I have a confession; in spite of striving to be equally loving to all, I have let negative broadcast news about black on black and black on white violence affect my perspectives to some degree. My conscious mind reasons that there are people who do bad things in every racial group, just as there are good people of every race. I have been taught that God loves us all as God’s children. A bias must have seeped into my subconscious. I know this because the phrase Black Lives Matter has never sat comfortably in my thoughts. There was always ‘push back’ in my brain, “Why should Black lives be singled out? Every race matters! Law enforcement lives matter! ALL LIVES MATTER!”
There was violent racial unrest in Kenosha in August after a police shooting. It was a shock! How could this happen in my city? Clearly, it can happen when Black and brown and Asian and non-Christian and poor people are treated like they have less worth for decades, for centuries! When the majority seems to wish that all the minorities would just go away, disappear.
I had an epiphany. Unless, I can whole heartedly say that “Black lives matter”, as much as my own life matters, as much as friends’ and family’s lives matter, as much as I say that I believe we all matter to God, then I don’t really believe that ALL LIVES MATTER! I have become more comfortable with Black Lives Matter and I pray that God will help me to weed out every bias and value all people as I should.
There was violent racial unrest in Kenosha in August after a police shooting. It was a shock! How could this happen in my city? Clearly, it can happen when Black and brown and Asian and non-Christian and poor people are treated like they have less worth for decades, for centuries! When the majority seems to wish that all the minorities would just go away, disappear.
I had an epiphany. Unless, I can whole heartedly say that “Black lives matter”, as much as my own life matters, as much as friends’ and family’s lives matter, as much as I say that I believe we all matter to God, then I don’t really believe that ALL LIVES MATTER! I have become more comfortable with Black Lives Matter and I pray that God will help me to weed out every bias and value all people as I should.