They say it is better to turn on the light rather than to curse the darkness. But amidst the current unrest and rhetoric about racism, it seems we have trouble finding the switch to turn on the lights. I have debated whether I should say anything at all, as whatever I post will without doubt disappear amidst the current noise. Racism, pure and simple, stems from the belief or assumption that one’s own race is superior to another. In the previous century, we have seen where that can lead as a racist government in Germany sought to extinguish another race. And in North America, the violent 1960’s and 70’s seem to be re-appearing before our very eyes. And for those of us old enough to remember, the racial violence of the 60’s and 70’s disappeared but racism did not. It is like a wound of humanity that recedes but flares up again and again. So in Germany today we have “neo-nazis”, in other regions we have “ethnic cleansing”, and in North America, “white supremacists” have never really disappeared, and even appear under the guise of religion, which is something that I find particularly evil.
To really understand racism, it helps to experience what it feels like to be on the receiving end of racial discrimination. My three visits to Africa in the last 5 years have been interesting in that regard. For the first time in my life I was part of a “visible minority”. As a white person, I stuck out anywhere I went. For the most part, it was no big deal. But a few experiences stick out as either humorous or to put it mildly, interesting. In Cameroon, I was walking down a village street alongside a missionary, who was also white. We passed a large group of young children, who upon seeing us, began to shout, “White man! White man! White man with a long nose!” I was dumbfounded and so I said nothing. My colleague, who wasn’t experiencing this for the first time, said to the children that they should go home and have their parents teach them some manners!
Another time, in the town of Eldoret in Kenya, I was out shopping with a fellow pastor and friend who was black, and whom I got to know in Canada. At one point we needed to pick up his wife, who was inside a mall. Since it was hard to find parking, my friend pulled up beside the curb and sent me inside to fetch his wife, since she did not know where he would be parked. I did so, and as we walked the considerable distance to the car, I was conscious of many stares being fixed upon us. When we were inside the car, my friend explained to me what they were thinking – a young woman with an older man of a different colour – why that could only mean trouble. We laughed. Sort of.
On the campus of the college where I was teaching for three months in 2017 and 2018, I was the only white person. Since it was a Christian college, at no time did I feel looked down or discriminated against in any way. Teachers, whatever their skin colour are held in high regard in Africa and are treated with deference and respect. If anything, my skin colour resulted in other assumptions being made – that I was rich, and people were very eager to be my “friends”. But when I worshipped with these students and the other staff, I felt as one of them – except for the times that they forget that I was there and would lapse into the Swahili or some other tribal language.
Ah, and then there was apartheid in South Africa – the political and social system during the era of White minority rule, under which the people of South Africa were divided by their race and the different races were forced to live separately from each other. Nelson Mandela was instrumental in leading to the end of that system and that did not occur without struggle. I’ve never been to South Africa, but I have heard that while apartheid is gone as a system, old prejudices still survive.
Indeed, old prejudices are hard to eradicate. What helps? My advice is to interact with and get to know someone of a different race as a person. Learn to see this person not as a member of a different race, but simply as a fellow-human being. If you do this in a true spirit of humility and openness, you will find that God created only one type of human being. The skin colour may be different, but essentially, we are all the same, created in the image of God and therefore entitled to dignity, respect, and worthy to be treated with kindness.