Not Guilty?
It’s been almost a week since the Trayvon Martin verdict was read. George Zimmerman and his family breathed a sigh of relief when they heard the word “Not Guilty.” I’m ashamed to admit that when I first heard the news I breathed a sigh of relief- NOT because I was hoping Zimmerman would be acquitted or necessarily found guilty but because now the trial could be OVER and we could go back to our daily lives.
Shame on me. I’m GUILTY of failing to see that while I went back to my daily life, millions of people cannot go back to their daily lives because that verdict freed a fear that will continue to haunt and plague our nation. The reality is that there are people today who cannot wear a hoodie in public without the fear of being shot. I have NEVER thought twice before putting on a hoodie at night, why? Because I happened to born with white skin and live a life of privilege that I’m blissfully unaware of 99% of the time. While I continue to live in ignorance, there are people today who cannot be in certain parts of town at certain times of the day without being stopped, questioned, or even attacked because their skin is a different color than mine. There are people today who cannot drive a car or go through an airport security checkpoint without an ever-present awareness of racial profiling being the reason they are pulled over and patted down. There are people whose entire lives, from the moment of their birth are different because of the color of their skin.
Why? Because we fear what we don’t know, we fear that which is different from “us.” Why was this young man killed? Because it’s easier to pick up a gun than pull up a chair and get to know the person under the hoodie. So what’s the answer? What do we do now?
1 John 4:18 says that perfect love casts out fear. If we can learn to love with Christ’s perfect love, then fear cannot and will not keep us from truly living as brothers and sisters in Christ, from truly LOVING as brothers and sisters in Christ. How do we love with a perfect love? I’m not entirely sure, but I think Jesus was onto something when he told us we won’t enter heaven unless we become like children. Last month, Cheerios put out a commercial that starred a biracial child and some unloving, fearful people threw a fit. When a group of kids saw the commercial there was no anger, no complaint. Check it out on youtube:
Everyone saw the biracial Cheerios commercial, but kids saw it differently
They didn’t see a problem with the color of the child’s skin. They saw themselves in that child, they saw their story in that child, the same way Obama saw his story intersect with Trayvon’s when he acknowledged that, “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.” What would happen if we left our guns at home and instead took an open mind with us when we saw people in our community. What if, like a child, instead of being fearful or hateful of those who are different from us, we reached out to them and LISTENED to their story? What if we didn’t look away or walk to the other side of the street when someone “unknown” came our way? What if, instead, we looked up and smiled? What if we dared to say, “hello” and start a conversation? What might happen? What if we stood up to racism in our nation, in our neighborhoods, in ourselves? Love might be perfected just a little bit more in us, in all of us.. and maybe, just maybe we might help usher in the kingdom of God on earth- a kingdom that’s longing to break in upon the heartache of so many in our midst. Just the midnight ramblings of a pastor feeling the pain of the world in a more acute way tonight…