4/26/18

In part 1, a friend pointed out to me that I got off subject.

Oh, yeah, I did.

He also told me that I should get out into the community and talk to people to open up my understanding.

So, today, I did an interview.

It was my friend from my Bible Study. We will call him “James” to make the story flow.

I asked James if he thought the U.S. has a problem with racism.

He said, no, maybe 5%, but….

I asked if he had ever been stopped because he was black.

He said back in 1969, he and his wife were looking to move and they drove into Mesquite, to look at a house.

As soon as they got into the city limit, a police car pulled behind him, beeped his siren, and James pulled over.

The policeman asked him what he was doing, and James said they were looking at a house.

“Well, it might be a good idea for you to get back into your car and head on back to Dallas,” suggested the policeman.

James said, “Okay,” and left without an argument.

A similar thing happened to him and his wife a few weeks later as they pulled into a Realtors office in another little community east of Dallas.

Similar question, similar suggestion.

James said, “Yes sir.”

James tells me, “You know, I realized that those policeman were hired to keep peace in their neighborhoods. They were doing their jobs. They knew their town, they knew way more than I could ever know, and they were just trying to keep trouble away.”

“There was prejudice, but I figured that my attitude toward all this stuff was the important thing. Racism is up here and in here.” He pointed to his head, then his heart. “All that I was responsible for was my own reaction.”

I love this guy.

To be totally transparent (figuratively, not literally. I am literally not invisible)

James’ first three choices for president, in order, we’re Cruz, Trump, Carson.

He knows people who hate the white man.

He knows people who hate the black man.

But he told me that a person who wants to succeed in this country can, if he has the right attitude “up here.”

James tell me, in so many words, that the power of racism lies in the response of the receiver.

When James was born again, he began to see his value in the eyes of the God who loves him.

When someone looks down on him because of his race, we’ll, he feels sad for that person,

Because

That person doesn’t know the God who James loves,

Nor does he know the love of God.

Thanks, James, and I was only 30 minutes late to my appointment.