As you have gathered, I am from the South. A lot of people associate the American South with racism and backwardness. And to an extent, that is true. The South has definitely had its periods of hatred and bigotry and that kind of thing takes generations to phase out. The leaps and bounds since the Civil Rights Act in the 60s have been incredible in places like Mississippi, where I'm from. That's not to say we're perfect. Nobody is that. I've spent some time outside of Mississippi. I've been to South Africa, Boston, Colorado and California. I've done most of my traveling in the South, however. And my Master's degree in Southern Studies definitely comes in handy for looking at your own society in a way that can be critical. I like to say that I love the South, but don't like what individuals do in the South. But, in my opinion, there is definitely a discrimination of the South, especially Mississippi, from those outside the South and Mississippi. We in Mississippi have served as a whipping post for racial relations gone wrong. Here's the truth... as said by Malcolm X, "Mississippi is everywhere South of the Canadian border." That's definitely the case. When I was in South Africa, as an American, I was treated with respect and awe. However, the Afrikaans descendants who were on the trip were dismissed and even ignored and antagonized by Xhosa descendants. In Boston, we forget the consolidation of schools and integration being ignored and protested to the point of violence. Equally so, California has its own issues with illegal immigration and the Hispanic population and the Asian population. But especially, as I saw in Berkeley, the Pakistan culture and Indian culture. All this to say that there are whipping posts for each region.
In the theology sense, we discover since we are all dealing with discrimination in some form, that to me is the argument that we are all sinners and lucky for us, Jesus, the ultimate whipping post, died for our lack of perfection. But, anyone who knows the gospels also knows that Jesus tried his hardest NOT to be the whipping post. He prayed to God that he didn't have to die for everyone. But, obeying God, he did die on the cross.
Now, I'm not suggesting that we all become martyrs. That's not completely necessary since Jesus was the ultimate martyr. What I am saying is that we all need to realize that there is no Utopia where everyone gets along and treats each other kindly on this Earth. We all have out problems. We all have our judgments, whether or not we want to acknowledge them or not is up to us.
Jesus' story, especially his sacrifice, should put us both at ease and also up for a challenge. We should at least strive to not discriminate. We should attempt to be forgiving, even when it seems impossible. Jesus essentially threw down the gauntlet, issued the ultimate, "double dog dare you" in his example.
How this ties into being a young adult in my generation is that to other generations, we are being challenged and guided as a generation of, "good for nothings." We don't even have a generational name. We're not baby boomers, we're not the hippies of the 60s. We. Are. What. We. Are. Choosing to be. And, for most people in my generation, it is translated into rising to the occasion when others say, "you can't do that." We are rebellious and determined to correct the mistakes that other generations have made. That is very Christian and very noble. So I guess we're generation, "Watch what I can do."
Keep your eyes open, so you don't miss our miracles every day.
