My heart is especially heavy these past two days for what black people are living through and dying for.
My heart is also heavy at what I’ve seen online as my black brothers and sisters cry out in pain and anger at what they see, and white brothers and sisters critique their thoughts and seek to discredit everything they’re saying.
Lots of folks are careful to say “we don’t know all the facts so we can’t be upset yet.” Really? Someone died. We can be upset. Pastor H.B. Charles Jr. said on twitter, “The Bible exhorts us to weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15). It doesn’t tell us to judge whether they should be weeping.”
And he’s right.
Today, black brothers and sisters woke up to another video of a black man dying at the hands of police. Before you attempt to justify what happened, why don’t you empathize with black people who feel terror, anger, sorrow, and pain? Before you respond to their “blacklivesmatter” with your witty retort of “alllivesmatter” why don’t you consider what they mean? Do they mean black lives matter exclusively? Or, could it be, that they feel so undervalued that they feel they have to fight for an equality of worth?
Fellow white person reading this, don’t attempt to give an answer to their anguish. Don’t try to fix it. You don’t reason with the grieving, you offer comfort. Their souls are in anguish. Be their brother or sister in Christ and weep with them. Enter into their pain. Do you have no desire to do so or respect for their pain? Does the thought of doing that cause you to pause and think about a loss of respect or influence with others? Repent.
Weep with those who weep, today.
Most excellent, Nick … I just forwarded this to a co-worker and friend who is black and still smarting, at age 65 or so, from all of the racism, both overt and subtle, he and his family have experienced throughout the decades.