"The most terrible thing about the situation in the South was that so many of the folks who were either violently racist or who participated in discrimination and enslavement through unfair and unlawful business practices called themselves Christians." -John M. Perkins 'Let Justice Roll' pg 143
That quote is so heavy. Heavy to think God's "people" took part in such hateful acts, as well as heavy to think that many of the things that were practiced back then still go on today. I remember growing up as a little girl in Chicago, I had such a heavy fear of living or even visiting the South. My six grade elementary teacher did such an outstanding job with teaching us about our history and exposing us to books, movies and songs that would give us an idea of what it must have been like back then. No matter how many movies, television shows or lecture I heard, it still didn't hit me as hard as it did last week. Last week, I had the opportunity along with a couple of special girls in my life, to see something that was weighty. I saw on the news a couple of weeks ago that a water fountain from the 60's was discovered during construction on an old pharmacy building. I contacted a local news station and they gave me the address and I had to go see this for myself. We entered the back of the store the same way the blacks did back when segregation was heavy, we stood on the bottom floor of the building where blacks had to shop while their white counterparts shopped in the upper level which was nicer, and more organized(as some have told me). I still couldn't imagine what it must have felt like to have to drink from a different water fountain as someone of another color, but that day, I felt the weightiness of it all. I felt, unworthy,shameful, and very fearful. Many of the emotions I am sure many blacks may have felt then. My heart breaks for my city, I believe what I saw that day is a reminder that racial hatred still exists today and racial justice is such a need RIGHT NOW! ( I know it is because I witness it happening to many who live around me from day to day) I TRUST God is good, I TRUST He has plan, but does that make things easier, or lighter or should we remove ourselves from situations that don't DIRECTLY have an effect on us?? I now have a much more heavier burden for RACIAL JUSTICE and pray that GOD will continue to remind us of those before us that have had to endure such painful times. May we pray, may we beg God for justice to roll down and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.....
"I do not understand why so many evangelicals find a sense of commitment to civil rights and to Jesus Christ an "either-or" proposition. One of the greatest tragedies of the civil rights movement is that evangelicals surrendered their leadership in the movement by default to those with either a bankrupt theology or no theology at all, simply because the vast majority of Bible-believing Christians ignored a great and crucial opportunity in history for genuine ethical action. The evangelical church–whose basic theology is the same as mine–had not gone on to preach whole gospel." John M. Perkins