Okay, I'm still kind of worked up about a Facebook posting by one of my (now former) Facebook friends this morning. If any of you are also friends with her, you know who I mean, but many if not post of you are not, so this will sound vague, but it raises some issues I want to address here (I've already posted a comment on the status them removed her from my friends list).
The woman is question is someone I came to know through conference activities. She has a local and regional leadership position with youth, in a different town. As it turns out, she was baptized by my great-grandfather, Elmer Andrews. We have had a decent working relationship till now, I felt. She has posted a lot of very political things on her Facebook, which I personally find unfitting for someone in pastoral leadership (she is not a pastor but has a ministry position) but as she is not a professional clergy, I simply "hid" her from my news feed so I didn't have to read it (I don't mind political postings, it's ones filled with invectives that I block--don't worry, I haven't blocked people just for political reasons!).
Today, however, the tone of her status made it impossible for me to ignore--though in fact I would not have seen the post if my husband had not pointed it out to me.
In her post, she described her frustration with the Hispanics at a local state park. Now, I understand frustration, but I do not condone the mean and ethnic-directed tone of her remarks. I am certain (for I have seen it) that any ethnic group is capable of poor manners, whites absolutely not to be excepted. She berated the behavior of the Hispanic visitors to the park, repeatedly reminding her Facebook audience of their ethnicity. She also made the remark I have, unfortunately, heard before, about being upset at hearing so much Spanish.
Okay, let me just say this now. Saying this to me is a sure way to make me question your decency and intelligence. And, honestly, to personally offend me. Now I get that not understanding someone's language is difficult. I lived in Greece for four months. I have often (including till today) hosted people from Korea. It is very difficult to not know the language. But you know what? We've all been (or our families have been, if we've not been fortunate enough to travel or live internationally) in that situation.
I noted in my reply to her status that I was personally offended because my own ancestors spoke German and were shunned for that. In fact, our church, the United Brethren, was kept out of the Methodist Church for YEARS because at first we did not speak English fully. Another commented remarked it is about ASSIMILATION (her caps). Bull$6!#. My ancestors did not speak English at first, but after several generations they did. The same will likely be true for current Hispanic immigrants (even if we assume the goal should be such uniformity that exists hardly anywhere else in the world--are we less capable of navigating these challenges than many third world countries?). We have the privilege of hosting a program at Manidokan put on by a non-profit that promotes cultural awareness and positive life choices for Hispanic youth. Some do not speak English well, but as I have learned, many of those are newly arrived in the US. Many first generation youths, not to mention second generation (as was the case for my German ancestors) speak both English and Spanish quite well.
I don't want to address the political issues here, of which I know there are many. I do not feel that basic hospitality and accepting that the world does not revolve around us, is a political issue. It is an issue of graciousness and love. Interacting between cultures is not easy, but there are many issues that affect our interactions--economic status and age are also major issues, amongst a whole litany of others.
The truth is that things are never simple, and that is why I quickly lose respect for people who try to make them so. Yes it is easier to vilify or insult an entire ethnic group. But that only displays laziness and ignorance.
All that said, we will all disagree. But those of us in leadership in the church are particularly called to be cautious of expressing our own views in a way so as to offend our brothers or sisters. That an opinion can be shared without being offensive is certain. This same woman could have expressed frustration in such a way that no one took her comments as racist. Unfortunately, she chose not to do so. And that shows not only her unfortunate views, but also, and perhaps more glaringly, her poor judgment in posting them given her position. Some will respond, "Shouldn't she be able to say whatever she wants?" Well, yes, if she wants to be perceived in that way, but I disagree with the assumption that we ought all to share every thought we have in the very way we first have it. Navigating that challenge of self-editing is a skill that comes with maturity. Unfortunately, maturity is not an inevitable by-product of the passing of time.
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