George Floyd and a faithful, helpful Christian Response
When I saw the video of George Floyd been murdered brutally last, I knew I couldn’t keep silent. I still believe that. A disciple of Christ does not only have a pastoral obligation but also a prophetic one. That includes condemning acts of injustice as such and to do so vocally. So, I don’t regret that I wasn’t silent when George Floyd was murdered. As a matter of fact, I regret my silence and my being oblivious of it when so many before him has died and were discriminated against.
But I do regret my point of entre in my response to his murder. See, I started at pointing to Chauvin, the cop responsible and his accomplices. I started also, by pointing fingers at the US president who as a matter of habit makes divisive, discriminatory, and even racist language the daily norm. Although I do believe what I said was true and needed to be said, I think I needed to start at a different point.
I realized this when watching a video of the protests in Miami, and how the police their wrote a different story. They knelt in solidarity. In stead of defending themselves and distinguishing themselves, they choose to stand in solidarity with the people affected most. They choose to say sorry and, in that way, acknowledged that the problem of racism is a systemic one and one we all contribute to. A problem that we therefore all need to solve together. When I look at other protests across America, I feel anger and sadness and rightfully so. When I look at this Miami protest action there is an extra ingredient with the anger and sadness. The ingredient of hope for a better future.
So, here is where I should have started. Not by pointing a finger but by confessing. Confessing how by the age of 12 I assumed it my divine right to speak to the black woman working for us as though I was her superior. How I often accused her of stealing my stuff simply when I couldn’t find it. How I simply paid no attention to the fact that she got up at 4 to catch a bus to our residence in a white suburb. How I arrogantly told my family one day, that “I have no problem with blacks, as long as they stay under whites”. My father then sat my down and asked my if I think God would agree with me. That question was the beginning of the long slow process of dismantling my racist thinking that continues to this day. I realized that God indeed disagree with my racist thinking. Eventually, I would stand in a cell in Johannesburg where Winnie Mandela was held. As I stood in that broom closet sized cell and later on hector Peterson Square and in the Apartheids museum looking at Nelson Mandela leaning on a spade in the garden he was forced to work in at Robin Island, I realized there was a side to Apartheid I never saw and benefitted from unjustly. Experiences like this changes one. That and God’s grace and forgiveness.
Looking back, by grace there sure is some distance between this younger, immature version of me and the man I am today. I have been outspoken against racism to the point where I got death threats in South Africa. More importantly, I build bridges across racial lines wherever I ministered. I even once played a pivotal role in getting a black child proper schooling and I help support a black Pastor in South Africa. And yet, still I find these slippery slopes in my thinking where I easily revert back to racist patterns of thinking. Sometimes I am plain oblivious and live happily within the assumed norm of whiteness. Other times I conveniently steer away from conflict by staying passive and silent when there is racism.
I was saved by God from my blindness when it comes to racism. But I am also still being saved from it by his grace. When it comes to racism, as follower of Jesus, we have two kinds of obligations. A prophetic one and a pastoral one. The prophetic obligation involves not staying silent in the face of racism. Call it out and publicly show solidarity with the victims of it. It helps victims. This needs to be complimented by the pastoral obligation. To really listen to the experiences and stories of the victims and even the perpetrators. To pray, to encourage, to reach out across racial lines and live an alternative story. Ironically, proper prophetic action flows over into pastoral engagement and good pastoral engagement in itself becomes powerful prophetic actions.
How to strike a proper balance between the two, is something I am still figuring out. For instance, I wonder about social media. On the one hand it is a helpful platform and a modern day “marketplace” we dare not stay absent from. On the other hand, we should keep our engagement on social media in check. Does it represent the sum of our engagement on issues of justice, or is it complimented by local engagement and financial support as well? Does the social media interactions we engage in function as a catalyst for conversations on local level or does it in fact drain all the energy we have and keep the issues from being addressed where we could do most about them, namely, at the local neighbourhood level? There is nothing sadder than an armchair activist that is passive in his own neighbourhood.
As far as neighbourhood involvement goes, here are a few ideas I dreamed up. Pay attention to who is a ethnic minority where you live. Intentionally befriend a person from that group whether by supporting the person’s business, attending a community event that person attends or striking up a conversation whilst waiting for your children. Beware of using the person as a token relationship you use to be seen as virtuous. To prevent this, don’t tell people about this relationship until such time you think of this person more of as your good friend than your black/special needs/minority friend. Secondly read the experiences of those who suffered under racism and other forms of discrimination and tell people around you about the book. Become aware off and reflect on the things you assume. Develop the ability to “catch” yourself having biased views and superior attitudes when it comes to your own culture. Give a friend that is further along the road than you permission to hold you accountable and even to call you out, when they see such behaviour emerge. Thirdly work on some kind of project of mutual interest. Nothing dissolves racism quicker than spending time and working alongside people from different backgrounds and ethnicities than you.
We live in tumultuous times. Racial tension flares just south of the border. Uncertainty prevails on so many levels. But the love and grace of Jesus could make the church experience what the Doctor in Camus’s The Plague articulated so beautifully:
“In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realized, through it all, that in the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, there is something stronger-something better, pushing right back”
Camus’s “something” is to me a Someone. Jesus conquering in me and through me with others.
Gabriel J Snyman
June 2nd 2020