liberty and justice for… some

if you haven’t been following the story of the jena 6, you should. recent protests around the developing situation are escalating reminders that- no matter how much the dominant majority may want to deny it- we still live in a highly racialized society. growing up in north carolina as a third generation chinese-american, i don’t think i really understood issues of race as having a systemic dimension- it was more of a personal acknowledgment that i looked different from everyone else. but as i slowly became more aware of the racial inequities so prevalent in our society, a sneaking suspicion i had held since childhood was being confirmed: if you look different, then the scales are not tipped in your favor. in fact, they are consistently weighted against you.

it was true then and it’s still true now. for these 6 black high school students, they are living this reality today- hang a noose on a tree and it’s just a funny prank because you’re white, but get caught in an ongoing adolescent scuffle and it’s attempted second-degree murder because you’re black!? obviously the case is more complicated than that, but when it comes to blacks in the “justice” system, the numbers don’t lie- there is an absolutely astounding disproportionality of young black men on lockdown and an equally unjust conviction rate in the US. we live in a racialized society.

as we prep for this year’s faith & race depth class at quest, i’m partly excited for the constructive dialogue we’ll have and also partly dreading the same questions and hang-ups we encounter every year. without fail (and perhaps rightfully so), someone always gets upset or feels personally offended when we discuss the fact that we live in a racist society- meaning NOT that we live in a society full of evil people with evil personal prejudices (although that may also be true), but instead meaning that the society we live in is not even-steven for everyone. it’s biased, weighted, and systemically prejudiced against some- not all, but many- and particularly against ethnic minorities. it’s racist because it is a system of advantage based on race, where certain groups of people benefit unfairly from the system.

and this has to be an issue for the church if the church is going to truly be the church. unfortunately, if the church fails to engage the racial injustices all too common in our culture, then it simply finds itself siding with the power brokers of society- a comfortable place of blind privilege and self-entitlement. what could it look like if the church spoke out against the racist exploitation of the marginalized and oppressed in our own city… and in our own neighborhood? despite the skeptic in me, i’m hopeful because i’m trying to remember that- as dr. king believed- “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”