a personal decision? How do we pursue change in our relations with people who look different and act differently than us?
I wanted to end with those questions…but I just remembered this.
When we ‘do missions’ we focus on addressing needs. We think of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, that a person needs food, water, and shelter before moving on to the ego issues and eventually ‘self-actualization’. I think this must be true across the board, we all need these physical supports, but Linda, an English woman here says that the Africans state their needs differently.
Linda said in a survey they did, the Africans gave their needs as “God, love, and respect” even before the physical. That we as missionaries need to realize that.
Maybe we can actually learn from other cultures?
