Listen, Learn, Love

This past Tuesday, if you scrolled through your social media feed, I’m sure you saw blacked-out squares and rectangles being posted by people all across the country for #blackouttuesday. The purpose of this was to take a break from promoting your own agenda and simply listen (without judgment) to the stories of Black Americans and their centuries-old cry for equality and justice.

It shouldn’t take a trending hashtag for us to choose to listen. As Christians, it is our responsibility to take care of and free the oppressed (Luke 4:18). In order to do this, we must first listen to their stories and acknowledge their pain.

With listening, comes learning. The amount of content surrounding the quest for racial justice on social media is overwhelming. One of my favorite posts I’ve seen was by Ashlee Eiland, a pastor, author, and disciple of Jesus. She said, “Say what you need to on social media. Then put down your phone and pick up your life. Not many will see you learning, confessing, repenting, uprooting, retooling, forgiving, inviting, empowering. But we will see its fruit. The hidden work is the heart work is the hard work.”

What really counts is not what you post on social media, it’s the condition and examination of your heart as you lay it before Christ and ask him to open your eyes and your heart to the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Christ who have different color skin.

In order to create change, we need to humbly bow our hearts before Jesus and ask him to guide us in loving our neighbors and loving them well. Ask for discernment to take Godly action where we can begin to awaken our souls and enlighten the souls of those around us to the fact that we are indeed, ALL created in the image of God.

“And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” 1 John 4:21

In our effort to love like Christ, we must listen to those being oppressed, and learn to increase our understanding of their pain and their journey. Below are a few Christ-centered resources to raise awareness and understanding.

I encourage you to listen, to learn, and above all else to love as Jesus loved.

Books to read:

• Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman 
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
• Human(Kind): How Reclaiming Human Worth and Embracing Radical Kindness Will Bring Us Back Together by Ashlee Eiland
• Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement by John Lewis
• Dear White Christian: What Every White Christian Needs to Know About How Black Christians See, Think, & Experience Racism in America by Aaron Layton

Podcasts to listen to:

• Rusty George Podcast: Dear White Christian 
• Existential Podcast with Corey Leak: Episode 27 “Raising Kids in an Anti-Black World – A Sitcom of Grief”
• Jude 3 Project Podcast: Weekly podcasts with Lisa Fields
• The Home Team Podcast: The State of America 

Videos to watch:

• Lessons from Ferguson 
• Race, Righteous Anger and Resolution
• Building Bridges

Articles to read:

• A Single Pebble Tossed into a Raging Sea of Injustice by Terry Wardle
• My White Friend Asked Me on Facebook to Explain White Privilege. I Decided to Be Honest. by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
• A call to prayer and fasting in order to combat racism and injustice by Lemanuel Williams
• We Need to Be Uncomfortable by Phillip Holmes 

Resource Guide:

• W.K. Kellogg Foundation Racial Equity Resource Guide