RBWords - Volume 27 - Number 8: August 2014
Something to Think About
R.B.WORDS - VOLUME 27 - NUMBER 8 - AUGUST 2014
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SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT:
The sad events in Ferguson, MO, should give us all something to think about. Despite many advances since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, our nation still has much to do to overcome the sin of racism in our midst. The violence experienced in Ferguson is borne as much out of frustration and anger about discrimination and lack of opportunity as it is out of grief for the unarmed young African-American who was shot and killed by a police officer. The action became a symbol very quickly.
I live in Houston, TX, an incredibly cosmopolitan city. At one parish mission I preached in Missouri City, TX, a year ago, I thought I was at the United Nations! There were Anglo, Indian, African-American, Asian, and African persons in the audience and no one group seemed to dominate. The music director was a Creole man originally from Louisiana! While all these groups seem to co-exist side by side in Houston, it is clear that "opportunity" is not always equal and the playing field is not always level! There is considerable poverty and hunger. The most recent issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC in a series on "Hunger in America" showed that there are 43,000 households in Houston that have no car and are more than a half-mile from a grocery store! Situations like this require only a spark to ignite into troubles like those in Ferguson!
The large numbers of "gated" neighborhoods that I see in Houston and elsewhere seem to show a great deal of fear and insecurity. Do they reflect a reluctance to deal with the underlying fear in a positive way? I think that if the underlying inequities that prevent many in our country from having a decent standard of living are not addressed, there will be many more "Fergusons" in our future! That is a sad prospect and is SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.
It Has Been Said
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness....."
from: The Declaration of Independence, 1776