Spiteful Black Attitude


“Hey you flipping moron!  Geez.”  You’ve probably thought that, or something close while driving; or, “They did that to me because I’m _____.”  How about that one?  A bigoted mindset is typically knee-jerk, willful or pre-meditated; is spiteful, vindictive or defensive; and generally includes two words: “they” and “because.”  I understand stereotypes can drift that direction, but bigotry lives there.  Don’t stop reading…you likely need to think this through and will come to the wrong conclusion if you don't. 

Here’s my experience this week.  I’m shocked this came out of me, but since it did, learn from my mistake.

I was in a food-court line waiting for amazing chicken teriyaki: man is it good!  A beautiful African American woman was to my left.  She turns, very rudely walks in front of my guest and me and never considers offering an “excuse me.”  You could tell she felt owed.  She was black, comes from a history of mistreated people and was making sure we knew she had rights.  Yep…the last two sentences were the first thing I thought.  My first thoughts weren’t, “Man, I wonder what is making her day bad?  I wonder if there is a way I can cheer her up?”  What is the difference between the two sets of thoughts?  Bigotry.

I’m grateful to God when He shows me my own depravity.  I want to see it!  I don’t want that in my life.  I have friends of color: white, brown, black, olive; and, the thing that keeps me from thinking bigoted thoughts toward my friends is my love for, and familiarity with, them.  God help me to love people in their entirety, to become familiar with each people of every background, so that even when strangers are rude, I don’t revert to bigoted thoughts as explanations; let me be as the Apostle Paul who wrote, “…from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view” (1 Cor. 5:16 NIV).

 BTW: When this was titled "Convenient Bigotry" people didn't want to read it. Interesting how a title change affects the reader. 

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