One of my greatest satisfactions is to see Grace becoming a place with more ethnic diversity. Heaven will have a lot of color! People around the throne will be from every tribe, people, language, and nation.
Many people have asked me how, as a southerner, I was able to deal with the racism in the south and not be affected by it. First, I want to be clear that racism was very real in rural Tennessee. The Civil War and its aftermath is critical in understanding southern racism. The resentment and hatred many southerners felt over losing that war became focused on the African-American race. I’ve not told you anything new so far. J But the key is how the hatred and racism get passed from one generation to the next. My grandfather was born in 1856. Amazing. But true. He was dead long before I was born. My father and mother were born in 1910 and 1920 respectively. They grew up in a South poisoned by hatred toward blacks. The “n” word was used regularly by poor, uneducated whites. Most of their racism was the product of ignorance.
Others, of course, are more intentional in their racist behaviors. For some of them, promoting racist attitudes is part of being accepted as “one of us”, a “true-blue southerner.” During my growing-up years, many pastors and other Christian leaders refused to challenge the prevailing racism out of fear of losing job and career and/or belief that it would never change so why fight it? Yet others fostered racism out of deep resentment of losing something (maybe a farm or possessions) during the Civil War. That resentment was passed on generationally. As a teenager I regularly went to “Reed Town”, the small town equivalent of the ghetto or the “hood” in Lawrenceburg, because blacks were the only people I could find who played basketball year round. J They gladly accepted me and allowed me to play on their courts. Some whites around me shook their heads in bewilderment. By God’s grace, I had enough personal strength at that time (age 15-17) to go against the grain and dare anyone to take issue with me. Not only was I angry about how some minorities were treated, but I was determined to break the cycle. I’m glad to say that overall I see these attitudes changing in the south. The “tipping point” phenomenon has occurred. Winds of change are blowing.
