Race and Prejudice...

(The following post was originally written on May 23rd, 2014. I am transferring it over here from my previous blog site.)

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For the past few weeks, racial issues have commanded the forefront of our media headlines.

From the issues of the owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers Donald Sterlings derogatory comments about the African-American community and specifically Ervin "Magic" Johnson to Dallas Maverick's Owner and Entrepreneur Mark Cuban stating his view, "I mean, we're all prejudiced in one way or another. If I see a black kid in a hoodie and it's late at night, I'm walking to the other side of the street. And if on that side of the street, there's a guy that has tattoos all over his face -- white guy, bald head, tattoos everywhere -- I'm walking back to the other side of the street. And the list goes on of stereotypes that we all live up to and are fearful of. So in my businesses, I try not to be hypocritical. I know that I'm not perfect. I know that I live in a glass house, and it's not appropriate for me to throw stones."*1

Since this has come out, everyone who has a mouth, social media account or a blog has shared their two cents about what was said. So I figured "hey why not share what I think as well"?

In sharing my views on all of this I want to start off by sharing my ethnic background for those who aren't aware.

I was born in Brooklyn, New York.

My dad is of Puerto Rican and Greek heritage.

My mom is of Puerto Rican, and African-American heritage.

So when you add all of this up, I am a melting pot of ethnicities.

My wife is of Caucasian and European heritage.

My son is more of a melting pot than I am...

Ok so now that we got this out, I want to say that I personally have been affected by the issue of Race and Prejudice in our culture, and the sad part about it is that my first experience of prejudice wasn't in the public school system or the job field, it was in Bible college.

I remember when I first got to Bible college. I looked around and introduced my self to some people and for the first time in my life I received looks of confusion. People didn't understand why I spoke the way that I did, why I acted how I acted, why I LOVED hip-hop music or why I dressed how I dressed.

I immediately realized that while I was called by God to go into ministry and learn at a Bible college, this specific one didn't make me feel as if I belonged. There were a certain few who embraced me but for the most part I was misunderstood...

I spent five long years at a school where I was loved by few and looked at differently by many.

During my internship and after graduation I experienced this prejudice more and more, especially at the churches that I served at.

I remember a lady coming up to me saying, "Wow, I just love your ethnic hair". Really?

I also had comments like "You speak too fast, you need to slow down when you talk to people like us". People like us...

I have been passed up on jobs because of my skin color and my background to people that I had a far superior resume and experience in that specific field.

I share all of this not to sound as if I'm complaining but to draw attention to the issue of prejudice in our churches. We hear what's going on in the media and we scream "foul" but yet we don't look at the plank in our own eye.

What I have learned in my years of dealing with the ignorant comments and looks of certain people, is that everyone has a prejudice and I am glad that Mark Cuban spoke out on that. If you don't know what he said feel free to google it.

I attribute the issue of prejudice with ignorance and fear. Ignorance in the sense of not knowing or choosing to know, and fear in the sense of the fear of the unknown. We fear what we don't know and what we don't know is how our words and actions affect others.

So how do we fix this problem?

We get out of our "tribes" and instead we choose  to learn more about people who look different than we look.

Notice how I used the word choose. I say that because this goes against everything that we feel and have been raised to feel. We've been raised to stick with our own and appreciate our own but we haven't been raised to learn about the next man.

A friend of mine used to use the phrase "Birds of a feather flock together". This is a mindset that Christ followers have to break.

If the issues of race and prejudice are going to change in our culture, it first has to change in the church.

Galatians 3:28:(NLT)

"28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus."

(*1 quote credited to (credit to [embed]http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/_/id/10968237/mark-cuban-dallas-mavericks-discusses-own-prejudices-how-handles-them[/embed])