The year of two identifiable pandemics continues, unabated for the most part on the viral front and with debatable progress on the racial. At least a general consensus has been reached by most that both are threats to the public health of this nation. As the virus’ rates of infection and deaths surge (2,381,369 cases and 121,979 deaths in the U.S. as of the latest counts) especially in larger states that reopened despite warnings by health care experts, I sense a continuing uneasiness both within the general populace and the edifices of government. The attempt to control the spread of the coronavirus, coupled with quelling civil unrest prompted by racism and its tentacles of hatred, brutality and racial privilege has taken its toll. Small victories in some areas are promising but not enough. And the successes of other nations who have made significant turnarounds in dealing with COVID-19 is akin to a slap in the face to the “most powerful nation in the western world.”
Why are we continuing to struggle on both fronts? What impedes effective and lasting movement toward solutions? Depending upon whom you ask, the answers are muddled at best. Recently I came across a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that speaks eloquently to us during this season of our discontent. He wrote, “There comes a time when silence is betrayal…Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter… In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” This is such a time. From the least amongst us to the most powerful, it is time to end the silence. From whatever place you inhabit it is time to speak truth to power and demand change for the betterment of not the few, but all in whatever ways you can. It is time for people of faith to lead that movement toward justice on all fronts in a nation that identifies itself as “Christian.” Every Sunday morning the messages from all denominations whether in person or virtual ought be a condemnation of “the way we were,” and an embrace of policies and practices that lead to healing the body and the soul of the nation. When our leaders speak nonsense and spew ignorance, they should be challenged, not condoned by silent lips. Whether it is an issue of science, of recommended behavioral protocols to fight the virus or long over due reforms in police procedures or admission of the systemic racism as being inherent in the social fabric of this country, it is time to own the sins of forefathers that paint the portrait of who we are as a people now.
History will judge us; will reveal the truth of who we were during an unprecedented era. But more importantly, God will judge us. He who has allowed this turmoil to turn society upside down watches and waits. I’ve come to believe He has permitted these pandemics to test us; to see if we are who we proclaim; a people who worship and obey an omnipotent God; a God who expects “justice to roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream;” a God who has shown us what is good, and who requires of us “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly” with Him. There is no place in this time of pandemics for braggadocio, deceit, ignorance, or lack of empathy. When these imps take the stage, they must be challenged by words and deeds that expose them for what they are. We the people cannot afford to be silent any longer.
Love. Joy. Peace.