Black or White

I was born in Tennessee. I can remember when our principle gathered the whole school together to announce that there would be two "black children," a brother and sister coming to our school. And we were to treat them no differently than we would any other student. I didn't even know what that meant. I knew that black people existed, but I don't think I had ever come into contact with one. I was in 2nd grade. That sounds crazy I suppose. But what must have been crazier is the fact that even at that age, I didn't understand why anyone would ever treat someone different because of the color of their skin. It made no sense to me.

The following week, the brother and sister came to school. The brother was in my class. I befriended him immediately. I guess others didn't....the brother and sister were only at our school for a week. Must've gone somewhere that was more friendly.

Here were are in 2008. Nooses still being hung from trees (Jena 6), lives still threatened by racism, and a would-be president who came so close to the prize, even though many in the country didn't think we were "ready" for a black president, is now being accused of having friends who are racist against whites...or worse, possibly racist himself.

This makes no sense. It will never make sense to me. It is so ungodly. So un-Christlike.

Bruce spoke this weekend about the woman at the well (Bible reference), and one thing I took away was that Jesus himself had no problem seeing through cultural or racial differences. So why can't we?

Tomorrow, Obama is addressing the country about racism. I'm sick today, and have spent a lot of time in bed hearing about this report. I guess that is what spawned this blogpost. I look forward to listening to what he has to say.