The Threat

I’ve been reading about and listening to accounts of how white people brutalized black men, women, and children in the South during the 1960s. (For example, this year I read two biographies about Rosa Parks — Rosa Parks: My Story and Rosa Parks: In Her Words — plus a FANTASTIC graphic novel series about John Lewis, called March. I highly recommend all these.) It is beyond my comprehension how someone could beat defenseless and innocent people, especially children. Just sickening.

I try to figure out why they did it. “Racism” is the easy (and correct) answer, but I want to know what is the deeper issue. I wonder, What motivated them? What would cause a person to act in such vitriol toward another human being?

I could only think of one thing — they felt threatened. Their normalcy, their peace, their comfort, their prosperity, their sense of control, etc, . . . it was all being torn away, or at least, they felt it was being torn away. It’s amazing (yet common) to see what extremes we will go to fight for ourselves, for people we love, and for things we value.

And as I kept trying to understand, I asked myself, What would I have done?

Of course, I’d like to think that I wouldn’t join in with that violence. But in some way I’ve done the same.

When my world gets disrupted and violated, it disturbs me. It leads me to intensity and anger. And I have lashed out and I have wounded people. Sometimes physically, but a lot of times emotionally.

In this desire to understand and empathize, I am in no way excusing the behavior of certain white people 60 years ago, or the actions of others today. What I am seeing is that, at the deepest level, I am no better.

We all need the grace of God.