What is the most significant factor in the origin of racism in this country?
- Racism began with the economics of colonialism. As the demand for cotton and tobacco, spices & silks rose and offered the promise of economic security for colonists, enslaving natives and Africans provided the cheap labor to raise the crop.
- Declaring Africans and Natives as inferior humans helped justify this behavior.
- Church theologians developed a religious rationale that helped prevent their membership deal with their guilt.
Racism is an ideology that places a person in a racial category or hierarchy to exploit them. Matthew 6:24
It is the competition between God & mammon.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord).
Racial Capitalism depends on the domination of one group over another. Skin color provided easy separation. Racism is not fundamentally about hate or ignorance rather it is about greed.
The 13th amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States.
If Christ is our Lord, and he demonstrated “servant ministry,” racism is defeated by self-sacrifice. Then there is no place for domination of one group over another.
If we learn to love each other, racism will fade. Or if the problem is ignorance: If we learn to know each other and our histories, we can heal the wounds of the past. In either case, it requires community and not individual ethics.Edit with Bricks
Susan Becker Peterson
Dear Steve, Your blogs are always positive and thoughtful expressions of what it means to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus. I’m so glad I’m already on your mailing list.
Blessings.
Sue Becker Peterson
Muskingum ’63!!