#SayHisName
Millions of people have now viewed the horrifying video as George Floyd was murdered on camera by Minneapolis police while bystanders pleaded with officers not to kill him. As he lay helplessly in the street with the policeman’s knee on his neck, Floyd’s haunting last words were, “Please! I can’t breathe.”
Many have turned to Twitter to express their outrage. Users latched onto the #SayHisName hashtag to call attention to the number of black men dying at the hands of police.
I share their outrage. My heart breaks for George Floyd and his family. And my soul aches at witnessing just how broken a society we are as it relates to the issue of race.
It pains me that as a pastor of a multiracial church for many years, there were too many instances when I needed to take time in the Sunday gathering to “Say His Name.” Eric Garner. Michael Brown. Alton Sterling. Oscar Grant.
It pains me that as a pastor of a multiracial church for many years, there were too many instances when I needed to take time in the Sunday gathering to “Say His Name.”
In doing so I saw a pain in the eyes of the people of color in our congregation at the extent of racial injustice and heard a frustration in their voices that was far deeper than my own. And I was reminded that as an educated white male, my context was so different from theirs.
And I realized that I had a long way to go if I was to do more than simply lament their pain. I needed to be a leader who was catalytic in helping a church body understand their pain and seek to end their pain.
I saw a pain in the eyes of the people of color in our congregation at the extent of racial injustice and heard a frustration in their voices that was far deeper than my own.
I read a well-written blog from one pastor in a racially diverse church who offered some wise counsel toward that end:
“In order to work toward a racially reconciled community, we must first recognize that racism still exists.
“Once we acknowledge this, we need to spend time learning and processing a theology of reconciliation. This means we must create space for dialogue.
“But most importantly, we must learn to listen deeply to each other. To listen to another's soul may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another."
The Bitter Traces of Racism
The only way for that to happen is for you to get to know a person racially different from you by name. As long as your relationship with those across the racial divide is generic (“those people”…“black people”…“white people”) you will never understand them. And if you never understand them you will never grow in your love for them.
While I have never faced the depths of racism, I’ve tasted bitter traces of it.
My first experience was back in high school. It was 1968 - a year of horrific racial tension. The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King resulted in race riots that tore our country apart.
For me, there was another wrinkle. The only black man at Elmhurst High School was my friend, Ephraim Smiley. Since we lived near one another I hitched a ride to school from him in his 1957 Chevy.
We talked football and food. We discussed cars and clothes. To me, “Eph” was a normal guy.
Then the riots hit. Then things changed. I still remember pulling into the parking lot and hearing the “N” word shouted to him and the accusation of being an “N…lover” shouted to me.
I still remember the occasion when shortly thereafter I drove our family car to school and came out to a dead engine. The distributor had been removed. And I faced, for the first time, a bit of racism.
Personalize Racism
By knowing a man’s name…and that is what he is – a man… it personalized racism. It’s not just something that happens to nameless, faceless people, it happens to my FRIENDS. People I know, love, and respect.
By knowing a man’s name…and that he is that – a man… it personalized racism. It’s not just something that happens to nameless, faceless people, it happens to my FRIENDS.
People like Corey, Marty, Karen, Keith, Wendy, Renee, Semaj, Geoff, Gerald, and many more.
They are people with stories… with hopes and dreams. They have families they love and gifts to give to the world.
But I not only called them by name, I sought to learn from them. I spent time with them, listening to them, seeking to understand.
I read books regarding the challenges of racial understanding and discussed them with my friends. Books such as Letters Across the Divide and The Heart of Racial Justice challenged me. Yet they also informed me.
Let me encourage you to do the same. Leave your familiar world and enter into the world of those different from you. As you do, look to listen more than speak and to understand more than to be understood.
Leave your familiar world and enter into the world of those different from you. As you do, look to listen more than speak and to understand more than to be understood.
Become an example of identification with those who are forced to endure racism as well as an example of reconciliation that could help heal racism.
Allow the cry of #SayHisName to not only help you remember the pain of what is but to remind you of the hope of what could be.
That hope is seen in John’s glorious vision of the coming Kingdom.
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
Revelation 7:9-10
People of every nation and tribe around the throne. What a day it will be! Wouldn’t it be great if you knew some of their names?
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