August 25, 2014
Desegregating Ourselves
On Saturday, I marched with a couple thousand others through Staten Island. People of every race from all over New York City marched peacefully against police brutality and on behalf of Eric Garner and all the other black men who have died tragically in recent years. Garner was killed last month when the police held him in an illegal chokehold.
My own interactions with police have been mostly traffic-related and pretty uneventful. I didn’t go because I personally feel like I am the victim of discrimination. In fact, I don’t really like protesting all that much. This is a problem that would be easy for me to ignore.
But I’ve learned that the recent killings of young black men are signs of a deep and ongoing discrimination and injustice, and I know this only because I’ve heard it from others who have experienced it.
We’ve all heard that Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America, but the problem is larger than this. According to a recent study, a white person's social network on average consists of 1% black, 1% Hispanic, 1 % Asian or Pacific Islander, 1%, and 1% other race.
I’m Hispanic on my father’s side, but my current social network is pretty white. Fortunately, my pastor has been reaching out to other, diverse communities. We were invited to the march by an interfaith social justice organization called Faith in New York.
As followers of Christ, we are called to go beyond our social networks. Jesus left his home. He mingled with Samaritans and the outcast and oppressed. The least we can do is reach out to those of different races, to listen to their experiences and take them seriously.
Twitter has been a good resource to help me understand the experience of black Americans. If you’re on Twitter, I recommend following Gene Demby (@geedee215) of NPR and Broderick Greer (@broderickgreer), a young, outspoken seminarian for a start.
More importantly, we can connect with faith communities that are different from ourselves. I am sure there are congregations in your town made up of people of other races. Reach out to them. Do what you can to connect and listen to them.
This is especially important for those of us who are privileged by our race, class, gender or sexual orientation. I know it is not always easy to reach across color and economic lines, but a shared faith can be a point of connection. It might be easy for us to remain complacent, but Christ calls us to be better than that.
Look around at the people you know. Are they all the same race and class? If so, it’s time to go beyond the comfortable walls of our churches.
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