America on the Brink

Even though President Obama clearly and forcefully articulated his faith in Jesus Christ and was a baptized Christian, he was often called a Muslim. Although he was a happily married man and committed father who conducted himself with class and dignity, he was called names like ape, baboon, monkey, and yes, the “N” word. He was criticized for being too intellectual and for race baiting when he spoke the truth about the racial realities emerging everywhere around him and the country. Signs, jackets, and posters saying things like “let’s keep the White House white” were proudly worn. To our dismay, many white Evangelical and even some mainline Christians went out of their way to support the obstructionist efforts of the Republican lead house and senate and rarely had a positive word to say about this black Christian man. Worse yet, as the uglier and more violent forms of racial hatred paraded the streets, white evangelical leaders looked the other way and did not expose, rebuke, and use their moral authority to challenge these things. After Obama’s two terms, then came Donald Trump and a wave a white backlash still being felt in communities everywhere. In 2020, the signs of racial hatred’s emergence abound. Marches in cities and communities, signs with racist messages and racial epithets litter the national landscape, and video evidence of white Americans openly expressing racial animus and, in some cases, resorting to violent against persons of color inundate social media and the news. Countless numbers of lives had been and were being lost at the hands of white Americans drunk on the wine of racial hatred - Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Freddie Gray, Samuel DuBose, Walter Scott, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Alton Sterling, Ahmad Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. These are but a few names of person’s lives lost during a very troubling recent period in our history. In addition to these popular killings, many African Americans were being subjected to verbal violence and other discriminatory practices as emboldened “Tea Party” and “Trump supporting” whites attempt to take their country back and make it great again. Blacks are profiled by the police and now more whites call the police on black patrons in stores, restaurants, and hotels, having them kicked out and arrested for no reason. There are increasing incidents of blacks being arrested in their homes under suspicion of being criminals. Black people today are under assault and the leaders and friends who spent decades talking about forgiveness, racial reconciliation, and a new future supported the very practices that supported evils in the past. Scores of white Christians refused to speak out against slavery and segregation, evils that caused great suffering and death. Now scores of white Christians today are doing the exact same thing. They are even willing to support a leader who regularly says racially insensitive things and engages in dog whistling. In addition to this, many white Christians and churches continue to believe and falsely claim America does not have a race problem. Worse yet, instead of being agents of challenge and change, mostly bury their head in the sand and do nothing, a response that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. mentioned decades earlier in his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail .

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