Saturday, July 20, 2013

Hope for Racial Justice

When the verdict of George Zimmerman’s trial in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin came out this week, I can’t say that I was that surprised. Sad.

And it has sparked another look at race relations and the ongoing, even perpetual sin of racism.

It is hard for me, a white, protestant, heterosexual, male to always understand what it means to be in the minority. I am privileged. Now for me, I believe that God puts a higher responsibility upon me to use my privilege to help others. But all the same, I stand in solidarity with all those who have felt prejudice.


I must point out that I believe our justice system has some serious flaws. I don’t have any answers or ideas of how to make it better. But the reality is that if you are poor, you have a very hard time getting justice. And if you are rich … well, you can purchase leniency. Certainly the big money is in defense, not prosecution, and thus in these high-profile cases, we see the prosecution, obviously funded by state and local governments, not able to offer the same level of legal expertise. Of course, in this particular case, the Stand Your Ground law did not help. As a disclaimer, I must admit my knowledge of the law in general and the Stand Your Ground law in Florida in particular is very limited. It’s just that our legal system is built upon an adversary model, which I think is in direct conflict with the justice and reconciliation of God and Jesus Christ. Enough about that; I’ll have to comment on that another time.


Systemic Racism is a tough thing to talk about, and easily denied. The Conservative Right certainly jumped on Obama when he tried to talk about it. Again, sad. Let me share a personal experience.

I have the best parents, and I am thankful for the values they imparted upon me—a strong sense of compassion and justice—God’s justice. They are both great people—kind, giving, working for a better world. I say this because I am about to share a story where my mom looks kind of bad. She’s not a bad person, not the least bit racist, at all! But this is an example of the systemic problems of racism and how it creeps up without even realizing it.

We were in a poorer part of town, perhaps North St. Louis. It was an African American neighborhood, in the middle of the afternoon. I think I was in high school, so about 25 years ago. We were in the car waiting. Maybe my dad had gone into a store or some other short errand. Waiting in the sunshine, an African American guy came walking by. He was just walking by—nothing suspicious, and he didn’t seem to take notice of us.

But at that moment, my mom locked the car door.

It was kind of instinctual. She didn’t mean anything by it. I’ve been in plenty of “bad neighborhoods” (Jesus is always there!), and you do take precautions. But the inherent systemic racism is in that somehow when my mom saw this innocent black man, she was reminded we were in a neighborhood where crime was a greater possibility. So she locked the door.

That’s the way racism lingers on.

May God help us to build a world where we are not judged by the color of our skin.


Here you can read a statement from the United Church of Christ.

Check out Rev. Sharon Watkins, Disciples of Christ General Minister & President, speaking out about gun violence & racism in our country.

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. –Galatians 3:28


Ron Trimmer is pastor of Hope United, a new church in Georgetown, Texas. Click here to visit Hope United's website.

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