One in Christ: Help us to Breathe
The past week has seen massive anti-racist demonstrations raising awareness of police brutality and systemic racism in the US. Similar demonstrations across Europe have stood in solidarity and sought to raise awareness of the lived reality of people of colour. While criticisms rage on all sides, we asked a number of black Christians in Ireland to share their heart with the body of Christ here. Pastor Caleb Adewunmi reflects on racism and recent events.
RACISM - A PSYCHOLOGICAL COMMUNICABLE DISEASE
My wife and I arrived in Ireland over 12 years ago and we are raising four young children, all born in Ireland. Like many Christian Pastors in Ireland, I am bi-vocational. I worked in the private sector prior before moving to my current position with the Irish Civil Service working in the area of integration and service delivery.
My pastoral work centres majorly on helping young people to realise their potentials in Christ, encouraging them to shun all forms of juvenile delinquency and teaching them how to grow their faith in God’s word.
“No one is born racist, we are all born into this world with a clean slate. Racism is learned and can also be unlearned.”
Racism, in my opinion, is a psychological illness, it is a phobia born out a deep feeling of inferiority. I consider it to be a psychological disease passed from one generation to another, from family to family, from society to society and from people group to people group; the lists are endless.
Racism has nothing to do with whiteness. That is another stereotypical narrative that has to change.
I have had my own share of racist attacks here in Ireland, ranging from being told by a Filipino to go back to my country and another South African at work who said, “I don’t like you Nigerians”. So, I can categorically say racism is not synonymous only with being white.
On the flip side, there do exist so many racist white people. We come across them everywhere, at work, in our neighbourhood, at schools and in the wider community. A good example is the recent racist attack I encountered from a cruel and violent Irish person on a public bus.
All these people, are caught up in a web of fear and ignorance, which I call the single story. It pays to be educated about life, it isn’t enough having acquired the best qualifications and still be deficient of the basic qualification of love.
Worthy of mentioning also is the fact that there are quite a number of other dysfunctional attributes that are equally synonymous with racism, e.g extreme tribalism, hate crimes as a result of religious differences, discrimination and marginalisation based on membership of a group or sexual orientation etc.
John 3:16 says ‘’For God so love the world (ALL INCLUSIVE) that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’’.
RACISM AND COMMUNICATION
In Ireland, there exist strict laws against racism. Anyone caught in the act will be questioned by the Gardai and may likely face prosecution. Verbal racism is the most common form of racist abuse. However, racist people are getting smarter. According to the University of Califonia, Los Angeles Professor Albert Mehrabian who came up with a 7-38-55 formula for successful communication. He divided communication into three important elements:
55% of communication is by body language
38% of communication is based on tone or pitch level
7% of communication is verbal.
The 93% of non-verbal racist communication is gotten away with.
I CAN’T BREATHE
The recent murder of George Floyd by officer Derick Chauvin accompanied by three of his colleagues in the State of Minnesota in the United States was a callous act of racism born out of hatred and personal vendetta.
This is just one example but there are too many, which explains why hundreds of thousands trooped out en-mass in the US and the world over in support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Similar protests occurred in various places here in Ireland and as witnessed, many defied the lockdown and social distancing orders in place. While such acts seem unfair most especially considering so many deaths which occurred as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic. The protesters insisted, we either die by Covid-19 or by Racism, it’s a choice between the two.
The population of white especially young protesters far outnumbered the people of colour, this further attests to the fact that racism has nothing to do with whiteness.
“This new generation is sending out a clear message, we ain’t buying into those archaic cultures and practises of keeping quiet in the face of obvious racism.”
HELP US TO BREATHE
The onus now rests on our government here in Ireland to put in more strict measures in place to combat this menace and stamp it out of Ireland. There have been recent calls on the government to demand organisations to review their anti-racism policies.
I close by saying until you’re at the receiving end of racism, you may never comprehend its damaging effect and impacts on its victims and their families.
Pastor Caleb leads The Glorious Church Int’l, a young and growing church in Lucan, Co. Dublin. The church is an active member of the South Dublin County Public Participation Network (PPN).
