Dear Lecrae,
First of all, I've never written you a
letter before, so let me introduce myself. I'm a huge fan. Your words cut deep,
in the best way. Listening to you in the mornings sets the right tone for the
day. You have a lot of talent and I'm so happy (for you and for me and for
humanity) that you have chosen to wield your considerable influence to tell the
truth in a super direct and catchy way. You work with some great rappers, so
thanks for introducing me to them too. You'd probably be happy to know I
learned of you while working in a rehab. Here's the context: your testimony had
a huge impact on one of my friends accepting the Lord (think, "people with
my background can love God, too?") and you had a big influence on many there.
Incidentally, "Rehab" is also probably my favorite album of yours.
Ok, onward.
Back in July, you posted a video on social
media (so your emotions wouldn't be read into text, you said) asking why people
seem to want to redirect you to different topics when you post about racial
relations and the need for reconciliation. You kept stressing that you were
really asking and not trying to be incendiary. You said you wanted respectful
honesty, not anger. I absolutely loved your tone and you followed up an hour
later very graciously thanking everyone for the feedback, of which there had
already been a lot. I didn't dare post my response to your question when I
realized the next morning that I had one, but here we go. And it's in text, not
a video! *gulp* It was written in July, re-drafted in December, and
final-edited in January.
The "inciting incident" of your
video seemed to be responses to a post about Samuel DuBose getting shot by Ray
Tensing over practically nothing. I don't know about other posts of yours, but the
one I saw contained no commentary whatsoever. That’s key.
Somehow or another, I grew up with the
impression that being racist was defined as noticing someone's race and
noticing different behavior and style patterns between the races, allowing
these observations to influence your behavior or impressions of the person
before you. As an adult, I realize this is incredibly off-base (a black friend
I met in college pointed out that would be like him completely disregarding the
fact that I was a woman whenever he spoke to me--it all clicked into place
then). But I wonder if there aren't many people out there who were under that
same impression and did not have my friend present to tell them how off-base it
was. So the fact that DuBose was black and Tensing was white is of integral
importance to some of your followers and of uncertain or no meaning to others.
No one can know what was in the heart of either man during the course of their
interaction, much less how to "fix it.” We don't have Tensing explaining
why he made such a horrible decision, and of course, we will never be able to
hear from DuBose again.
Is it possible that it wasn't racism?
I scarcely dare to ask that question. To
even ASK is socially taboo and I fear being figuratively bludgeoned over the
head for having done so (not by you; I assume you are too nice for that). Hear
me right: I'm not saying, "This incident wasn't race-related." The
question just points to the complexity of the situation and the muddled
viewpoints we all muddle through life with. I pose it to momentarily jolt us
into a perspective so different it may feel strange at first, but may
ultimately help answer your question.
It seems an interaction between a white
person and a black person is usually seen to reflect on race if the white
person behaves badly toward the black person. Yet, each situation is so
different and so complex. And frankly, a lot of mistreatment goes on regularly between
human: spouses mistreat each other and parents mistreat their children, let
alone friends or strangers mistreating one another (regardless of race in all
cases). With this much complexity, how then can this important issue even begin
to be addressed or solved? As I wrote in my journal, "Lord Jesus, come
quickly."
Again, I'm not saying race played no part
in the shooting and death; I'm just answering your question of why people might
be trying to redirect you: because the evil is confusing and deep, and may seem
senseless or unconnected to a larger picture. If racism is defined as noticing
race or trends between races, then their missing the point may be intentional,
put on in an effort to not make things worse. They really might not get why you
were posting, might not see it as a race thing. They might read it and say no
more than, "Wow, that is super shitty!" It might feel like reading
the headline, "Mother and boyfriend use two-year-old girl as punching bag;
two-year-old currently clinging to life at hospital with failing brain scan
results." (This is a real one from the week I drafted this letter). Like,
"Wow, why would you even bring that up? Can you maybe not be so much of a
downer? We already know life can be horrible." Personally, I can
understand why someone would want to redirect that! Life is hard already
without highlighting senseless, unredeemed suffering and evil. Meaningful or
noble suffering is difficult enough! On the other hand, the parents who love
their children well and fiercely and protect them from harm rarely make
headlines for it, but we all know they're out there. The parents who fall
somewhere in between, well, most of us probably had them.
Some issues have a clear evil that we can
join together to rally against. The issues in which we can find meaning and
shared vision make sense to bring up. We don't “need” commentary on those, so
people don't try to redirect you as much. But what evil can we rally against if
your post is about senseless violence? Especially if some are trying so hard to
be color-blind because we were taught by well-meaning people that this is the
best way to help. So what are we to be against? White people? That's hardly
what you're against. Assholes? Obviously, but then it wouldn't be about race
anymore. Police officers? Some have taken it that way, but to deny that police
officers do lots of good, absolutely essential things is dangerously extreme.
So, by all means, please keep posting
about important issues, especially this one if you can. That's just another
gift God has you giving to this world. But consider giving a little more help
to the unenlightened, a little more commentary to help those of us along who
have had to learn as adults a reality you've probably been innately, painfully
aware of for much longer. Especially for those who have not yet learned. You
could be the way they learn it, if you're willing to coach from the ground up.
You don't have to, of course, but if you do, you might hear more,
"Ohhhhhh. I had no idea... Thanks." in place of, "Why are you
posting this article?"
Thanks for asking. I admire your
willingness to have open ears; in fact, I try to be the same way.
God bless,
Karin
No comments:
Post a Comment