By: Jeremy Ng
How do we respond to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery? Do we continue to go on as though nothing has happened? Do we have outrage and grief one minute and then move on to finding something comfortable and soothing the next?
I may not be guilty of those murders, but I do have a responsibility to do my part in trying to change a system in which white supremacy continues to exist. I cannot just stand on the sidelines, watching the terror that happens again and again to our black siblings. My silence equals complicity.
Yet, where do I even start? It feels overwhelming, like a problem that will never be fixed. White supremacy and racist systems have existed for centuries, except, it doesn’t have to be this way. I have to first realize the ways in which I have been complicit and acknowledge that I have been complicit when I have been silent and chosen not to engage. I have been complicit when I think that it’s not my community at stake and do nothing because the current system benefits me. I have been complicit when my Asian community continues to perpetuate anti-black stereotypes and I simply accept them. Silence is not and never has been good enough. We need to understand that we are all in this together. We need to start having these conversations, to read and listen to black voices, to start fighting racism wherever we are. For me as a parent, it means that I intentionally talk with my children about race. This is our responsibility: We just need to start.
As we enter into Pentecost, it’s a sign of a new beginning, a sign of everyone being valued and made in the image of God, a place for all. There are new ways of living that we can participate in, new hopes, new dreams, new visions of how community is meant to be. Standing in solidarity with the oppressed pulls us out of our comfort zone, it forces us to reimagine what the kingdom of God looks like for everyone, not just the powerful. As we continue to watch the events unfold, would we learn to stand in solidarity with the oppressed – to be present, to feel, and to suffer with them, and to respond in the ways that we can.
To get started:
Ibram Kendi – How to Be An Antiracist
Austin Channing Brown – I’m Still Here
The Next Question video series