Social reform does not change hearts, but it does save lives. It does protect people against injustice. It does aid in holding back evil.
Once upon a time, most people could not imagine a nation not built on stealing land and dominating and decimating it's native people. We called it "manifest destiny" and made it our spiritual obligation to bring our way of doing things to other lands and forcing it upon them. But a group of people were brave enough to fight for righteousness in the face of great opposition to change. Now most of us find this repulsive.
Prior to the abolition of slavery, most people could not imagine a society existing without our economic system being held up by the overt oppression of Black bodies. But a group of people were brave enough to fight for righteousness in the face of great opposition to change. Now most of our world finds chattel slavery abhorrent.
Prior to the dismantling of Jim Crow laws, most people could not imagine a society apart from this caste system we had created. But a group of people were brave enough to fight for righteousness in the face of great opposition to change. Now most of us find these types of laws and that type of behavior unimaginable.
Prior to de-segregation, most could not imagine a society where Black people are freely able to attend previously all white schools or live in previously all white neighborhoods. But a group of people were brave enough to fight for righteousness in the face of great opposition to change. Now most of us are repulsed by attempts to keep Black people, as well as any other ethnic group, out of any arena of American life.
But hearts are evil. Evil wants to hold power. So the evil of racism morphs, it finds more subtle ways to oppress, less overt ways to wield control, giving power to some groups and withholding it from others. We are, once again, standing at a juncture in our society where people are crying out to be heard - for justice to be given - for lives to be honored.
- Equal opportunities for quality education.
- Equal medical care.
- Equal treatment and sentencing when laws are violated.
- A restoration of at least some of what has been taken.
- An honoring of the land and heritage of Native Americans.
- Protection for people fleeing oppression.
- A justice system that is restorative, rather than punitive.
- A reformation within our policing that ends brutality and holds those that cross the line accountable.
- Ending a mass incarceration system that has destroyed countless lives and families.
- Ending a "war on drugs" that has intentionally targeted Black communities and poor communities.
- Abolishing systems that allow the oppression of those that believe, look, act, differently than those currently in power.
And once again, entirely too many of us cannot imagine a different way - "it has always been and always will be." Our imaginations are stunted by our comfort, by convenience, by false belief systems, by prejudice, by wealth, by ignorance, by fear, and sometimes by outright hate.
We cannot imagine a world where all children receive a top notch education.
We cannot imagine a world where people do not die for lack of basic medical care.
We cannot imagine a world that restores rather than punishing and oppressing.
We cannot imagine a way to repair what we have broken in our history as a nation.
We cannot imagine a way to treat the whole person, rather than punishing the results of trauma.
We have a long way to go in restoring what has been stolen from native peoples, in repenting, as a nation, for what we've done both here and abroad to generations of people that we perceived to be somehow less than, that we harmed in exchange for the almighty dollar. We have come a long way, but there is a long way still to go. There is much happening today in the realm of restoring justice, that our forefathers and mothers could not have begun to imagine - yet here we are. What could we imagine today that could change our children's and grandchildren's and great grandchildren's futures? What could we imagine that would someday save lives, heal families, restore generations?
This side of Jesus' return, things will never be perfectly as they should be, evil will continue to try and find new ways to assert it's ugly head, but may we never be willing to settle for injustice in our society simply because we cannot envision it being any better. I fear we have traded God-given and gifted imaginations toward a future that reflects His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, for a long list of stubbornly held doctrines and a false sense of "rightness." The false belief system that we cannot address this on a societal level has been proven wrong too many times. To keep touting these excuses goes against the very heart of God. Scripture is literally filled with God's hatred of injustice and oppression and His judgment came swiftly for ignoring it. He has called us to be agents of change for His Kingdom. Full stop.
I am thankful for a group of people brave enough to lead and speak and teach a better way, a more imaginative way, a more righteous way, still today. The white American Church has supported opposition to these new, imaginative ways in frightening numbers at every single era and every step toward change throughout our country's history and sadly, it appears to be the case still today. I pray this tide will begin to turn. I pray we will hear them. I pray we will seek to have greater imaginations for God to once again break in to our old ways of thinking and make a better way.
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If you're looking for a first step, I'd like to suggest beginning to follow a leader, pastor, author or activist on whatever social media platform you most frequent. Start by listening. Start today. If you're not ready to take a first step, seriously look inward and figure out why. Here are a few I follow or have read/listened to:
Latasha Morrison (founder of Be the Bridge - I cannot recommend this group on FB highly enough)
Jamar Tisby - The Color of Compromise
Esau McCaulley - Reading While Black
Austin Channing Brown - I'm Still Here
Kyle Howard (he is most active on Twitter)
Bernice King
Lisa Sharon Harper - The Very Good Gospel
Carlos Whittaker (he is most active on Instagram)
Carlos Rodriguez
Ibram X. Kendi - Stamped From the Beginning
Bryan Stevenson - Just Mercy
Ta-Nehisi Coates - Between the World and Me
Michelle Alexander - The New Jim Crow
Drew G. I. Hart - Trouble I've Seen
Ally Henny
Preemptive Love
Faith & Prejudice (a Facebook page that does a lot of faith-rooted education and advocacy)
Richard Rothstein - The Color of Law
David Swanson - Rediscipling the White Church (one of only two white people on my list, but a phenomenal teacher on discipling the white Church into a better understanding of the fullness of the Body of Christ.)
There are many, and I'm sure I've forgotten some important ones. Please feel free to add to my list in the comments.
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