I'm posting this without much thought. This may prove dangerous. I may add to it. I may delete it. Who knows...
I'm in a course all week learning about more computer stuff. At times I have to wait for things to happen so I did some surfing and was reading about a bloke in the NFL who was recently shot by an off-duty police officer, and is not doing too well at them moment (might be the three bullets they dug out of him).
Anyway, the claim from the police is the bloke was driving erraticaly, and to cut a long story short he was then followed, and in an exchange that followed was shot. The claim on the other side of the fence is he was targeted because he was black and had a great car - in other words, he could be a drug dealer or something bad at that's the only reason he was followed in the first place. In short, racial profiling. I make no comment on who I support in that specific story - I have no idea what went down and they accounts are so opposed it would be stupid to pick a side.
Now, I'm white, I'm 32, I live in Australia. I'm about the least likely to be racially profiled of just about any group. Therefore, I'm not sure I've ever really experienced it. Yet I want to say something on it anyway.
I HATE racial profiling.
It's everything a Christian should avoid. It cares nothing for who an individual is, and cares everything for a pre-conceived judgement. When I was in New York, Sharon and I dropped in to a factory outlet store near ground zero, where they had VERY expensive items at slightly less expensive prices. You know, $2,000 leather jackets for $1,700. That kind of thing. On the way out a white woman walked past the security guards with a store bag. They looked straight at her, looked at her bag and just let her through. Right behind her was a black 30-something guy. He also had the same bag. You can guess what happened to him. He's black. How could he afford a $2,000 jacket? That type of crap. I was appalled. It made me so angry (and believe me, the guy in question wasn't too happy either...)
So, you may be reading this, may even be getting a little frustrated yourself. Let me leave you with this question. Ever been on a train/bus/tram and a muslim man and woman in full muslim dress got on? Did you get uncomfortable? Even just for a moment? (I am ashamed to say I've caught myself doing that - but it taught me alot)
I hope you get what I'm getting at here. It's easy to be appalled by things like that story I gave about the black guy in New York (at least, I HOPE it is). But often we aren't immune to the prejudices that are relevant to issues in our own society - it gets into us through everything... Propaganda and prejudices are very easy to use to alter peoples' perceptions if we aren't careful. And at it's worst, there are a number of horrible examples in history about what that can lead nations to. Food for thought isn't it?
I guess that's what being "in the world but not of it" is all about.
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3 comments:
i have been thinking about this subject a bit myself recently. after moving into a neighbourhood when i am the minority, it makes you think. i have never been the minority in my life before. while hoping that i have never done anything that would be considered racist, i have, now, been subject to being on the receving end. not many times really. but the fact is that i am a 'whitey' living in a very non-white neighbourhood. when i say non-white, i actually mean a neighbourhood that has over 100 nationalities living in. there's not really a stand out nationality, so i guess that makes a lot of us in the minorty. a good thing on one hand. but then if we are all treated like minorities, maybe not. anyway, i could go on, but i won't. i'll just leave it with the thought that now i am a minority, again, you look at the issue with a whole new perspective.
Yo Nath.
Nice post. I agree with you. That stuff really stinks.
Is it something that's been on your heart lots and that you might start fighting for racial equality... or is it more of just an annoyance to you?
Well, it's been something that REALLY gets me worked up for years now. I get VERY angry about judgments made based on race. I mean PASSIONATELY angry. The injustices in history as a result of that kind of bigotry blow my mind.
The thing is I'm not sure what sort of 'crusader' I'd be. I mean, it's all well and good to get frustrated about it, but I'm not sure how much credibility it has coming from someone who in the main just isn't going to be prejudiced against much due to race. Maybe it lacks a little something... It's kind of like some of those filthy rich people crusading for the poor (not all of them - some still manage to have great credibility - but certainly a number of them don't...)
Does that make sense?
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