I just watched three re-runs of The Cosby Show. I know I am going to sound like I am 98 instead of 38 but I miss the days of good, funny, wholesome TV shows. The one episode I watched showed the family at their college where Claire got to lead the college choir. They sang Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God. The college didn't get sued by the ACLU. The second episode showed a family dinner, including grandparents. It sure didn't resemble an episode of Family Guy. The third episode I watched showed the family dealing with normal family issues: sibling rivalry, bad grades, etc. However, just as the family walks into their living room still squabbling, the TV is playing the speech of Martin Luther King Jr. The family stops to listen and in doing so forgets their silly struggles.
In my lifetime - and I am not THAT old - I have watched the rapid moral decline of society. In many ways, we are much worse than we were even when I was a teenager. However, this weekend I was encouraged as I heard my pastors speak on racial reconciliation from the pulpit.
With mixed emotions, it made me think of my dear friend Mo, who went to be with Jesus just a few months ago. I was sad due to missing him. I was sad that I couldn't call him and rejoice with him that decades of prayer were finally being answered. But I was happy and I was grateful. I am grateful for all he taught me.
During the years of our friendship and his spiritual mentoring, he taught me about "institutional racism". It's not the same outspoken racism like that seen in the KKK. This is a subconcious racism that is inbred in us and we don't even know it.
He would ask me questions such as: "if you are walking down the street at night and you see a guy who is poorly dressed and looks like trouble, would you be more scared if he was black?" An honest person would have to say yes. Or consider the local case of Michael Ellerbe. A 12 year old was with his friends as they attempted to steal a car. When the cops came, the boy ran. The cops shot him and killed him. Now I don't condone stealing a car. But here is a question... if Michael Ellerbe had been a blonde hair, blue eyed white boy, would the cops have been so quick to pull the trigger?
Mo used to call me out when I would unknowningly make a racist remark. I once told him that his father in law did not act like a black person. What is a black person supposed to act like? Do all white people act the same?
I am also grateful for the education Mo gave me. The education I should have received in school but did not. Mo gave me books, movies, documentaries, and music that taught me what my high school history class should have. Oh I learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. I learned about Rosa Parks. But it stopped there. Why didn't my teacher tell me about Emmitt Till? A young black boy who said hello to a white woman as he passed her in a store. Folks were so appalled that a black boy would speak to a white woman. They beat him to death, put his body in a bag and tossed it in the river. Or how about the lynchings that took place? People were burned to death for no reason other than the color of their skin. Why were these stories not in my history books? I did pose this question to one of my former teachers and they responded with yet another racist statement: we don't teach black history, we teach American history. HELLO!!!!!! It was done by Americans on American soil - that makes it American History. I think the real answer is that we want to hide our dirty laundry.
People have frustrated me for so long because they don't want to learn. Ignorance is bliss and so they would rather not know. After all, there are much more pleasant and positive things to talk about.
I believe learning these things is crucial to racial reconciliation. I know this generation did not bring the slaves from Africa. Most of my generation was not alive or very young during the Civil Rights movement. However, how can we become reconciled and become a diverse church and a diverse culture if we do not seek to understand each other? My understanding is not a clear as it should be, but it is much better than before my friendship with Mo. He taught me to at least attempt to see things from another perspective.
For instance, this president. I do not like Obama. In the words of MLK, I dislike Obama not because of the color of his skin but because of the content of his character (or lack thereof). However, I clearly understand and rejoice with the black community that a black man is capable of being elected. When Mo was young, he watched his own father speak to his family and say "this country will never allow a black man to be president." I am thankful that Mo got to see his father proved wrong. My prayer is for a GODLY president no matter his color, but I still understand their joy.
One of the things my pastors said this weekend was that we should seek to get to know and understand each other. Mentoring has helped me with this. Rashawnda introduced me to greens. I introduced her to pierogies. When I say I am going to get my hair done, I mean I am going to Super Cuts and I will be out in 20 minutes. When Rashawnda is getting her hair done, she is busy for the day.
Learning about each other and enjoying our differences is the first step in racial reconcilation. So even though I lament that Family Guy is a more accurate picture of reality today than The Cosby Show, I am thankful that we are taking a step in the right direction. It's just the beginning. So much more could have been said in that sermon. But I understand that the Gerber version was needed for folks who have never approached the subject.
After reading the books Mo gave me, I had a dream. Just like MLK I had a dream that this knowledge would spread to every ignorant ear and that this message would be preached from church pulpits. God is beginning to make our dreams a reality. And I hope that by the time I reach the Pearly Gates, I will have left a better earth than MLK and even a better earth than Mo left.
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