Facing Racism

Taken from Context Beyond the Headlines

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

(Galatians 3:28, ESV)

Racism has battled with the Coronavirus these last months over the top headlines in the news. Our quick and common response is that “It’s an American problem” or that “I’m not racist”. And, yet, those in public and political roles have been expected to say there is “systemic racism” in Canada, particularly within our police forces. Is the problem American or Canadian or both? Is the problem “theirs” or is it ours too?

The struggle is not always over race or gender or sexual identity, often we just do not do well accepting and valuing those different from us. We judge foreign workers because they take our job and immigrants because they are changing our communities, but with both my Dutch and Mennonite heritage, at one time both my families were those foreign immigrants who came to Canada. Why would I judge today’s immigrants when that was my family only two generations before me?

There are many challenges when it comes to First Nations in Canada. If we are truly honest, do we see them as second class citizens? Are we more harsh towards / less willing to serve those of First Nations descent than others who have the same issues in life? We live directly among First Nations; should we be serving them to a degree more than we are?

What does racism mean? How does it play into our society and lives? Is it part of who we are without us realizing it? We will be considering these questions and more at Adult BLAST this Wednesday, November 4, 6:30-7:30pm @ NCC.