#UnlearnPrejudice
It was a beautiful Saturday morning and I hit the road early, running from my house on my usual
training route towards Muizenberg Beach, and then onto the picturesque St. James walkway
hugging the coastline leading to all the way down to Kalk Bay. As I was running, enjoying my
podcast fix, I started wondering about all the people I was passing. I found myself greeting some
but not others. A few people I passed were also training, while others were walking, fishing,
sitting along the path, mostly harmless, while still other people seemed homeless, like thugs,
invoking immediate suspicion. With each of those snap assessments I was making a host of
assumptions about the general stereotype that each kind of person I passed invoked within me.
I made all these assumptions about people without any prior knowledge of who they were, nor
even speaking the simplest greeting to them. To be blunt, I was judging them. I concluded that
because someone ooked a certain way I needed to be more careful because maybe they would try
and mug me, while by contrast, this person looked well-kept, and thus must be safe, a friendly
greeting directed their way appropriate. Almost without a deliberate decision, my unconscious
mind was pre-judging every single person I passed on the path, directly influencing my behavior
toward them.
Our minds are naturally wired this way, making a million snap assumptions primarily designed
to maintain our safety and overall well-being. The vast majority of these assumptions happen
unconsciously, helping us to function as normal. Can you imagine the deep exhaustion in having
to make mindful decisions about every little thing each day? The problem with these
assumptions lies in how we pre-judge people when we ourselves are broken and flawed. We all come from different backgrounds. I am reminded of Stephan Joubert's recent blog,
Jesus Is Not Middle Class, where Stephan challenges us to admit that we all have prejudice within us that we need to continue working hard to address with honesty.
I was watching The Daily Show with Trevor Noah the other day and he introduced one of his
segments by saying, "If you do not speak privilege..." Immediately struck by this phrase, I
thought to mself, “This is the reality for so many: If you are privileged your view on life is very
different from someone who is poor.” And here's the kicker: Neither person is more valuable than the other. We all need each other to understand the world and learn to love in a way that Jesus does. He never acted with prejudice, treating all with the same intrinsic value.
God hates when we do wrong, when we hurt others and ourselves, but He still loves us the same.
Is this attitude not the one we should model our own lives after? Hate racism but love the racist?
Hate the crime but love the criminal? For this is exactly what God chose in loving me.
In Romans 2:4, Paul so beautifully writes "It is His kindness that lead us to repentance.”
Bringing God's kingdom of heaven to earth will require us to act in kindness and love towards those very same people our prejudices make us want to desperately avoid. And for everyone thatjourney will be different because our prejudice is different.
So I want to start, admitting that I am prejudiced and that I make false assumptions about
people based solely on how they look and speak. My prayer it that the Holy Spirit will help me
to unlearn prejudice, teaching me to love in kindness those I feel prejudice towards, good or
bad. May we all learn to love like Jesus.
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Note: If you would like to admit that you are prejudiced, making false assumptions about people,
please use the hashtag #UnlearnPrejudice on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter to continue this
conversation.