FRIDAY THOUGHTS: RACISM PERSISTS

“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam, while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No! I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end! 

I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars but I have said it once, and I will say it again: The real enemy of my people is here. 

I will not disgrace my religion, my people, or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. 

If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people, they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. 

I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. 

So I’ll go to jail. So what!? We’ve been in jail for 400 years!” ~Cassius Clay

A racist will hate you, but look to you for help fighting the enemy they provoked...and when the fight is over, go back to treating you as an enemy. Unbelievable.

Anything, ANYTHING the late, great Muhammad Ali had to say about racism in America was a necessary, and at one time, very, very bold and brave response to the overt racism he endured--but of course, racists can't handle responses that aren't sheepish. 

They expect timidity, silence or compliance from those they believe are beneath them. 

They would, however, NEVER stand being treated they way they treat others. 

They would never accept what they expect others to swallow. 

The schemes and plots and plans and even laws they've put in place to keep others from enjoying life and liberty, are indefensible and evil, but they don't see it that way. 

They're just protecting themselves and their stolen possessions. 

Oppressors don't like responses that challenge them to consider their ways and thought processes. Oppressors don't like to repent. 

They don't like to be wrong. 

Apologizing and considering the sick condition of their hearts, and challenging their abominable view of other human beings is too painful. 

It would mean reevaluating their whole lives. 

It would mean that their mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, and uncles fed them poison. Someone they trusted erroneously taught them that they're better than others; that it is perfectly fine to mistreat others. 

They have forever been scarred and branded fools. They weren't born that way--paranoid, irrational and ignorant--they were made. Racists will always be offended by dissenting opinions because they don't see others as human enough to have, or deserve feelings, ideas, or rights.

Truth does that thing where it stings, and pierces, and floods light that exposes all; it shows people the very worst in themselves. 

It shows them how unloving, arrogant, selfish and afraid they are. Yes. Afraid. 

They fear loss of control of what doesn't even belong to them. 

They fear lack. 

They fear being branded heathens, barbarians, murderers, thieves, and hatemongers. 

They fear that the hatred and malice in their hearts is less and less tolerable. 

They are broken. 

Their capacity to love is diminished because of fear masquerading as strength. 

It is amazing how people expect those they oppress to accept it. It's because they've deluded themselves into thinking that oppressed people are weak, inferior, hopeless--and God-less. 

People who believe that God has given them permission to hurt others don't know him at all--and are prime candidates for his wrath. 

Of all people, racists should be thankful for the patience and mercy of God. Racists, however, don't really trust God. Their quest to oppress others shows them how far away they really are from the God they say they love. The sad thing is, they think they have God's endorsement. 

The prospect of an eternity in Hell should rattle anyone and motivate them to examine themselves. It is easier, however, to twist the message of scripture to excuse hating others. 

Racists can't love God or his Word because they don't love their fellow man. 

Racists have been tricked. 

Their own minds condemn them.
Maybe that's it. Maybe that's why they're so unreasonable and bullheaded. They're possessed by an enemy who desires their souls and won't allow them to change. They're mad at God and can't fight him, so they fight, and whoever is closest and most vulnerable will do.
Pity. 

How terrible to go through life refusing to love; excusing and justifying hatred--and thinking that God approves.