From Ethnocentrism To Racism
How Can We Respond?
Over recent days, Esther’s and my hearts have been so saddened and burdened in seeing some very painful events unfold. We have grieved and wept many tears. How can we be a part of the solution instead of adding to a difficult, complex problem? How can we grow our understanding of this problem and relate in grace and love to those most impacted by it? How do we nurture healing instead of inflicting more hurt? Here are some thoughts to help us:
How do we respond to people who are different from us? As humans, we have an inborn inclination to like to be around those who are like us. We tend to most enjoy “our kind” of people. We so often see ourselves as having the most correct perspectives and the best ways to solve life’s problems. Our culture, our way of doing things, our view of the world around us is preferred because in our thinking we understand and do things in the best ways. These inborn responses, which are a part of every one of us are expressions of ethnocentrism, of seeing our culture and our way of life and our ethnicity as preferred. With pride, a little power, and a little money mixed in, we can easily embrace in subtle ways feelings of superiority, which means we’re better than them, which is an expression of racism. This happens when we think, “My people are better than yours.” Whether or not we acknowledge it, we all have this prideful bent within us because of our fallen nature.
What do we say about the death of George Floyd and other similar deaths which have occurred in recent months? And what do we say about the intentional killings of police officers, which are on the increase? Incidents like George Floyd have become all too common. What was done to Mr. Floyd was an expression of hatred and the abuse of power leading to the taking of his life. It should make us very sad, causing us to lament. God’s heart is grieved, and ours should be as well.
All of these killings, both of Mr. Floyd and others like him, and of police officers, be they black or white or of other ethnicities, are tragic. They are horrible expressions of depravity, of the fallen human condition of brokenness. They are heartbreaking and sad.
What is it like to be a minority in my country, in your country? More specifically, what is it like to be black in a white-dominated society? Here I lean on a dear brother in Christ with whom I’ve had a growing friendship now for over a decade. He is Dr. Mimsie Robinson, the missions pastor of Bethel Gospel Assembly, a large, predominantly Africa-American church in Harlem. Mimsie and I interact regularly and spent over an hour together by phone yesterday. Here’s what I learned from him:
- When there’s no place in America where he and others like him can feel safe, we are in a very troubled place as a nation.
- In wealthier predominantly white areas, when the police are called the response time is usually two to five times faster than it is in poorer, predominantly black communities.
- Mimsie is deeply concerned for the well-being of black males he cares about who are pulled over by police officers, especially white ones, for little if any reason. Are young black males often pulled over because of the distrust white police officers have toward blacks? There are too many cases where this is true. Mimsie’s fear is one wrong move or one minor infraction and more young black men could be shot. He and his family worry about this every day. They’ve taught their children to say “Yes, sir” and No, sir” and to keep their hands visible, on the wheel or dashboard at all times, to not resist a police officer in any way so as to keep their lives rather than risk having them senselessly snatched from them.
- Why is the prison population so disproportionately black, especially black men? A lot of it has to do with their lack of resources to get good attorneys to advocate for them. Too often the party with the most money gets the best attorneys and wins in court, even if they’re guilty. Most black men accused of a crime can’t get excellent attorneys to help them and this contributes to a huge inequity.
- Does a poor black man who is accused of a crime against a richer white person in rural Georgia or South Carolina or even Indiana have a chance for a fair trial?
- Why is it when Mimsie walks into a mall or large store, he is likely to be much more carefully scrutinized by white security personnel than white men in his season of life walking into that same mall or large store? This has happened to Mimsie over and over again.
- “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been treated differently, as ‘less than,’ because I’m black.”
My response to Mimsie was, “I don’t understand, and I can’t understand, because this has not been my reality. But I believe you when you tell me it’s your reality, and this makes me feel so sad.” For all of us, may Mimsie’s experiences and words help us see more clearly the ugliness of ethnocentrism leading to feelings of superiority and racism. Racism is a prideful, sinful expression of the inborn ethnocentrism with which we all struggle.
What is likely to happen when unregenerate (non-repentant) police officers are face-to-face in a conflict situation with unregenerate citizens? More specifically, what is likely to happen when unregenerate white police officers are face-to-face in a conflict situation with unregenerate people of other races, especially blacks?
This is a recipe for sadder and more overwhelmingly painful things to happen. This underlines and puts in bold print the great need of people’s hearts being transformed by the power of the gospel, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17).
What can we as an OMS family do?
- Make Jesus known. Share Christ with others. Declare with Paul, “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes . . . ” (Romans 1:16).
- Examine our hearts. Look at where we are individually and how we may be contributing to the problem. We don’t know it all and we all have blind spots. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
- Get out of our comfortable ethnic bubble to spend some time with others who are not like ourselves, listening to them and learning from them. Doing this may feel uncomfortable, but we need to do it. God can use it to help us become more self-aware of our own ethnocentrism and blind spots (cf. the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10).
- Walk in the Spirit. When we’re dominated by our flesh, sin reigns as we participate in hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions . . .” (Galatians 5:19-21). But when we live and walk in the Spirit, the Spirit’s fruit is expressed through our lives: “love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-26).
- Love our neighbor as ourselves. This is a command, not a suggestion from Jesus (Matthew 22:37). We can ask him to show us new ways to do this during this season. And we can by his grace at work within us love our neighbors who are very different from us.
- Understand the importance of resolving our struggle with ethnocentrism here before going to serve among other peoples. If we don’t address these behaviors and attitudes in our homeland, how can we go serve among other peoples?
- Pray for God’s just reign and rule to come, for the healing of our brokenness, and for more and more people to be transformed by the power of Christ. The weapon of prayer is powerful and effective (James 5:16b). This is about crying out to God for his help and restorative power to bring about changed lives leading to changed communities leading to changed nations. We cannot do this without him and his enablement. Only he can change our hearts.
From Ravi Zacharias:
“Our differences seem to lead us farther apart. Oh, Lord of miracles, do what only you can do to save us from ourselves. We shed another’s blood when we are without answers. You shed your blood as our only answer. We kill, buried in despair. You rise, giving us hope!”
-Bob Fetherlin, OMS Global President