I don't know what to say...
I don’t know what to say. I haven’t known what to say so I’ve stayed silent. But that’s part of the issue. Silence. The silence of watching something wrong and not saying or doing anything.
Silence allows things to happen; it keeps things in the dark. The silence of the officers that watch their colleague take the life of a man; regardless of what he allegedly did or didn’t do. “Innocent until proven guilty.” Not “Guilty until proven innocent.” It breaks my heart that we’re still fighting this. It goes to show that as the bible says, it’s not a battle against flesh and blood (against any man) but it’s spiritual. But the bible also says that every knee will bow at the name of Jesus. That includes the evil of racism.
Racism exists. In every culture, not just white. It’s real in the Latino community with well-known and old school sayings like “pa mejorar la raza” (to make the race better) when someone is dating a lighter skinned person, or “pelo malo” (bad hair) referring to curly hair as opposed to straight. Now these aren’t seen as evil or obviously racist, especially when you hear it all the time, but what they are saying is simply that white is better. I personally never said these things and never agreed with them but my silence permitted others to say it. It’s crazy because the only difference is where the boats came from, Europe or Africa. There are afro-Latinos and white Latinos, neither are more or less Latino and neither are better or worse than the other. Just the same as the U.S., the only difference is the melanin in our skin.
So, what am I saying? I’m looking at myself. Looking at my family, people of Latino heritage, people not of Latino heritage, to be honest. With themselves, with the sayings, with our biases and ask God to search our hearts and minds and to shine his light in the darkest spots.
Where can I start? What can I do? I can start with myself, with my home, with my family, with my friends and allow God to transform our hearts and renew our minds.
Let’s pray for the nation, for our leaders. Pray for our family, for strangers. For those who agree with us and those who don’t, our friends and our enemies. For the Lord to break our hearts for what breaks his.
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
This is my promise, I will try my best, I will speak up for you, I will stand with you, I will pray for and with you. I may not always get it right but help me learn. I see you but help me see more. You matter and I will no longer be silent.