A Different Call to Action

This is a guest post by Chioma Chukwu-Smith, a friend of ours who is passionate about issues of justice. She moved to St. Louis, MO from New York to work for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA in 2008. She was part of InterVarsity’s National Chapter Planting Cohort and planted a chapter at an urban commuter campus (UM-St. Louis). Chioma was compelled to work in St. Louis after participating in two summer break InterVarsity Urban Projects in St. Louis, and she had the opportunity in 2010 to lead the spring break project with a colleague. In 2013, she began working with InterVarsity’s Black Campus ministries where she had the opportunity to work on a historically black university. Chioma and her husband Brian live in St. Louis and she is currently pursuing a career in law to address racial, economic, and social concerns.

Ferguson is 15 minutes from where my husband and I live and about 5 minutes from the campus I used to do ministry on, and I can tell you first hand – there is still a lot of pain here. There’s pain in realizing that my sons will be black men and as a result, targeted by the police. There’s pain in telling my brothers on the phone not to visit me in St. Louis out of fear for their lives if they are found “in the wrong place at the wrong time”. And I am wounded by white individuals, all professing faith in Jesus, that invalidate the pain I’m experiencing and tell me to wait for “the facts, before jumping to conclusions”. A “fact” for me is that we live in a country in which a black man can be shot and killed in Wal-Mart for holding a toy gun and that easily could be one of my family members.

We are dealing with several realities here. One that’s being highlighted right now is that every 28 hours, a black man is killed by law enforcement and, in the opinion of most of the black community, this is unjust. Another reality is that some white people do not understand the black narrative in the US and see this latest shooting as a stand alone incident that they can trust the justice system to work out. But in order for us to take action as disciples of Jesus, we MUST work under the reality that Christ Jesus is all-powerful, and He is present here and now to proclaim freedom for the oppressed and overcome racism and segregation.

As an evangelist, prophet and apostle, I firmly believe that the incidents in Ferguson are a call to action. But racism runs deep, so our action must be thought through carefully and take into consideration the history of the people group we come from. One of the best ways we can look to do this is through scripture. 1 Corinthians 12:21-25 says:

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

The white community needs the black community, the black community needs the white community, and both communities need the Asian and Latino community. But what this scripture indicates is that if the black community is considered weaker or less honorable in the eyes of society, then in the wake of this tragedy, they should actually be receiving special honor. One of the best ways to give special honor in this situation is to submit to black brothers and sisters in your community, and if you are local in St. Louis, submit yourself to the black church leadership in Ferguson. In order to take action, the white community must get behind what has already been happening in black communities and churches for decades: a fight for the God given justice and equality that the Lord intends for us.

Here are a few practical action steps that we can take in light of the 1 Corinthians passage above:

PRAY

As previously mentioned in “Three Ways to Engage With Ferguson”, if your heart is not in a place to say, “I need the black church and people of Ferguson to teach me”, an active step you can take is to ask the Lord to do that within you. God is the activator of change and action within us, and He’ll hear our cry. Fast and pray boldly for the bondage of racism to be broken in Ferguson and nationally.

HOST DISCUSSION & PRAYER EVENTS

It’s been encouraging that every other day I get an e-mail about another gathering discussing, brainstorming and praying about what God’s invitation is to us as His people. My husband and I are planning on opening our home in the next week to invite in anyone that wants to grieve, pray, and/or take action. Host an event in your home, dedicate a week of small group to discussion/prayer, and create environments that give people the opportunity to listen to Jesus’ voice, listen to one another, and respond/act appropriately.

LEARN FROM & GIVE PLATFORM TO BLACK VOICES

The question that’s constantly being asked is, “what can we do?” Because this death is sadly only a small part of the black community’s narrative, I guarantee that black folks around you have a gut level response to this question. If you have black colleagues, church members, or ministry partners, that you have trust built with, call them up. Have a conversation with them, try to understand their perspective, and use your avenues of power and influence to give them public platform. Make sure you back them up and repeat the importance of their voice, as this will help advocate for their voice in the white community.

HELP STOP “DERAILING”

Derailing refers to the tendency people of privilege have to “derail” the issue at hand into something that is not actually what minorities are attempting to address. The best example of this is the police revealing that Michael Brown had stolen a $48.99 pack of cigars on the same day they released the name of the officer that shot him. Jackson, the police chief, openly admitted that the robbery was completely unrelated to the death. After the police released this information, I’ve had multiple conversations with people that use the fact that he robbed this store to justify his death and invalidate the injustice I see in his murder. De-railing. Regardless of if he had stolen cigars, Brown’s life has value and why he died should be investigated fairly and thoroughly. If you are a person of privilege, your re-centering of conversations like this has more impact than you know.

GET INVOLVED PRACTICALLY

Huffington Post lists 10 ways you can practically help the people of Ferguson. This ranges from politics to donating directly to Brown’s family.

Jesus invites us into this because we are the light of the world. If the black community is being dishonored, He wants His people that are more honored in society to radically stand up and say, “This community has a voice and perspective that needs to be heard!” I pray that God would empower us to be tools of His call to racial reconciliation on earth as it is in heaven.