DO UNTO OTHERS/Part Two

Last week the movie THE HELP was on my mind...and Jackson, Mississippi...and treating people differently.  This blog is Part Two because I can't quit thinking about it.


Are Jackson's racial problems in the rear view mirror?  Here's a recent CNN news story about a white teen from Jackson who  beat a black man and then ran over him in his truck.  The victim died.  The teen didn't realize the motel camera caught the whole episode. http://www.etidbits.com/teen-in-alleged-hit-and-run-hate-crime-isolated-from-other-prisoners=7918


This young Jacksonian made some obviously poor choices.  He decided to stay out and drink all night, then drove under the influence, tried to impress the girls in his truck with his bully testosterone, used violent force against a man, and then ran over the innocent, defenseless human being.  It was technically a hate crime because he specifically picked out a black man.  Who is the brute who DOES such a hateful thing?


The Jackson teen has the dubious honor of being the first one charged in Mississippi under the hate crimes law.  But did the hate crimes law intimidate the guy?  Impede the guy?  Punish the guy more than established laws would have?


It is ironic that in the news account, the footage shows the detainee flanked by two black policemen.   The District Attorney of Hinds County is also black and the victim's attorney is black.  So life HAS changed in Jackson in some ways.  But no matter the decade (the 60's or today), no matter the part of the country (South, North, East or West), no matter the consequences (hate crimes or no), no matter the race (black or white or yellow or brown)...people seem intent on aberrant behavior.  Sin happens.


The law stands ready to call lawless choices to task, but not even "hate crimes" legislation can prohibit hatefulness.  We educate, but education isn't the total answer.  We legislate, but we legislation isn't the total answer.  Civilization calls for both education and legislation, but the greater problem is the human heart.  That's why we need Jesus.

In the last blog, I mentioned a trip to Jackson, Mississippi with a friend who had been invited to speak to a Christian Women's Club.  What I didn't mention was that my friend Marilyn was brave.

The movie THE HELP taught us that there were many falsehoods about blacks in the South.  For instance, the genesis for "separate but equal" facilities was born out of the fear that blacks carried diseases.  That sounds preposterous to our 2011 ears, but it helps us understand the humiliation blacks faced daily.

Blacks were not the only people who were misunderstood.  Stereotypes existed about Jewish people...and my friend Marilyn is Jewish.  Her trip to Jackson meant she was headed into unknown territory.  You might be asking "but didn't you say that she was invited to come speak?"  Yes.  And the people of Jackson turned out to be very gracious.  But judging by the questions they asked, we could tell that they had never heard an explanation of how the Old Testament revealed the New Testament.  Marilyn explained the exquisite, continuous picture of Christ in our Jewish roots.

Stereotypes die hard.  In 1989, a popular movie called DRIVING MISS DAISY came out that also put a spotlight on the stereotypes of both blacks and Jews.  It was fun to watch that unlikely pair (Miss Daisy, a Jewish lady...and Hoke, her black butler) develop a deep affection for one another over the years. 

When Miss Daisy's synagogue burned, she began to realize that she and Hoke shared a common understanding of discrimination.  That led to acceptance and a touching friendship.

About that same time, Marilyn and I were also involved in a ladies Bible study in Eastgate, a black housing project in North Little Rock.


I remember one particular morning that as we studied, something was said that opened an anger portal; there was animated venting around the table.


Marilyn listened and then quietly said..."Yes, I understand that you have suffered much at the hands of people who do not like you and who would make you feel less than human.  That makes the Lord sick and makes me sad.  But can any of you know what it feels like to have all of your race rounded up and sent to their deaths en masse?"  One lady responded "blacks were beaten and hung all the time in the South!"  Marilyn pointed out that whatever the percentage of those incidents against the black population as a whole, it did not approach the scope of the Holocaust.

Undeniable truth.  Sometimes we can't see around our assumptions or our lack of information about each other.  We need each other.


And we desperately need the Spirit of the living God.  If your heart gauge is on E and there's no more love one another left...you need to hear the promise that God makes to believers in Romans 5.5:
"the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

Not feeling the love?  We don't have to gin it up.  It is poured out by our power Source.  Ask Him.