By Ezekiel Kimosop
The heinous murder of African American George Floyd by a Caucasian police officer on a Minneapolis street on 25th May 2020, has ignited global outrage that saw violent protests and continued global media coverage that has temporarily overshadowed reports on the COVID 19 pandemic.
The incident also sparked hot debates on online platforms, especially on Facebook regarding "black on white" racism in America and Europe. For the Christian community, this incident has ushered in a time for sober reflection on this problem. How should Christian respond to racism? Should we condemn it openly? What does Scripture reveal on racism?
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON RACISM IN AMERICA
In order to make a sound evaluation of this vice, it is important to appreciate the history of Black racism in America.
Racial segregation and discrimination is not a new phenomenal in American society. It perhaps predates the American independence in 1776. Before European settlers set foot in America, Red Indians and other natives lived in the expansive "new world". Within decades, these communities declined and faded away.
The native communities faced all manner of systematic injustices, including repression, land confiscation and limited access to state amenities. They were finally driven into native reserves that still exist today.
According to Wikipedia, Racism in the United States has existed since the colonial era, when white Americans were given legally or socially sanctioned privileges and rights while these same rights were denied to other races and minorities.
European Americans—particularly affluent white Anglo-Saxon Protestants—enjoyed exclusive privileges in matters of education, immigration, voting rights, citizenship, land acquisition, and criminal procedure throughout American history. Non-Protestant immigrants from Europe, particularly the Irish, Poles, and Italians, often suffered xenophobic exclusion and other forms of ethnicity-based discrimination in American society until the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In addition, groups like Jews and Arabs have faced continuous discrimination in the United States, and as a result, some people who belong to these groups are not identified as white. African Americans faced restrictions on their political, social, and economic freedom throughout much of US history. Native Americans have experienced genocide, forced removals, massacres, and discrimination.
Historically, Hispanics have also experienced continuous racism in the US. Additionally, South, Southeast, and East Asians have also been discriminated against. Pacific Islander Americans also experience discrimination and marginalization.
This historical and existential reality cannot be overlooked. It should be acknowledged as a basis for addressing the wrongs.
I have come across Christians on Facebook who seek to belittle the Black racism debate. Yes it is a sin, an abomination before God and for which the perpetrators will be held accountable by God.
Meanwhile, justice for victims requires a systematic, coherent and comprehensive, legal and policy reform framework which is currently unavailable. Black racism is real, identifiable, and worthy of condemnation. However it needs practical resolution.
So what should inform our reaction to the current racism debate, and indeed any other forms of racial discrimination?
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATIONS
In the Bible, there are several descriptions of racial or near racial acts or events. In Genesis 43:32, Joseph was segregated from his Egyptian hosts during meals. The Bible is explicit on the racial attitudes held by the Egyptians. : "...Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians."
Joseph perhaps didn't have issues about eating with Egyptians. After all he was a senior official in Pharaoh's courts. The source of this racial segregation can be rightly attributed to the dominant Egyptian society. There's something about a dominant community developing racial or ethnic overtones against minorities even in a Christian society.
The Egyptians disliked the Jews. No reasons are given at this point for this racial animosity. It was possibly by reason of skin color and culture distinctions. It may also have had to do with historical conflicts between the two communities.
In Genesis 34, we learn that when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite defiled Dinah, Jacob's only daughter by Leah, her brothers Simeon and Levi plotted a revenge plan against the Hivites. The violence against the Hivites was partly motivated by their racial hatred for this Canaanite community. The Hivites, like many Canaanites, never circumcised their males. The consequences of this cultural animosity resulted in a catastrophe.
In the New Testament Scripture, a number of incidents depict racial discrimination and disparities in varying degrees.
During Jesus' earthly ministry, Jews would travel a longer route to Galilee in the North in order avoid the Samaritans, a community considered by Jews as an impure race. Historical sources reveal that Jews never greeted Samaritans because they considered them an abomination of sorts. They completely isolated themselves from them. They never intermarried.
Jesus' discourse with the Samaritan woman in John 4 reveals the deep seated racial hatred between Jews and Samaritans. Jesus confronted this animosity and won converts among the Samaritans.
In Acts 6:1-4, we learn that the Grecian widows were discriminated against during food distribution in the Jerusalem church. This incident was possibly motivated by racial and ethnic distinctions.
In Galatians 2:11-21, Paul rebuked Peter when he refused to eat with Gentile believers in the presence of the Jewish delegation from James, yet he had been eating with them before these men arrived. Even Barnabas, a close companion of Paul, temporarily took sides with Peter!
Racial discrimination and injustices are therefore captured in the pages of Scripture. These incidents are meant to convey to us moral lessons on the ungodliness and evils associated with racial discrimination.
The Bible is explicit that believers are one in Christ irrespective of their racial distinctions. Jesus broke the barrier between Gentiles and Jews through His shed blood. Ephesians 2:14-18 says "For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father."
Once the world of separation was broken by Christ, all the Gentile races and tongues of the earth received the invitation to come to Christ. This introduced a new paradigm, a platform under which racial segregation or distinction was abolished by God in Christ.
Scripture resolutely affirms in Galatians 3:28 which says: "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."
CONCLUSION
Racism is therefore an abomination before God. We should openly condemn racial or ethnic discrimination of a people, wether or not they are Christians. We should also take the gospel to all people irrespective of race or color. The Christian community should lead by example in embracing people of all races, colors or ethnic distinctions.
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