Comments on: Bridging the Racial Divide

By: Danielle M.

Danielle M. — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:53:21 +0000

P.S.S. Based on my eye witness, I see more Hispanics becomming bilingual but still preferring to speak Spanish in public though they know English. And though there have always been places like Chinatown and Germantown, there have always been places where Chinese and Germans did assimilate and if you lived near an area you didn't feel comfortable with you could always move from there-but now every state has a growing population of people who would have Americans reverse assimilate to them instead of the other way around. That's wrong.

By: Danielle M.

Danielle M. — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:48:22 +0000

P.S. I myself am half Hispanic but am loyal to the country I live in, and my family did assimilate. I also have a handful of Hispanic friends, and many more friends of other races: black, Asian, Caribbean Indian, and several Native Americans, in addition to whites…this is not about the color of their skin or anything else that they cannot help-this is about the attitude of their hearts, and that which is changeable.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:39:50 +0000

Weldon,

We are called to love everyone, yes, but be stepped on and walked on without resistance, NO. The first century Church was pacifist, but (I forget whether it was Paul of Peter, sorry) one of the afore-mentioned actually talked back to a governmental official. And Ghandi, though not a Christian, "talked back" through his actions toward an oppressive government. I will do the same.

You apparently don't care if America becomes "Latinized"-well I for one do-because that would mean I no longer have a place to practice my own culture and language in peace!!! And there is nothing Biblically correct about that-someone forcing someone to give up their homeland by force. I refuse to speak Spanish on the job to speak to people who live here permanantly because that is a violation of my freedom of speech and enslavement to another culture, and I refuse to reward those who are rude with their language and think evil of my nation by singing their language in church services! I am not against people having their own worship services in their own language-Jews have their services in Hebrew, Greeks have their Greek Othodox services in Greek-that in and of itself is not a threat to this nation and has never been in the past-but for someone to interrupt English services shows they don';t think we are worthy to worship God in our language-this is dead wrong-and must be stopped. The Bible says that love is not RUDE-and this thing does not act in love.

Lastly, I have lived in South FL for all of my life and living in Miami I have experienced open hostility almost on a daily basis by these people-perhaps some of what is online is bogus, but alot of the info mirrors what I experienced, and so I KNOW it's true. I have joined ALIPAC and NumbersUSA, which are fair, non rascist organizations.

Thanks you for your time.

By: Jay Guin

Jay Guin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:58:56 +0000

Weldon,

Thanks. That's very helpful.

All,

Illegal immigration and such have become highly polarized, highly political issues. My request is that Christians be careful to reach their conclusions on Christian grounds, and not Republican or Democratic grounds.

That means we begin with faith in Jesus and love for our neighbors — Hispanic, Anglo, and otherwise. Christians aren't allowed to love Americans only or even to love Americans more. All arguments that proceed from selfishness or even self-interest are disallowed.

That doesn't mean that bankrupt the US (that wouldn't be very loving), but it does mean we step outside the American culture of self-interest and ask how God wants us to respond to the plight of the poor in Latin America.

By the way, I have a series in mind — just not sure how soon I'll get it to it. It won't be about politics per se. It'll be about mission — because that's what we're supposed to be about.

By: Weldon

Weldon — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:51:04 +0000

Danielle, please don’t take this the wrong way, but if you’re getting most of your facts from the internet you should be aware that there is a lot of hateful xenophobic stuff out there. You have to have a critical eye.

Rice University did a high-quality study of some of the issues that you bring up. (www.has.rice.edu/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=250) It shows (among other things) that approximately 98% of third (or later) generation Hispanic Americans speak English fluently. Approximately 88% of second generation Hispanic Americans speak English fluently. Of the third generation cohort, only about 17% self identify as “primarily Hispanic” and only about 14% believe that the U.S. should increase the number of immigrants admitted to the country within the next 10 years. These numbers speak more to assimilation rather than the “Latinization of America.” To quote the study directly:

These are compelling indications of movement into the American cultural mainstream.
The increasing internalization of the language and culture of America is as much a function
of length of time in this country among Latinos today as it was a century ago for the
Germans in Texas or the Swedes in Minnesota.

All the political considerations aside, say we do become a “Latinized” country, so what? We are still called by Christ to love people and to accept them regardless of cultural differences.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

By: Danielle

Danielle — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:20:27 +0000

I'm all for inclusion of all races in church services but are you not aware that Hispanics in the U.S. are advancing an agenda that includes the replacement of the American culture and American English with their own culture and language when they are supposed to be the majority ethnic group in America a few decades down the road? Yahoo search "Latinization of America" and read as many articles as you can especially written by Hispanics and you'll see what I mean. They want to first be the dominant culture/language, then absorb all other cultures here into their own, the mainstream American culture and Native American cultures included. Some of them are Communists and want to change the government also. I grew up being taught that one public language (American English)unites all Americans, and strongly feel that only Native Americans (Cherokee, Sioux, and other indigenous peoples to this continent) should be exempt from that rule. It is unfair and unjust that I should have to learn another language to get a job speaking to people living permantly within my nation, be bombarded daily with hearing the Spanish language every time I leave the house, and bilingual signs in stores and now churches from different denominations are now forcing stated English language services to sing in Spanish. This shows me they are not content with having their own launguage services, they want to DOMINATE by not allowing me to worship in my own language in peace!!! I've been bombarded by these people for over thirty years here in South FL and feel I'm going to go mad if somebody doesn't stop and care about MY rights to preserve MY culture too! I've WALKED OUT of 4 services in protest now-none of these were CoC but I am totally disgusted with anyone who doesn't care about respecting me after I've been "kicked in the face" so many times by these people. I've read on the internet the Hispanics are going to every state and wherever they go the local culture is weakened by their presence because they are the first immigrant group which (cohesively as a majority,not just a few) refuses to be polite and speak our language. They want to punish all Americans because of our politics to their home countries, which most of them are still loyal to over America, plus the war that annexed half of Mexico's land to the U.S. I was stuck growing up in Miami and I watched it go from an American city to something unAmerican…. I cannot endure the cruelty of being forced to give up EVERYplace in America to these people-if this happens I will have no place on the planet to live out my own culture in peace-do you think I'll have my own cultural space outside the U.S., if not inside? Most other nations still have common sense to protect their own cultures and languages from annilation, and would insist that I assimilate if I moved out of the U.S. Churches, ESPECIALLY NT churches, should be encouraging Hispanics (as well as all other immigrant groups) to learn English and keep their Spanish to themselves just as other immigrant groups have never suceeded in forcing new languages upon the American people in the past. And as far as intermarriage, all children born in America to an American parent regardless of race need to consider themselves American first, not foreign and not a "hybrid" between a foreigner and an American -I've read in those online articles that the Hispanics are seeing intermarriage with Americans the same way the first waves of white settlers to this country saw intermarriage to Native Americans…to kill off their culture by having the resulting children become less and less Native (by outnumbering the Natives and absorbing their cultures into their own) and more and more white! Two wrongs don;t make a right, and what is really happening is a spread of the Spanish Empire! I say a Jezebel spirit is at work, and we need to stop being "Ahab"-please find another way to include immigrants from other countries without compromising my culture-good old potlucks with all kinds of foods from every place in the world never hurt anyone, for exm aple! yes we are a melting pot, but there is an established culture here and the melting pot adds without taking away what is already there-but these people don;t want to do it the way it's always been done. PLEASE hear and pray about what I have to say.

By: Gary Cummings

Gary Cummings — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:01:05 +0000

I feel sorry for those who suffered a 100 years of discrimination and racism from a group which called itself "The Lord's Church". The 60's were different than the 70's. George Wallace repented of his actions and racist ideology before he died. God bless him for that. We can all repent of sin and that includes racism. Jim Crow and not the Gospel was the rule of faith among the Churches of Christ from 1898 till the last century.

By: Rich

Rich — Sun, 17 May 2009 21:20:09 +0000

Gary,

I am sorry you had those experiences. Mine have been different.

I have been a member of five cofC's since a teenager in 1972. All have been multi-racial. As a teenager I hung out quite often with a couple of African-American girls in the youth group including holding hands at teen roller skating parties. I never heard any complaints. I didn't formally date them in fear of my segregationist parents who were associated with another brand church.

We, as a nation and society, probably still have a lot to learn on this topic.

By: Gary Cummmings

Gary Cummmings — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:51:14 +0000

I was with the COC from 1965 to 1971, and I saw a lot of racism at Fort Worth Christian College with both administration, faculty and students. Not all were racist, many were, and racism was sanctioned by silence and some overt actions. Some professors at FWCC thought segregation was fine because: (1) they did not want blacks to marry their sisters or daughters, (2) it was the way of the culture and the church should not oppose the culture. I grew up in the segregated South, and I saw the colored only fountains, restaurants, backs of the buses and the like. I thought when I became a Christian and followed Jesus that the "Lord's Church" would be different. It was not. The racial ethics were the same as the world.
ACU was racist as well, they made a couple go tell there parents they were dating: she was blonde and attractive, and he was very black. What is wrong with this picture? When ML King was assassinated, the few Black students were taken to a special "chapel" service and told not to cause any trouble. Among the students the racism was evident in many of the Southern students, and racism was NEVER addressed as a sin in any ACC chapel.

Later, after I left the COC, I found a book of American Church history called "White Racist Churches". The Churches of Christ were listed as one of these.

Now sometime in 2000 +/- Royce Money of ACU issued an apology for the racism of ACC. That was a 102 year old history of racism finally addressed. The Money had the audacity to say , the apology was not meant to state the COC "was not the Lord's Church" just because it was racist.

Humm. I am glad these days are over for the most part. I live in the South and love the South, but racism is a sin and those who practice it are not saved.

By: Jay Guin

Jay Guin — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:20:03 +0000

Andy,

That's wonderful news. I'm sure God will use you powerfully to teach them about Jesus.