Racism is a sin that has been biblically established. It was and is America’s original sin. Racism is notoriously both implicit and explicit, but covert and overt racism must be acknowledged and repented. When racism is made explicit and overt in the public arena, it must be named and called out for what it is — especially when the comments come from the president of the United States. Donald Trump’s tweeted and spoken racial assaults on four women of color, duly elected to the U.S. Congress, are a public sin that must be called out. Who will do that and who will not?
Trump’s tweets and comments telling the four members of Congress — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib — to go back to the countries they came from is painfully reminiscent of what people and families of color have been told from the moment they arrived in America by far too many white people — all of whom were also immigrants at some point or were white settlers who stole the lands of Indigenous Peoples and tried to wipe them away.
There is one thing from Donald Trumps’ tweets I agree with. It was when he said, “[see] you at the ballot box!” He’s right. And that asks all of us where the moral courage will come from among faith leaders, business leaders, and political leaders across the political spectrum before the ballots are cast in 2020. What will Christians say and do and how will they vote? Silence in the face of public evil is a fundamentally moral issue — and is a matter of faith.
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