Introduction
Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as racism. Because there is no such thing as race. Or, more strictly speaking, there is only one race – the human race. Every tribe, tongue, and nation traces its roots back to Adam. He is the father of us all, and so we belong to the same human family tree. The branches are different sizes, and the leaves are different colors, but the same trunk supports each of them.
This truth is important to keep in mind when arguing with evolutionists, but it can get in the way when talking about racism.
When reasonable people decry racism today, they are using imprecise language. But they are not speaking nonsense. Profitable dialogue always requires us to move beyond words to real things. Needless wrangling about definitions is easy and sinful (2 Tim. 2:14) when used as a technique to avoid dealing with real issues.
When most people speak of racism today, they mean the (very real) prejudice that some people have toward different ethnicities. That’s how I will use the term in this article.
Introduction, Part 2 – Staying on Topic Is Not a Human Strength
The death of George Floyd sent billions of words to flight through media and social media in a chaotic swirl of darting, sometimes dive-bombing, sentiments. Emotions are high; intelligibility is low. It would be nice if they flew in formations that a person could identify and follow, but that kind of bird is rarely seen among word-fliers these days.
To change the metaphor, if we are going to think profitably through this tragedy, we must collect our thoughts in at least three distinct buckets. I urge you to limit yourself to one at a time to avoid making a mess on the floor.
First Bucket – George Floyd
The facts here are rather straightforward. A man is dead and a police officer has been charged for his death. There is a video of the encounter and witnesses of the whole thing. And (importantly!) there is a legal process in place to handle everything from the investigation to the trial to the punishment (assuming it’s warranted).
In terms of justice, George Floyd’s skin color and ethnic background are irrelevant. In terms of motivation, the police officer’s “racial” intent is unknowable and irrelevant. If the officer broke the law, he should be punished accordingly for illegally killing a human being created in the image of God. If the police department has become a culture of bad policies, bending the rules, or turning a blind eye to infractions, then a wholesale review and housecleaning is in order. This is true regardless of the “race” of the victims or the races of “bad cops.”
If we make any of this about the color of Floyd’s skin, we are no longer talking about justice, but about politics, history, agendas, etc. God judges every man, without partiality, according to his deeds (Rom. 2:9-11). Human justice must hold to the same standard.
Second Bucket – Riots Are Not About Racism
Anyone who defends the looters and rioters is opposed to justice. It doesn’t matter what motivation is claimed, the destruction of property is illegal. Every mask-wearing, paint can-spraying, brick-throwing, window-smashing hoodlum is breaking the law and deserves to be punished. A person killed by a rioter is the victim of injustice, just as Floyd appears to have been. In this case, the rioter and the killer-cop are of the same spirit.
If you care about justice, you want every looter and rioter to be punished to the full extent of the law. If you defend or minimize them, you may care about vengeance, but you don’t care about justice. However, vengeance is not the prerogative of humans, it belongs to God alone: “’Vengeance is Mine, I will repay’, says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19). Justice does belong to humans (Mic. 6:8), and we should want it applied equally to both cop and thug. If you are more outraged at the illegal death of George Floyd than the illegal aftermath that follows, you are not a person concerned with justice.
The things in this bucket need to be examined on their own and not dumped in with the death of George Floyd. They are unrelated.
Third Bucket – Racism
But none of this means that there is no such thing as racism (as I’m using the term) in police departments or, for that matter, in other life departments. And here is where I think we can focus too much on words and not enough on things.
It’s not odd for a black person to watch the video of George Floyd and have a visceral response different from mine. I see an armed man, possessing the legal authority to use force against other people, kneeling on the neck of a man who doesn’t appear to be doing anything that warrants it. If I were a black man who had personally experienced prejudice in the past, I would see a cop keeling on the neck of a black man who doesn’t appear to warrant it. It would be virtually impossible not to.
I recently heard a black pastor recounting how his mother had been turned away from a job interview because she was a black woman. He could have listed other similar experiences. I trust this brother and have no reason to believe that he is crazy or vengeful. And I can understand why he could not look at the George Floyd death with colorblind eyes. Many black people see the world through similar experiences.
This does not mean that every white person is racist, nor that every perceived racism is actual racism, nor that cops are generally racist. It doesn’t even prove that George Floyd was killed by a racist. But if any racism exists in our land, we should not be coldhearted to those who are mistreated and angered by it. We should all be angry about it, as long as we do not respond with unrighteous behavior such as looting and rioting (Eph. 4:26).
If your immediate response to this is, “But I am not racist, and I’m not going to cave to leftist manipulators who demand repentance and reparations for sins I didn’t commit,” I get it and good job resisting the self-serving abusers who couldn’t gives two hoots about true racism. But it would also be helpful to acknowledge that not every protestor is in that group. Some are simply caught up in the indignation of the moment. The “protesting in the streets” strategy is flawed and will prove ineffective, especially now that the protesting has been hijacked by truly wicked people with a wicked agenda. But for those who have experienced true prejudice because of their skin color, declaring your lack of racism accomplishes nothing.
Again, I am not suggesting that we should support Black Lives Matter or any other cultural movement. At best, groups like that are ineffective; at worst, they are part of the problem. I am suggesting that we keep this issue in its proper bucket, so that when we are discussing racism, especially with a black person, we acknowledge that they may have actually experienced it.
I have heard cultural commentators (some of them black) declare that most racism is perceived prejudice implanted in the minds of black people by the media and other “thought leaders.” Yep, that’s yet another bucket that is real, one that should be distinguished from the others. But in the bucket I’m looking at currently, people have been truly mistreated and are justified in at least some of their suspicions. (Surely every Christian knows that genuine bigotry exists.) We should be sorry about that. Not a guilt-laden, “I’m asking your forgiveness,” kind of sorry, but genuine sorrow that a fellow human has been treated unkindly.
You may not be able to do anything else for them beyond expressing concern. Maybe you shouldn’t try to do anything else. But at least show godly lovingkindness without an, “I’m sorry for you, but I can’t support all the violence occurring throughout the nation,” kind of qualification. That kind of statement dumps the content of one bucket into another and ruins them both.
Conclusion
Christians must think and speak carefully. When talking about George Floyd, the topic is justice, not racism. When talking about riots, the topic is justice, not George Floyd. And when talking about racism, the topic is neither Mr. Floyd nor riots.
