I encourage you reader, as you continue reading this article, strive to read it as if you were to with the eyes of a child. With eyes that see without preset ambitions and opinions. With eyes that long to see a world of peace.
Race has always been such a difficult topic for me to talk about. Honestly,  it may have been so difficult to discuss  because of the simple fact that as a  white, republican, christian, female, I worry that expressing my uncertainty around this topic would make me appear seemingly callus to the years of broken history my ancestors partook in. Additionally, I worry that in my ignorance around the injustices  that colored folks have experienced around the world, I would miscommunicate my intentions and be utterly crucified for it. However, I do find it comical that still, even in the first paragraph of this article, I have probably already sounded the alarms in your head.  “She is white and can’t possibly understand what it means to be oppressed” ,“ what about the white slavery in the mid 19th century” “white people cant be oppressed”, but let me stop you there.  I want you to recognize that first, it’s good to reflect on the thoughts rolling in your mind right now. But also we need to understand the basis behind these thoughts if we are going to do anything about our problems in the future.  Just be patient with me.
 
            The honest truth is I will never understand the depths of racism. Racism is an ever growing weed with a tap root planted deep within the core of humanity. Our need to see our self as god has led us to divisions in more ways even less visible than race. Look at your high school cafeteria for example, you got the jocks, populars, computer geeks, LGBTQ+, etc. With in these groups, we see relationships built not only on the things that we positively have in common but also with in the negative experiences we have in common. These groups however comfortable, endanger us to fall back on flawed preconceptions that we have already built towards those who have wronged us and/or are different to us.
News alert we are in a broken world. We all long to be heard, to be told that our suffering hasn’t gone un-notice. More than that we long to be accepted. So to find someone who looks like you, you have also found someone who can getyou. Hurt runs deep and it grows even deeper through the harsh words that we share of with in our groups. Gossip is so dangerous. Our desire to be heard, to be important, to be consoled has fixated our minds on a “here I am” point of view rather than a “there you are” one.
            We live in a world where we are so focused on our struggles that we fail to even sympathize with the people around us. Our problems are at the forefront. We fail to be the person we long to have console us. We are a world filled with a majority of people who are only willing to go half way. “Here I am” giving you a chance, “here I am” being hurt after trusting you, so “here I am” un-heard, hurt, oppressed and there for you should apologize to me. Rather than starting this way, could we start conversations with our minds realizing “there you are” hurting, in the mean time begin attempting to  fight the urge to compare their struggles with yours. “There you are” attempting to work this out with me. “There you are outraged”, but why? have we stopped to first understand their circumstances in order to explain their reaction or are we so focused on our experiences to explain why they did what they did? I am not saying the other person will always be right, I am saying they are human. No one has the right to say your hurting doesn’t matter because THIS is happening to me. We must lay down our hurt to realize their ignorance and harsh remarks may just be a product of this broken, biased world we live in.
            How I long for a world that is willing to fight the urge to be offended and rather longs to make those moments of offense into ones for lessons. I long for a people that know yes, there will be people that never change, but I am going to always choose not going to partake in that rivalry. It’s not a battle friends. To be equal is not to flip the table and repeat history making “foul good and good foul” (Shakespeare). To be equal is to be treated all like a human. What that looks like is not just all being able to have same job opportunities, rights etc but its also to be given the same right to be hurt. How shameful should you feel to look at a toddler and tell them “you have no right to cry just because you scraped your knee”. Yes their struggles seem incomparable to you in the sense that your scraped knee can be fixed with a bandaid where as the destruction of your marriage you have been piecing together with years of therapy. However, I think it is constructive to question why are we making it a competition? Your toddler is crying, your heart is broken. Why cant that just be it.
I AM HURTING.
We cant fix racism with a bandaid of “lets not see color” or “lets flip the tables” but we can try to fix it by beginning to act like we are actually equal.  We work towards equality by knowing we all have worth as a human but moreover, also understanding we all equally hurt each other. Equality is not a matter of getting even but becoming equally valuable. We need sympathy for the ignorant, for the persecuted and oppressed. These are are all things we are going to have to work to develop as a country. No more “here I am”, but begin with “there you are”.
            Sit with someone new. Ask them their point of views and question how they got there. Stop assuming you know how their mind operates before even getting to know them. Take it or leave it, I am just a child who longs for a world to come where there is no more guilt or shame. I know that kingdom is to come, and that its not possible in an imperfect world, but while I am here, I long to love the way Christ loves me and loves you who are reading this right now. He created you different in order to reflect who he is and that’s AMAZING!