The New Wine Press vol 26 no 2 October 2017 | Page 11

Peace & Justice
Antiracism protest: " They wanted to bury us but they forgot we are seeds. #We are united." Wikimedia Commons
This Is Us
by Tim Deveney, Director of Precious Blood Volunteers
Disasters are often times when people rally around
each other. The outpouring of support for people and
communities whose lives have been devastated, inter-
rupted, or taken is often overwhelming. It often breaks
down barriers that might usually get in the way of
normal human interaction.
There is a meme being widely shared on social
media about how “this is us” and “this is not us.” The
picture at the top is of a young, strong white man
dressed in camouflage pants carrying a woman of
color with her baby through floodwaters in what is
presumably Houston, Texas after Hurricane Harvey
dumped several feet of rain in a matter of days. The
bottom part of the meme—that is captioned by “This
is Not Us”—features two pictures. The first is neo-Nazi
and neo-Confederate protestors in Charlottesville.
The other is three members of Antifa (a militant anti-
fascist group).
The first picture illustrates the inherent goodness
of people being willing to walk through waters that
are possibly tainted with chemicals and disease to
rescue someone they do not know and might other-
wise have nothing to do with. Both of those are us.
As human beings, we have great capacity for good.
People are willing to run into burning buildings to
save other people or pets. There are those who have
been willing to stand up against the injustices they
see in their communities without thought about how
them taking a stand against powerful forces might
affect them personally.
While I agree with the first part of this meme I
strongly object to the characterization of the second
part. Both of those are us. We have great capacity and
tolerance for violence in our culture that is represented
both by the neo-Nazi/neo-Confederate protestors and
by Antifa. Our culture still bears the stains of the sins
of racism and the neo-Nazi/neo-Confederate banner
represent the worst of our racism.
As people of the Precious Blood we have an impor-
tant role to play. Our roles should involve promoting
reconciliation through honesty, standing with those
who are suffering, and being people who are willing to
engage in tough conversations about racism.
We are not only called to work against the perni-
cious racism in our society, but also to be honest about
it. Being honest is hard, but reconciliation cannot
happen until people come forward and speak in truth
about their role in the sins of racism and violence. This
is being honest about who we are and naming the evil
in our world. In the United States, we have a difficult
time being honest about the history and legacy of rac-
ism. We need to be forthright in acknowledging that
the original sin in the United States is racism—and
how some of us have benefitted, and continue to ben-
efit, from the durable legacy of structural and cultural
racism. We need to be honest about how racism hurts
us as human beings and has real life impacts on educa-
tion, housing, employment, and how people of color
are treated in the legal system. Part of this honesty
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