Comments on: Discrimination—An inside view

By: LisaNotes

LisaNotes — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 03:40:14 +0000

In reply to Sita.

I value the words of Henri Nouwen. This is a beautiful passage you share, Sita, and I thank you for it. He had it right:

“One of the hardest spiritual tasks is to live without prejudices. Sometimes we aren’t even aware how deeply rooted our prejudices are.”

Overcoming our blind spots is often one of the most difficult parts of it. But realizing that God loves “others” is definitely a healing pattern we can all move toward as we grow in realizing we are all the same and there are really no others after all.

By: LisaNotes

LisaNotes — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 03:37:10 +0000

In reply to Kirra Antrobus. This is very encouraging to hear, Kirra. How wonderful that you and your husband haven't had much discrimination to deal with it. Whatever the reason for it, I praise God. It gives me hope. Thank you for sharing!

By: LisaNotes

LisaNotes — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 03:31:41 +0000

In reply to Dawn St Amand Paoletta.

“Unfortunately, it is a lion that needs to be slain. One, beast at a time, within the hearts and minds of each one of us.”

Amen, Dawn. I heard more discrimination talk just today from someone. Why is it easier to recognize in others than in ourselves? I guess it’s like any other sin—we see it in others first. 🙁 Your point about it being a chameleon is so true; it can morph into forms that we don’t recognize.

But God. Yes!

By: Sita

Sita — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 16:40:14 +0000

~Henri Nouwen~
“Towards a Nonjudgmental life
One of the hardest spiritual tasks is to live without prejudices. Sometimes we aren’t even aware how deeply rooted our prejudices are. We may think that we relate to people who are different from us in colour, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle as equals, but in concrete circumstances our spontaneous thoughts, uncensored words, and knee-jerk reactions often reveal that our prejudices are still there.
Strangers, people different than we are, stir up fear, discomfort, suspicion, and hostility. They make us lose our sense of security just by being “other.” Only when we fully claim that God loves us in an unconditional way and look at “those other persons” as equally loved can we begin to discover that the great variety in being human is an expression of the immense richness of God’s heart. Then the need to prejudge people can gradually disappear.”

By: Kirra Antrobus

Kirra Antrobus — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 21:54:02 +0000

Discrimination is a strange thing. My husband is black, and I am white, but he is foreign (from an island in the Caribbean) and we deal with very little discrimination. As a counselor, he meets all kinds of people, and at one time he had a few clients from the Aryan nation that thought he was great. I suppose all this is because he’s obviously foreign (his accent is still evident even after living here for newly ten years) but I can’t say they for certain.

By: Goings on in March '14 - Daybook

Goings on in March '14 - Daybook — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:14:21 +0000

[…] picture to share . . . you’ve already met Chris if you read this on Wednesday (he’s in the middle here); he got this picture yesterday. And if you’re an Auburn […]

By: Dawn St Amand Paoletta

Dawn St Amand Paoletta — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 12:10:21 +0000

I think the reality is, sometimes racism is in us dormant, buried, until something happens that raises it to the surface. I think if we are really honest with ourselves and others we ‘d see it is everywhere. And as Jen F. said it’s not just about skin color, it’s a chameleon that can change and transform in a way we don’t rcognize it. But, God. He can allow us to recognize it, and remove it from us, because the roots of it…I just think they are deeper than we want to believe. I have my own story of revelation, when God showed this to me. To my surprise it was there, after an incident it reared it’s head. And Chris is right, ““Nobody is born discriminating against one another, it’s something that’s seen and then learned.”. Sometimes we don’t even know it has been “caught” as it lies as a sleeping lion. Unfortuately, it is a lion that needs to be slain. One, beast at a time, within the hearts and minds of each one of us. Kudos to you for being brave and honest enough to take on this precious topic and congrats on a very cool, talented Godson!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 00:28:14 +0000

In reply to Sita.

I value your voice here, Sita. So glad you left this comment. You know first-hand the pain of discrimination based on skin color and how deep the hurt can go. We need to hear stories like yours, even though it makes us cringe. But we ALL need to cringe when one of us is hurt–rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. I pray more and more that those who believe in racism will come to understand that it hurts everyone, including themselves.

You’re right that if we don’t have friends other than those who are “like us”, we believe the stereotypes we see on TV or hear about. And we miss out on the diversity of beauty that God created for us all to enjoy.

I wish I could have experienced your International Students Christmas camp–it sounds like it was a bit of heaven on earth!

So thankful we are connecting, too, friend to friend. 🙂 I loved the “Unconditionally” video you had on your blog–it’s how Christ loves each of us and desires us to love each other.

By: Sita

Sita — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 23:13:46 +0000

Hi Lisa, first of all, thank you for popping my blog and leaving me some encouragement.
As for your post on ‘discrimination’, I have to say I applaud your courage. Most of my ‘white’ friends would prefer not to see their own part or heart. Discrimination hit me very hard as a visible minority, tiny, brown, unassertive woman. IN fact it is where some of my deepest hurts lie and I know that God wants to use that. We are all guilty of it because we have all been acculturated via family values, Hollywood movies, the news etc. When we don’t have any real friends among people who are different from us in one way or the other, we tend to view them through the filter of what we have heard or seen on the news.
The best way to break a stereotype is to invite the ‘stranger’ into our homes, our lives. I distinctly remember going to an International Students Christmas camp where we enjoyed a celebration of our cultures in concerts, songs, skits etc. It was glorious, English, Chinese, Latin American, Caribbean, European, Indian, Malaysian, Singaporean, African, Nepalese, Canadian all together. By the time it was finished, we knew we were all the same, humans, but with superficial differences in dress, diet, appearance.
It made me love God and appreciate Him even more for His creativity.
So, I agree with you, one friendship at a time. 🙂

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 21:53:48 +0000

In reply to Trudy. Thanks for your encouragement, Trudy, to both me and to Chris. I love how God puts people in our lives at just the right time. I'm glad he knows what he's doing!