Allyship in the Face of Inhumanity: Act Justly, Love Mercy, & Walk Humbly with God
What can the greater Christian communitY do to help?
Working to bridge the gap and bring into focus the heartache of racial injustice.
Editor’s Note: Our goal at C&K is to point all readers back to Jesus Christ as the Way, the Bible as Truth, God as The Sovereign, and encourage our community to pray and seek the Lord in their journey as Christ followers.
This is our attempt to bring light to the dark subject of racial injustice. The author of this article is a highly educated, Black Christian woman. Working to bridge the gap and bring into focus the heartache of racial injustice, we asked Shenise to discuss 1: How did we get here? and 2: What can the greater Christian community do to help?
This was a very hard article to write. On one hand, the awakening reality of racial injustice has been a positive movement, but conversely, the daily reminder of the grave inhumanity experienced by Black Americans has been traumatic.
When reading this and other similar articles, be mindful of the deep pain this past year has caused in our community. Ask the Lord to guide your heart and encourage you to act in His love. Sharing the quiet talks that happen in my home has been an emotionally exhausting undertaking. It’s as though Black America has been defrocked for the world to see our scars.
The Equal Justice Institute estimates that from 1877 to 1950 approximately 4,000 African Americans were murdered in acts of racial terrorism. There is no comprehensive list of all the people that have been murdered from 1877 to present, but regardless, my mind is filled with memories of those that were lost to current day racist violence.
Ahumad Abery. George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Tamir Rice. Amadou Diallo. The Mother Emanuel Nine. Sandra Bland. Jordan Davis. Trayvon Martin. Botham Jean.
The list goes on and on. If you don’t recognize these names, take time to look up their stories. Also, take time to pray for them asking the Lord to bring comfort and justice to their families and others.
My tear stained pillow holds memories of my grief for each and every one who was taken too soon. When we watched an officer kneel on the neck of a man squeezing the life out of him on hot, hard concrete, the levy holding back a flood of tears finally broke, crying as Rachel in the Bible, "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." Jeremiah 31:15.
OUR. CHILDREN. ARE. NO. MORE.
Have you ever stopped to think about this: Every kid had the puberty talk at twelve when things started changing physically, but every Black kid had the police and racial terror avoidance talk at the same time. The moment we stop being “cute kids” is a dangerous time. It means that any stupid childhood mistake can lead to a morgue.
Consider the terrible tragedy of Tamir Rice. At the tender age of 12, authorities said mistook a black, toy airsoft pistol for a real firearm. When police arrived on the scene, Tamir was shot to death by a police officer. Never to see adulthood, his presumption of guilt in spite of no crime was sufficient to end his life. Sadly, the fear in the hearts of every parent of color is that racial terror could cut the innocence of our children’s lives short.
OUR. CHILDHOOD. IS. NO MORE.
The voice of anguish rings through the blood-stained streets across America because we are done with the three-headed monster of inequality, racism, and white supremacy. It is time for a change.
What about the church? The Christian Church has always been here. Some churches have been on the right side of history and some on the wrong side*. Some have poured gasoline and fanned the flames of racial terror, and others have done nothing to stop it. When we look back at history there are numerous examples of where the American Christian church got it wrong; where we held tighter to our own self-seeking beliefs instead of God’s infallible, holy Word. It is time for the Church to stand up for racial injustice and seek to reconcile our community.
Unfortunately I didn’t need to learn about the history of discrimination in the church to know it. Once I went to a church that had advertised to college students, but when I walked into the church I was instantly uncomfortable. I felt eyes piercing my body the entire time. I didn’t look like everyone else. No usher welcomed me. I personally felt the racism. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stand to attend the full service.
Take a moment to examine your own heart. Where do you stand? Jesus Christ calls us to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength; and calls us to love our neighbor (Mark 12:30-31). In what ways are you living out Jesus’ command?
What can you do to be supportive?
Stay connected and educate yourself on not just our pain as Black Americans, but our triumph! This is the first time in history that Juneteenth has made its way to national consciousness. Learn about our African American heroes beyond Martin Luther King. If you know anything about Martin Luther King, learn more than the I have a Dream speech. He was furious over the silence of the so-called liberals and Christians who weren’t willing to deny their racism to follow Christ. He said, "it is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning." I encourage you to think about your 11 o’clock hour at your home and how you are sharing fellowship with those who may not look like you.
Expand your reading, read From Slavery to Freedom by John Hope Franklin. Read Roots. Read Just Mercy. Read the New Jim Crow. Watch The 13th on Netflix. Watch The Kalif Bowder Story.
Be an active ally: Support your friends of color. Be there when they protest injustice. Actively call out racism when it is present. If there isn’t anyone of color in your social circle, you must be the voice for those who are not present.
Remember performative allyship is racism. It gives the veneer of helping without actually doing the hard, painful work of being there to help. Posting something on social media without elevating those who are oppressed furthers the oppression by stripping people of the power to honestly address their issues. Social media is only the beginning; social action is what makes the difference. There are many people who have been working in social justice for a long time. One of the greatest is Rev Dr. William Barber. He is a gifted orator, moral compass, and warrior against injustice.
Find organizations in your area that are doing the hard work of dismantling racism and see how you can contribute. Sometimes it will be as simple as joining a march. Sometimes it will require protecting those who are advocating for social justice by helping their legal defense. The difficult thing is to get started. Once you are involved in an organization, finding ways to contribute will come much easier.
Pray for forgiveness: If you have harmed someone by racist actions or ambivalence, ask God to forgive you and change your heart. Even if you are not conscious of the harm you may have caused, continue to pray for understanding, and for God to open your eyes to your own biases.
Educate and talk to your kids: Don’t raise your kids not to see color. Rather, raise them to love people for who they are and as they are. We were created different and yet still in the image of God. There’s beauty in our differences.
Donate: Tithing might be a weekly habit for you, consider expanding your gifts and donate to organizations that are doing the Lord’s work by dismantling racism. Consider UNCF (United Negro College Fund), NAACP, Equal Justice Institute.
When confronted with light and truth, it is impossible to return to one’s old ways. Once a guard imprisoning Paul saw the light and fell to his knees and begged “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:25-34). Racism is an ugly stain on the fabric of the world and in order to truly model Christ, we must love our neighbor as Christ loves us.
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8.
Go forth in truth, justice, and love,
Shenise Gilyard
Shenise Gilyard is a physician and radiology resident who also is a Christian woman and hopes to serve God and people through her work. She has become the first African American Chief Resident in Emory University Hospital’s history, serving alongside two other women. You can hear her C&K Interview on any major streaming platform or here on the C&K website!
*Footnotes: There were violent racial cross-burning terrorists who claimed their faith in white supremacy to further the aims of segregation and racial hatred. There were Christian schools who banned interracial relationships denouncing inequality until 2000.
Christian church conventions split in order to preserve slavery and leaders justified their positions with statements such as, “We at the South do not recognize the social equality of the negro.” In 2018, the Southern Baptist Theological seminary finally recognized the ugliness of its history and made a statement denouncing racism “in all its forms, as deplorable sin,” and apologized for its participation in “individual and systemic racism. (You can read the Report on Slavery and Racism in the History of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.)
Some of the most violent racial terrorists in the history of the United States were also prideful Christians and who used their faith in white supremacy to further the aims of segregation and racial hatred. We must be different and show God’s love and justice through loving our neighbor and being a voice for the silenced. Join us in praying for the victims of social and racial injustice and their perpetrators. We all are in need of God’s grace, love, and mercy.