Churches in response to the racist comments and prejudices within our communities and daily lives teach us to pray over these issues, but prayer alone will not solve our problems. I ask of my readers to hear me out and consider taking heed to my advice. Prayer, if you have any religious affiliation (even if you don’t) works to a certain extent, we as a society need to step up and show what our prayers have been, by example. By example, I dare you to spread love and show that you are against this profiling and hate. These riots and protests are not the examples we should be putting off. As Trevor Noah of the Daily Show stated, “If you’re not careful you’ll become the hate that you’re protesting against.” The protests occurring all across the country are hurting me and the people around me. We are quick to say that we are The United States, but as of Election Day we are not united.
To begin, I am not trying to enforce religion; however, I want to address people of all backgrounds. As of asking around and experiencing this through some of the church groups I participate in, we are told to pray over the racism, discrimination, and hatred within our country, but we are not taught to act upon what we believe in. The Amplified version of the scripture, James 2:17 quotes, “Faith without works is dead.” This is portraying the nonreligious quote, “If you can’t talk the talk, then don’t walk the walk.” So basically, if you are talking about these issues and not acting, why are you saying anything at all? Why do we as people fear to act in the reason of love and still allow others to promote hate? The love needs to be spread within our communities, leading by example, by sitting next to that person who no one talks to, by being that person who is there for their minority friends, and by being the one who speaks out and protects/defends our neighbors. The amount of hate and chaos cannot be solely fixed by prayer, but to be fixed by the actions of you and your intentions to spread happiness and love.
Dare to act, not just pray or sit back. For instance, with or without religion we were raised with morals but lately, I have not been seeing them put into effect. Our morals are the refuge we seek, but what happens when morals are no longer in play? I should not have to hear from any of my community members, colleagues, friends, family, etc. that they are scared to leave their homes. I do not just dare you to act, but I challenge you. I challenge you to step outside your comfort zone, test those boundaries, and put yourself out there even though you are scared. Prove that you are above them and you are better than the protesters by standing united. During the rest of this year and the following year, I would like to see more involvement within communities and a sense of security throughout all people.
Don’t just pray, act! Let us represent the country we say we are, not the opposite. As a final statement I would like to quote one of my favorites by Charles Swindoll,
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our Attitudes."
