Speak Up!

Adapted from a sermon by

 Reverend Dr Cynthia Alloway

Pastor of the Presbyterian Church of the Roses, July 5, 2015

Speak Up!

            How do we know when God is speaking with us? The most powerful message from the Bible is love.  And when you speak words of love, forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing, you are speaking the words of God.

            Second, when you are striving to accomplish what the prophet Micah said when he commanded us to promote justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God, then you are carrying out the intention of God.

            Third, when you are helping the oppressed, protecting the vulnerable, serving the poor, and showing hospitality to the outcast, giving food to the hungry, clothes to the naked, and water to the thirsty, and loving your neighbor—you are doing the work of God.

            In contrast, when the demons of hate, discrimination, racism, and violence possess people, so that they become irrational and shoot innocent Bible study group members, or set fire to churches, it is not the time to remain silent. In the face of evil, it is important to speak up and stand beside the oppressed, to show a holy force of LOVE in the wake of hate. We are not called to sit back quietly, but to confront the oppressor, to stand beside the victims, and to work to prevent this type of violence from ever happening again, anywhere. 

            Why? Because it is your family that is being killed and abused! These are your people because we all have the same mother.  In human genetics, Mitochondrial Eve is the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of us all. She is estimated to have lived approximately 200,000 years ago, and she represents the woman from whom all living humans today descend. All mitochondrial DNA in every living person is directly descended from hers.

            And our Mother Eve is from the continent of Africa.  We are all connected to Africans through our DNA. Now a quick reminder about why there is a diversity of colors in our human skin. Dark skin has more melanin, which is a natural sun screen. If you could choose to have the most resilient skin, you should choose the skin with lots of melanin, because it protects from the sun’s rays and skin cancer.

We don’t all have dark skin anymore because as humans migrated out of Africa and up to the Northern less sunny regions, they needed to absorb more Vitamin D from the sun. So humans adapted with whiter skin to help absorb vitamin D. Yet, some people don’t recognize the inherent advantage of having more melanin. Instead they have arbitrarily decided that darker skin is inferior. This racist attitude is the root cause of massacres like the one in Charleston and the recent burning of eight churches in the South.

Nine victims of the Charleston AME church bible study massacre

            So why are people still racist to the point of violence in this country when we know biological differences are related to minor biological adaptation? One reason is a lack of education or just plain ignorance. There is not enough science education about ethnic diversity. The confederate flag wavers did not learn that we are all related to each other as one global human family and that there is no such thing as a superior race.

            When people feel powerless, they often look for someone to blame. At times when they feel insecure and unhappy in themselves, they look for someone vulnerable to pick on in order to get a momentary feeling of power and superiority. They become classic bullies. Put a bunch of bullies in white robes and you have the Ku Klux Klan who publicly gathered at the South Carolina statehouse after the confederate flag was recently taken down. After that meeting, churches began to burn.

            Prejudice and racism have caused enormous suffering across history. Prejudice and racism both refer to a negative view of one group of people based solely on their membership in that group. In reality, “race” is merely a social construct. It was used to categorize people in the early part of the 17^th century to rationalize slavery in this country. At that time they did not know the results of a DNA survey by Dr. Marcus Feldman of Stanford University that showed all humans are 99.9 percent genetically identical. (see: http://stem-works.com/external/article/859)

            This finding gives us hope for the future! We should educate one another and make our world better by making friends with people of other ethnic groups. Positive emotional experiences with members of different groups reduces negative stereotypes. Having close friends from different groups builds our awareness of what it is like to walk a mile in their shoes.

            As disciples of Christ, you have a big job to do and limited time to do it!  Challenge evil, stand alongside victims, advocate for equal rights for those who are oppressed or bullied no matter what the reason. Maybe they are oppressed due to their skin color, or their sexual orientation, or because they are disabled.

Your job as members of the people of God is to welcome, promote healing, and help provide justice for all people—even the least of these. Can you do your job?  Remember the words of Martin Luther King junior: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  Speak up!