#neverforget

I received a response from a reader of the last newsletter, who we will call “John”, that confirmed my comments about the psychology of victimization:

“David, what is the mission you have been called to…to get back at a few thousand worthless dead white men who wrongfully hurt generations of slaves and near slaves…or to further the Message of Christ? Doing both is incompatible with the latter and is promoting hate, division, and tribalism.”

Victim blaming comes in many forms and is often subtler and more unconscious than the perpetrator recognizes. As a general rule, Americans have a hard time believing that bad things happen to good people. People tend to default to victim-blaming thoughts and behaviors as a defense mechanism.

There’s just a strong need to believe that we all deserve our outcomes and consequences irrespective of the inputs. This desire to see the world as just and fair may be even stronger among Americans, raised in a culture that promotes the American Dream and the idea that we all control our destinies.

Holding victims responsible for their misfortune is partially a way to avoid admitting that something just as unthinkable could happen to you—even if you do everything “right.”

The Bible tells us, “[God] makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45).

Blaming the victim is an unfortunate instinct among some conservative evangelicals. A recent poll showed that Christians are more than twice as likely to blame people’s challenges on a lack of effort than on difficulties beyond their control.

The hashtag “neverforget” was used all last week as we remembered the 20th anniversary of 9/11. A horrific event where America lost 3,000 lives. We remember and never forget in hopes that the past actions will inform choices of future actions. We remember because the lives lost were someone’s wife, husband, brother, sister, mother, and father. In other words our family, friends, our loved ones.

In “John’s” comments, there is an assumption that bad actors against People of Color are a thing of the past. And we should forget the past and move on. He and others fail to see that what is and has been experienced is deep and personal to People of Color as history is repeating itself.  At the center of most actions against People of Color today are, again, White individuals who publicly profess to being Christians.

When sharing this story with a friend, she asked the question, “Why are we simultaneously encouraged to ‘move on from the past when it comes to other great American tragedies, like the genocidal erasure of Indigenous peoples, or the horrific violence against Black people from chattel slavery through Jim Crow?” She followed with, “Selective memory, in this case, is easy to explain on one level. Tragedies we externalize and blame outsiders allow us to keep this country’s historical violence against people of color at arm’s length. It also allows us to maintain a narrative of American exceptionalism and American innocence.”

If “John” had taken the time to first get to know me, rather than responding from a position of assumed privilege, he would have learned that I, as a person with long-term, loving relationships with many White friends and family would never promote hate and division.

In my writing, I reference issues with passages that compel God’s people to confront their uncomfortable realities of sin and brokenness in our world. My entire platform is about unity in the body of Christ. My heart’s desires are those of God’s heart, to treat everyone with dignity and live out Scripture as an example to a watching world.

It is painful and exhausting to always make conversations about the uncomfortable treatment you have experienced, as a person of color, feel comfortable and not offend anyone.

History is informative to the potential of future actions.  If we sanitize or ignore history, we are bound to repeat it. And we don’t have to go back to slavery. Let’s start at 1944; the compounding effect of the GI Bill will be inclusive of every living person. The financial crisis has never ended in black neighborhoods. Generations of families have been torn apart because someone looked a certain way. Communities became redlined and the path for highways connecting suburbs to cities. And schools needed to be created to protect the little White girls from the “overly sexual” Black boy.

What that timeframe showed us were patterns of behaviors repeated from slavery’s view of people of color. Today, we continue to see the patterns of behavior that continue that mentality.

Patterns of behavior identify our sinful nature and true beliefs. Some want to select sins they feel don’t challenge them and forget Romans 1:29-31 sins. The need to control people, the belief of superiority, assuming we are better than others, deciding who belongs in our neighborhood, and supporting false narratives about a group of people (lying) fall into the Scripture’s list.

We tend to think like the Disciples who wanted to prioritize the commandments. Scripture teaches us that when Jesus heard them prioritizing, He instructed them to focus on loving God and loving their neighbor as themself. Everything else would take care of itself.

When we love the people and hate the sin, love, grace, and mercy are at the forefront of everything we do or say. It’s not a political agenda but can sometimes be seen as political when biblical truths are antithetical to one’s political views and self-interest.

I speak to people’s actions through the lens of Scripture. It’s because I love you that I lift up areas that the enemy has convinced you are “ok” or “not that bad.” I want us to get our truth back.

I will summarize the original comments with the words of David Leong, “Christian memory dares to imagine a place where swords are turned into plowshares, and the lion and the lamb dwell together in peace. Christians long for a time when people no longer study war, and the most vulnerable among us are more than an afterthought in our rearview mirror. To realize this vision in the present will require us to reimagine our selective memories and recover a sense of collective history. If we can face who we have been and who we have become, we may begin to see our past and ourselves in a new light.”

Rest in the promises of the scriptures and know that God is in control. Whatever uncertainty lies ahead, can all fall at the feet of Jesus.