My youngest daughter started pre-K last week. For the first few days I walked her to her room to help her get settled and accustomed to being there. While I was there, I noticed that the little boy that sits next to her has more melanin in his skin than she does, so his skin is darker. That is a fact that I can understand; however, I cannot understand the fact that there are people who hate him because he has more melanin in his skin than them. His skin is a different color than theirs, so they hate him.
I have brown eyes. What if I hated people whose eyes are blue? Well, that’s just ridiculous! I mean, how could I possibly justify hating people just because a part of their bodies is a different color than mine? I can’t because there is no way to justify hating someone because of that.
There is no way one can rationalize, excuse, or justify racism. You can’t do it. Jesus said that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself, and to further the point he proceeded to tell the story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus was talking to an expert in the Jewish religious Law, presumably with many other Jews within earshot, when he tells a story in which he makes a Samaritan the hero. This was outlandish to the Jews because Jews and Samaritan hated each other. Why? Because they viewed themselves as two different races.
What happened in Charlottesville this weekend is sickening and tragic. To watch people march at night bearing torches in a clear attempt to intimidate people whose skin is a different color than theirs is deplorable. Then the next day to watch a group walking in peaceful defiance of that attempted intimidation be deliberately driven into causing bodily harm and death is … I’ve stared at this for a while, and I don’t have a word for it. I literally cannot think of a single word to describe wanting to kill people solely because they have more melanin in their skin. This cannot be justified, rationalized, or logically explained because it defies logic.
Now, I realize that by referencing Jesus’ words to “love your neighbor as yourself,” I am compelled to love white supremacists. I am well aware of that. I am also aware that love can mean speaking truth to people who may not want to hear what you have to say. Racism is of the Devil, plain and simple. It’s a sin.
Sin is more than just doing bad things. Sin is a disease. Jesus defeated sin at the cross, and yet sin is still a very real presence in this world. Sin knows it’s beat, but it wants to take as many people down with it as it possibly can. Jesus said that hating people is a sin, so when we give in to hate, we join the team that’s already lost. How much sense does that make? About as much as hating someone because of the color of their skin.