By Now You Know

By John Roy

By now you know. A white supremist’s fire was lit by irresponsible parties who traffic in fear and misinformation. This white supremist then drives two hours to kill Blacks. He kills and injures 13 people in a grocery store, 11 of which were Black.

His manifesto announces that white culture is characterized by Christianity. Yet he goes as far as saying he is not a believer. Don’t bother looking for logic. What has emerged in these days has been around since the early church. A Christianity that is more about order, limits, and control, and less about faith, hope, and love. Christianity is not characterized by white culture. It is characterized by the life we witnessed in Jesus from Nazareth.

While he is confused, there is no confusion here.

This man hated Blacks. He was only 18 so he surely had a hate teacher. He drank from the well of hate that has been around for millenniums. “The people not like you are not just a problem, they are evil, and it’s OK to hate evil.” While it has been practiced since the foundations of time, it is most noticeable practiced in our time by people who hate Blacks.

But if all we do is focus our attention on the shooter I am afraid we are missing the point. The shooter is the tip of the iceberg. There are generations of people who did not shoot but did hate and teach hate. Then of course there are those who only sow discord with misinformation (Proverbs 6:19). Then there are others who are silent. Lastly there are churches that carry on with business as usual, as if the pressing need for the Christian church is to understand the trinity or produce music that is contemporary and sacred.

Churches may not be the source of this misinformation. But by being silent we let the fire spread. We need to speak up and throw as much water on this fire of hate as we can. So let me be clear.

You cannot love God and hate Blacks. Full stop.

If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar (I John 4:20).

In case someone wants to quibble about “hate” allow me to continue.

Again, the scripture reminds us in Luke----

“Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31)

It’s not enough to not to hate, we have to treat people, let me be clear, Black people, the way we desire to be treated. So, it’s more than not hating, it is actively loving and eagerly working to remove racism in all of its forms.

It’s using all of the tools and influence we have to make the haters stop and using our influence to create the most loving environment possible for Blacks. When the church does nothing, we side with the oppressor. In this case it’s the white supremist. The church founded by Jesus will not be an accomplice in this hate.

Join me in marching. Marching everyday into the world with love for Black people. Marching into misinformation with the truth. Marching into hate with Gospel love.