Moving Forward…because there really isn’t any other option
“But God is the God of the waves and the billows, and they are still His when they come over us; and again and again we have proved that the overwhelming thing does not overwhelm. Once more by His interposition deliverance came. We were cast down, but not destroyed.”
— Amy Carmichael
My heart is heavy as I write this. I don’t think I have ever been more simultaneously disappointed and afraid. This GOP victory means a lot of things. Now that Republicans have the potential to hold a majority in all three of our branches of government, we are on the brink of unrestrained conservatism. The reality that our democratic system that relies on checks and balances will be so skewed to one side alone should give us pause, but that is not the most poignant reason for my discouragement and concern.
If this electoral race succeeded in anything, it was in revealing to America and the world that we are not post-racial. It is painful to note that the successor to our first black president is a racist bigoted sexist xenophobic white supremacist. That is no accident. President Barack Obama ran under the mantel of change — change that we have indeed seen in joining the ranks of countries in the developed world with universal healthcare, with increasingly diverse government officials, a stabilized economy and so much more. What the Republican president-elect represents is something I can scarcely call conservatism — it is regressionism. His aim is to bring us back to a time of dark and insidious oppression.
The truly scary thing is that the rhetoric we’ve become accustomed to hearing and the culminating election results have served to normalize things that should never be accepted.
I’ve already come to see a lot of posts about moving forward with tomorrow and how things will all be okay in the end. As a woman of color, I don’t have the luxury of believing that. This election changes things for me. I live in the Deep South. The results of this election free people to express the fullness of their racism in terrifying ways now that it has been affirmed by its representation in our highest office in the land. This changes things for me and for my people. This changes things for the marginalized and oppressed.
But we will move forward. I believe in a God that cares for the poor. That cares for the downtrodden and left out. I believe in a Jesus that cares about women, and Black people, and Native Americans, and Latinxs, and the LGTBQIA community, and Asians, and those with disabilities. And yes, I believe He cares about the rich and about white people too. It is because of that care that this outcome will not leave me silent.
Over the past few years, I’ve been navigated through my voice on social issues — at once carrying the weight of understanding the oppression while clinging to the hope of God’s grace. I know I sound harsh at times and I’m okay with that. I believe there is a time and a place for anger in matters of injustice.
What I have to say is this; the results of this election have shown just how uphill the battle is toward justice and equality in our country. We now see how pervasive the racism is and how blind people are to their own othering. We now see just how far we have to go. But this knowledge will have to be used to plan our route and chart our course.
Since I was a young girl I was taught to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” I believe in Heaven we will see people of all backgrounds worshiping our Heavenly Father. I believe He will celebrate all of the things that uniquely make us who we are and we will rejoice redeemed before Him. I believe in God’s kingdom our hierarchies will be gone and racism, sexism, discrimination and oppression will be no more. So I will keep moving forward living out of that prayer and I invite each of you to join me.
I grieve the results of this election. I fully embrace this sorrow as an acknowledgement that things are not right. But though I feel cast down, I know I am not destroyed. I believe in God’s grace to overcome even this and to work it for good and I believe that my action in continuing to voice against injustice — continuing to call the evil for what it is — is a part of that working.
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