When George Floyd died, the world joined the chorus “BLACK LIVES MATTER!” From that, anti-racism became popular, through the work of Ibram X. Kendi. K12 school districts and many universities began to rethink their curricula, so that it decentered the European narrative and replaced it with a more African centered narrative. Other narratives, like those of the Native people, Asians, Indians, Jews, Arabs and others, were minimized. CRT gained new significance as we all sought to understand how a White police officer could feel perfectly safe to literally choke a Black man to death, even as he was being filmed and listening to the man cry out for his dead mother. We wanted to defund the police and tear down all of the racist systems of the universe, to protect Black lives from how racism has terrorized us since 1619.
When the Corona Virus came, and Trump began to blame China for the virus, we saw a wave of anti-Asian attacks. The world joined in the chorus again saying, “ASIAN LIVES MATTER!” We began to hear more about how Asian university students felt a form of discrimination in how the standards for accepting them into universities were different and more rigorous than Whites and others. A sensitivity to their struggle to progress in America became more apparent and we felt their burden of being blamed for a deadly virus that took the lives of many of our loved ones (I lost several family and friends to Covid).
When the terrorist attack happened in Israel it unleashed a war here as we are trying to be sensitive to the grief of the Israeli people and the pain of the Palestinian people. We are yelling “Free Gaza! Cease fire!” or “I stand with Israel!” Depending on the population and location, schools are trying to teach in a way that is biased towards whichever side they have chosen to support. University presidents are resigning and whole universities are being shaken as they try to confront anti-Semitism on their campuses. With the resignation of these presidents people actually believe it is sending a strong message of how we should not accept anti-Semitism, as if anti-Semitism and racism are disconnected. Someone actually told me “This is not about racism, but this is about anti-Semitism!” Whew, folks really want to avoid addressing racism so much they cannot even recognize it.
Why are we in 2023 and still dealing with hate? Why has so little changed in the hearts of people? Legislation has been passed making America an equitable place for all people…supposedly. Schools have been desegregated…supposedly. There are palpable consequences for being openly racist towards anyone….supposedly. Why is it that year after year a new people group becomes the center of our fight against racism? Why is it that after a few months or more, these efforts die down, all seems peaceful and yet many of us who suffer through racism see little real change? I have a theory.
We have got to stop centering one race of people when we want to address racism. I know this is hard, when you are experiencing it, yet we have to look outside of ourselves. This is what Christ meant when he said we should love our neighbor as OURSELVES. No where in the Bible does God tell us to put ourselves first or to fight for our own lives first. In our efforts to fight against racism, the end goal should be something that serves humanity at large. This is why activism without healing, forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration is ineffective. Without these it’s just a manifestation of anger. Our efforts to end racism should not only become stimulated when a people group (or our own people group) is enduring the most attack of racism at a certain moment. Instead, there should be a constant work in cultivating love for our neighbors.
I really believe that just before MLK was murdered he was on the cusp of discovering the root. Many do not realize that his I Have a Dream speech was his way of introducing his vision for the Beloved Community to the world. Coretta Scott King shared this in her book CORETTA: MY LIFE MY LOVE MY LEGACY. We must all come to a place where we honor human dignity. We must all want to stand against hate and realize that it is not about taking sides or counting up which side has the most dead bodies. We saw innocent Israelis brutally murdered and we should be enraged about that. We are watching the literal genocide of THOUSANDS of innocent Palestinians and we should be enraged about that. Here in America we should be feeling nothing but grief for these communities. BOTH are hurting and feeling lost, unseen, unloved. Sadly, instead, we have become angry with them here as if our fellow citizens are the ones who have done the killing??? I firmly believe that if we just value human life, no matter the origin, color, culture, belief, etc. we will CARE for everyone.
This is what the Beloved Community is. I John 4:7 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” We are the Beloved Community. It is just so simple. In this place of loving our neighbor, we tear down the walls of our political leanings and racial scars to see the humanity in everyone who crosses our path. By only addressing racism when a particular people group has a racial “flair up” does not end racism. It is like putting a bandaid on a cancerous sore. The bandaid does not heal. Only chemo, radiation, or surgery that totally removes the cancer will heal it. Unconditional love is the antidote to the cancer of racism and when MLK invited all of us into his Dream, he was just about to take all of us on a journey towards healing. Sadly, hate took him from us, but it is not too late to continue his work. When he said, “White man and black man, Jew and gentile, Protestant and Catholic, will be able to hold hands and sing in the words of the ancient negro spiritual, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty! We are free at last!” he was saying that we all need to be set free from the hate in our hearts. Racism has hurt all of us and we all need to be delivered and that deliverance can only come when we love one another unconditionally.
Claudine Gay was silent because she was part of a racist system that has chosen to be silent when racism happens, all to protect a person’s right to free speech. But are we really free when we say hateful things and support or protect those who do? Freedom only comes when we love others enough to stand against any form of racism we encounter. In this way we create a safe haven for everyone and therefore they can really experience the freedom to be who they are. This is the only way we will be able to say, “Free at Last! Free at Last! Thank God almighty we are free at last!”
I have experienced other Black people being silent when they saw me experiencing racism in academia, so I am not surprised that Claudine Gay didn’t stand boldly against anti-Semitism. Those who think anti-Semitism will get better now with her and the others’ resignation, have totally missed how deeply embedded racism is in America’s institutions. These resignations do not get to the root. The only path forward is cultivating the Beloved Community by turning each of our hearts to love one another unconditionally. This love will inspire us to listen to, empathize with and stand for those who are hurting whether they look like us or not.
Dr. Anika T. Prather 