To reconcile what has become divided

Seems to me we need to do some serious thinking on the topic of racism, beginning with recognizing that it exists on two levels: the personal and the corporate.

A story: The Nepalese Gurkhas gained renown as mercenary fighting units for mainly the British in India. After Indian Independence in 1947, they were given the choice of serving in the Indian or British Army. A minority chose the Indian army and served on the Indian sub-continent, but were always looked down on (personal racism) as the dirty Nepalese and were paid poorly compared to Indian soldiers. When Gurkha soldiers retired from soldiering, they received no support from India, were disallowed from owning property (corporate racism) and were basically persona non grata in their neighbourhoods.

Not identical to--but showing similarities to the situation of the descendants of slaves in the Americas and Indigenous populations in the USA, Canada and elsewhere--Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss has a wonderful description of what can go on in the consciousness of a member of a visible minority when events like the killing of George Floyd happen. This is about Gyan, an underemployed, underpaid Nepalese inhabitant of India as he joins with an insurgent movement:

"For a moment all the different pretenses he had indulged in, the shames he had suffered, the future that wouldn’t accept him—all these things joined together to form a single truth.

"The men sat [in the canteen] unbedding their rage, learning, as everyone does in this country, at one time or another, that old hatreds are endlessly retrievable.

"And when they had disinterred it, they found the hate pure, purer than it could ever have been before, because the grief of the past was gone. Just the fury remained, distilled, liberating. It was theirs by birthright, it could take them so high, it was a drug. They sat feeling elevated, there on the narrow wood benches, stamping their cold feet on the earth floor."

Like Paul to Timothy, we are urged to “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” What do we need to learn here? 

Obviously, looking at a visible minority member from the outside will differ from his/her view from the inside. Can we get a faithful perspective without hearing from the police, the indigenous people and people of colour? Not easy in a time of pandemic.

To declare that we are not individually racist (personal) may not be enough, may not even be important, but where corporate racism continues to exist, we can be sure that personal discrimination and racism may well follow. And from places like India, Columbia, USA, Canada, Nicaragua, Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain, China/Hong Kong, etc., we should have learned by now that where corporate discrimination persists, violence often follows.

These are surely times for churches to give at least some of their energy to the breaking down of corporate and personal prejudice and racism. What might that mean in your church, in mine? We dare not declare ourselves in solidarity with a side, neither that of the protesters nor the justice establishment; our calling is to make peace, to do our bit to reconcile what has become divided, to offer ideas for change that might accomplish at least some of what would make for a better world. 

Our solidarity is with all who share the planet.

Perhaps that’s what we need to “study.” Eh?

gg.epp41@gmail.com for comments.