Holy Wrath

Matthew 22:7 - "The king became enraged. He sent his soldiers and destroyed those murderers and burned their city."

For some reason, this passage makes me think of Greenwood, OK; otherwise known as Black Wall Street. The Tulsa was prosperous, beautiful, and unapologetically Black. The hatred of local white people was such that on May 31, 1921, they attacked the residents and killed 300 people. They torched the town and burned it to the ground, leaving 9,000 people homeless and jobless. It was the worst terrorist attack on American soil in the 20th century.

Commonly known as the "Tulsa Race Riots, it was nothing of the sort. It was an organized assault on Black people who dared become prosperous and who dared to enjoy the kind of life white people had. Now, the king in Jesus' parable had good reason to be angry. It's one thing to be rebuffed, but killing his messengers was going too far. The white people of Tulsa, on the other hand, had zero provocation. The residents of Greenwood had done nothing wrong. Nevertheless, the hatred described in the parable was unleashed by white people onto innocent Black people. Calling it a race riot further demeans and diminishes the Black people's lives that were lost or ruined. Calling it a race riot implies they, too, were at fault. Calling it a race riot white-washes the actions of the perpetrators. Let's call it what it was: a terrorist attack.

This hatred of Black people continues to this day and white people have been emboldened by 45 to show their hatred in public. Yet, white officers torturing and killing Black people with impunity is nothing new. Black students being treated harsher than white students in school is nothing new. Black people being punished harsher than white people by the criminal justice system in America is nothing new. Black children being victimized by gun violence is nothing new. Black people have been speaking out about these things for decades. Their words have been falling on deaf ears. Yet, when white students speak out, we support them immediately and without question.

Well, we do need to question. We need to question why we didn't listen to Black people tell their stories. We need to question why we didn't believe them. We need to question whether we thought (or think!) they somehow deserve harsher treatment. We need to question whether we think Black people are "lazy," "welfare frauds," "criminals," or "thugs." Such ideas and the hatred they engender is neither holy nor justified. God absolutely does not condone such thoughts about or treatment of her Black children.

We absolutely should stand with the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school and march with them if we can. But we ALSO must repent of ignoring or even disbelieving the experiences of Black people. They have been crying out for far longer than school shootings have even existed.

Isn't it time we listened and supported them, too?