racism Archives - Baptist & Reflector

MULTITUDE OF QUESTIONS VS. MIRACLE OF THE CROSS

June 25, 2020

By Joseph McGaha
Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church, Lenoir City

I have hesitated to wade into the discussion concerning the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta and the mayhem that has ensued afterward for various reasons. Yet I find after much prayer and consideration that I am compelled to speak out as a Christian, as a pastor, and as an American.

Perhaps the one quote from history that continues to echo in my heart and mind the last few days is “To sin by silence makes cowards of us all.” It is very clear from the study of history that no one made, or makes, a difference by continuing to do the same thing over and over again.

I have been, and will continue to be, an ardent supporter of our law enforcement officers and their families. They are doing an extremely difficult job in the midst of increasingly hostile situations from a public that is rarely, if ever, appreciative of the toll that it takes on their mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health; as well as the overall shape and state of their marriages and family life. [Read more…]

IS THERE REALLY ONLY ONE RACE?

June 23, 2020

By Chris Turner
cturner@tnbaptist.org

There is only one race, the human race.

Those eight words are an oft-used expression these days as the nation grapples with race, racism, justice, prejudice and a myriad of other topics causing friction among people of various skin tones, especially among blacks and whites.

But the statement is true; there really is only one race. Unfortunately, the phrase is frequently delivered as a politicized retort rather than as a humble declaration deeply rooted in biblical veracity, and Christians must migrate from a political to theological perspective when stating there is only one race. Here are some fundamental questions to which we should seek answers to correctly inform the spirit of our response. [Read more…]

WHAT WE READ IS NOT ALWAYS WHAT WE REALLY READ

June 22, 2020

By Lonnie Wilkey
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

As a Baptist journalist for four decades, I learned early on in my career that what I wrote was not always what was read or understood.

I have had countless conversations over the years with people upset with what they understood that I had written. Normally, I could help them understand what I meant with those words, but not always.

In an opinion piece, a good journalist tries to make a point and get people to think. I know that I have failed on occasion and caused more confusion than I did clarification. Hopefully, I have become a better communicator.

In the June 10 issue, my friend and colleague Chris Turner wrote an opinion piece that has been misunderstood. Chris wrote about an encounter in his neighborhood with a black teenager shortly after George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis. Chris described how the teenager avoided him with fear in his eyes because he didn’t know how Chris would react. [Read more…]

LAMENT, LOVE, LISTEN AND LEAD

June 11, 2020

By Willie McLaurin
Vice president, SBC Executive Committee

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video recording must be worth a million.

In the disturbing video of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis on Memorial Day while in police custody, words are really hard to come by. A bystander’s cellphone video showed a former police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Floyd’s neck, while Floyd repeatedly stated “I can’t breathe.”

In the future, Memorial Day will not only be about honoring the men and women who died while serving in the United States military. It will be remembered as the day my third cousin’s life was ended.

I do not recall my interactions with George as a lad, but our journeys are similar. We were born in the same year. We are black men in America. We were created in the image of God. And we live in a society that is dangerous and deadly for black men. [Read more…]

MISSISSIPPI PASTOR FINDS CAR KEYED WITH RACIAL SLUR

June 10, 2020

By Tess Schoonhoven
Baptist Press

Screen capture from WLBT.com / Baptist Press

CLINTON, Miss. — Tiki Broome, interim student pastor at First Baptist Church of Yazoo City, Miss., woke up on the morning of June 2 to find a racial slur keyed into the side of his car.

Broome, who said he had been outspoken about racial injustice, had recently received some backlash via social media. But the defacement of his car, he told Jackson, Miss., television station WLBT, was another level.

The 25-year-old pastor told WLBT when he saw his car vandalized, with the n-word keyed into the side, he was initially angry.

But Broome determined that sharing the experience would help expose some of the hatred and sin in society and perhaps lead to further unification. [Read more…]

WE CANNOT WASTE THIS MOMENT

June 4, 2020

By Ternae Jordan, Charles Grant & Thomas Bester
Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

It’s a familiar story. Black man is taken into custody by a police officer and is murdered. Arrests follow, press conference held, speeches made, people march, people riot, politicians posture, reform is promised.

Nothing changes.

The pages of this tired script are frayed and stained with more African American blood. The sequels never end. But surely – surely – this time is different. This time America watched as George Floyd had his face ground into the asphalt for nearly 10 minutes as an officer’s knee crushed his neck until he asphyxiated.

It was brutal. It was inhumane. Another piece of the Black American soul died with George Floyd. Another piece of America’s soul died in the streets of Minneapolis, snuffed out by the centuries-old racial prejudice that festers like rancid gangrene eating away at our society. We can’t keep doing this to ourselves, but we can’t seem to stop. [Read more…]

IN SUCH BROKENNESS, ONLY JESUS CAN MAKE THINGS RIGHT

June 2, 2020

By Charles A. Fowler
President, Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City

Like the rest of the nation, I have watched the recent events that have unfolded related to the horrendous killing of George Floyd with heartbreak, sadness, anger and brokenness. We have witnessed a reality in our world that many choose to ignore. This week it has been lived out before our eyes with such clarity that it cannot be overlooked.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I turn first to Scripture to assess my feelings and interpret the situation. I have come to reaffirm some deeply held theological convictions: [Read more…]

SOUTHERN BAPTIST LEADERS ISSUE JOINT STATEMENT ON THE DEATH OF GEORGE FLOYD

June 1, 2020

By Baptist Press staff

Protest against police violence – Justice for George Floyd Fibonacci Blue / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

NASHVILLE — Southern Baptist leaders have published a statement grieving the recent death of George Floyd and calling for the end of “racial inequity in the distribution of justice in our country.”

The statement, co-authored by SBC president J.D. Greear and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary president Jamie Dew, was unanimously signed by all SBC officers, entity heads and state convention executive directors, including Tennessee Baptist Mission Board president and executive director Randy C. Davis.

Statement on the death of George Floyd

As a convention of churches committed to the equality and dignity of all people, Southern Baptists grieve the death of George Floyd, who was killed May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minn.

While all must grieve, we understand that in the hearts of our fellow citizens of color, incidents like these connect to a long history of unequal justice in our country, going back to the grievous Jim Crow and slavery eras. The images and information we have available to us in this case are horrific and remind us that there is much more work to be done to ensure that there is not even a hint of racial inequity in the distribution of justice in our country. We grieve to see examples of the misuse of force, and call for these issues to be addressed with speed and justice.

While we thank God for our law enforcement officers that bravely risk their lives for the sake of others and uphold justice with dignity and integrity, we also lament when some law enforcement officers misuse their authority and bring unnecessary harm on the people they are called to protect. We further grieve with our minority brothers and sisters in the wake of George Floyd’s death, pray for his family and friends and greatly desire to see the misuse of force and any inequitable distributions of justice come to an end.

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the Bible speaks to matters of justice and human dignity. We are taught by Scripture that human beings are distinct among the rest of creation as those beings which bear the divine image. From the beginning of life to the end, all human beings, both male and female–of all ethnicities, colors and ages–are sacred beings that God values and loves.

Throughout the law, the prophets, the gospels and the entire canon of Scripture, murder is condemned and God’s people are called to protect the vulnerable. The Bible further condemns injustice and the misuse of authority and force. And in the example of Jesus Christ, God’s people are called to love others, care for their needs, grieve with them in brokenness and labor for the well-being of our neighbor. To follow Christ is to follow in these examples He puts before us.

Therefore, as a matter of Christian obedience and devotion, followers of Jesus Christ cannot remain silent when our brothers and sisters, friends and/or people we seek to win for Christ are mistreated, abused or killed unnecessarily.

Therefore, we pray for our local, state, and national leaders as they seek justice, and call on them to act quickly and diligently to ensure that these situations are brought to an end. As a people, Southern Baptists stand ready to help towards that end. May God give us His favor, help and strength in this effort.

Co-Authors:

James K. Dew, Jr.
President, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

J.D. Greear
President, Southern Baptist Convention
Pastor, The Summit Church, Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

Signatories:

Marshal Ausberry
1st Vice President, Southern Baptist Convention
President, National African-American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention
Pastor, Antioch Baptist Church, Fairfax Station, Va.

Noe Garcia
2nd Vice President, Southern Baptist Convention
Senior Pastor, North Phoenix Baptist Church, Phoenix, Ariz.

Kathy Litton
Registration Secretary, Southern Baptist Convention

John Yeats
Recording Secretary, Southern Baptist Convention
Missouri Baptist Convention Executive Director

Ronnie W. Floyd
Treasurer, Southern Baptist Convention
President & CEO, SBC Executive Committee

Paul Chitwood
President, International Mission Board

Kevin Ezell
President, North American Mission Board

O.S. Hawkins
President, GuideStone Financial Resources

Ben Mandrell
President & CEO, LifeWay Christian Resources

Jeff Iorg
President, Gateway Seminary

Jason K. Allen
President, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Danny L. Akin
President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Adam W. Greenway
President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Russell D. Moore
President, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

Sandy Wisdom-Martin
Executive Director/Treasurer, Woman’s Missionary Union

Rick Lance, Alabama State Baptist Convention
Randy Covington, Alaska Baptist Convention
David Johnson, Arizona Southern Baptist Convention
J. D. “Sonny” Tucker, Arkansas Baptist State Convention
Bill Agee, California Southern Baptist Convention
Nathan Lorick, Colorado Baptist General Convention
Fred MacDonald, Dakota Baptist Convention
J. Thomas Green, Florida Baptist Convention
W. Thomas Hammond, Jr., Georgia Baptist Convention
Christopher Martin, Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention
Nate Adams, Illinois Baptist State Association
Steve McNeil, State Convention of Baptist in Indiana
Tim Lubinus, Baptist Convention of Iowa
Robert Mills, Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists
Todd Gray, Kentucky Baptist Convention
Steve Horn, Louisiana Baptist Convention
Kevin Smith, Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware
Timothy Patterson, Baptist State Convention of Michigan
Leo Endel, Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention
Shawn Parker, Mississippi Baptist Convention
Barrett Duke, Montana Southern Baptist Convention
Kevin White, Nevada Baptist Convention
Terry Dorsett, Baptist Convention of New England
Joseph Bunce, Baptist Convention of New Mexico
Terry Robertson, Baptist Convention of New York
Milton Hollifield, Jr., Baptist State Convention of North Carolina
Randy Adams, Northwest Baptist Convention
Jack P. Kwok, State Convention of Baptists in Ohio
D. Hance Dilbeck, Jr., Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma
Barry Whitworth, Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania-South Jersey
Felix Cabrera, Convention of Southern Baptist Churches in Puerto Rico
Gary Hollingsworth, South Carolina Baptist Convention
Randy C. Davis, Tennessee Baptist Convention
David W. Hardage, Baptist General Convention of Texas
Jim W. Richards, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention
Rob Lee, Utah-Idaho Southern Baptist Convention
John V. Upton, Jr., Baptist General Association of Virginia
Brian Autry, Southern Baptist Convention of Virginia
Eric Ramsey, West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists
Quin Williams, Wyoming Southern Baptist Mission Network B&R

MY ENCOUNTER WITH A BLACK TEENAGER

May 29, 2020

By Chris Turner
cturner@tnbaptist.org

I had an incident with a black teenager this morning at exactly 6:53 am while on my morning walk in my overwhelmingly white suburban neighborhood located in one of the wealthiest counties in the country.

He approached me dressed in a patterned white t-shirt, a pair of shorts I’d never pay the money for and a pair of Nike tennis shoes that, unlike mine, probably have no holes worn in the lining where the heel rubs.

We drew closer, and then it happened. The young man crossed the street. He literally crossed the street to avoid me. He then nervously fumbled for the phone in his pocket, diverting his eyes. The entire scenario was extremely awkward. It was obvious he was uncertain about where this encounter might head next. [Read more…]

PASTORS URGE PRAYER, GOSPEL OUTREACH AS OUTRAGE GROWS OVER GEORGE FLOYD’S DEATH

May 29, 2020

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

Thousands of protestors marched May 26 from the scene of George Floyd’s encounter with police to a Minneapolis police precinct station. Some chanted “I can’t breathe.” — Screen capture from Time/BP

MINNEAPOLIS — Southern Baptist leaders are lamenting the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis after a white police officer used a knee to pin his neck to the pavement for several minutes.

Floyd had repeatedly said he could not breathe.

“I am disturbed, brokenhearted, and deeply grieved when I see and read that another black man’s sacred life has been unjustly snuffed out,” said Marshal Ausberry, SBC first vice president and president of the National African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention. “The life of George Floyd was ended by those charged to protect and serve. They became judge, jury and executioner.” [Read more…]

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