Through my eyes

I recently had a second experience where I was the only ethnic minority female in a room of about 40 for four days straight. Some of you may be wondering "so what's the big deal?"

I have to admit, I used to think that if even people of the majority experienced the same thing (being the only one in the room), they would feel just as uncomfortable. Then I listened to the stories of a few people from the majority who experienced being a minority in in gender or race and I realized it is EXTREMELY different.

During their experiences these people still knew that they were highly favored and accepted by society, holding all the power even in their immersion experiences. The barriers to a true minority experience has everything to do with power. If a group of majority people are aware that they will soon be free of an uncomfortable situation and have all that they need, they are not truly experiencing the discrepancies a minority feels every day.

Recently a friend asked me to explain the reasoning behind people protesting in Ferguson regarding the Wilson-Brown case. As best I could, I explained that whether or not the situation was started by Michael Brown, the way it was finished by Wilson was unnecessarily dramatic and only surfaced what ethnic minorities (especially African-Americans & Hispanics) have felt for a very long time.

I believe many Americans have unaddressed anger issues that having continued to be sparked over time. It is just over a century after slavery was abolished (1865), less than 60 years since Brown vs BOE (1955) and not to long after President Johnson signed the Voting Rights act (1965) that stopped states from discriminating against ethnic minorities. You can say that's all history but in the 90's, I grew up in the Bronx borough of New York City and visibly saw the educational, business, & lifestyle differences in lower income communities. The power is still in the hands of the majority.

Our nation is hurt because this is still a very real thing. During this experience I had recently, I took a walk with some co-workers. It isn't uncommon for me to be the only minority with my job and so I have been getting used to how they treat me. Although I'm not as comfortable, it's not always their fault and definitely not deliberate. It wasn't until we walked into a pottery shop in Winchester, VA that I was brutally reminded by a customer there that I am different. She wouldn't clear the entrance way for me to enter and told me the owner was too busy to see me. Later a co-worker who saw this happen apologetically asked how I was. "What am I going to do? It is what it is." I responded.

As I've been sitting on these thoughts, I wanted to share something a director in my organization shared regarding the Ferguson events and his own experience in the majority but also a Christian.

I want to face my biases head on. I want to take the time to listen and understand the experiences and pain of my brothers and sisters. I want to pray for the lack of unity in the body and work to mend that fracture.

Unity does not come easily or cheaply. It requires hard work, time and selflessness. It asks us to consider others as more important than ourselves and to be willing to be uncomfortable as we work through years of hurt. Make no mistake, this is a spiritual battle that the evil one will not give up easily.

Is it a question of culture or comfort?

In my last blog entry, I talked about how being an ethnic minority within a large Christian organization can sometimes feel like I'm at the top of a see-saw type table, forced to slide towards the majority culture weighing heavy at the bottom. I don't think anyone truly enjoys the feeling of not being able to freely be themselves, but let's be honest, who's fault is that? (I'm gonna ruffle some feathers with this one.)

The need for a united diverse picture:

If there is a mass of people on one side of the table, not coming to my side, then I'm obviously gonna be forced to slide down. But I'd like to point out a few things:

1. This separation will cause an unbalanced table (unbalanced ministry and therefore incomplete picture of the Gospel)
2. Falling to the majority side of the table DOES NOT mean I have to change who I am, but does mean I can make changes there simply by staying. :)

People ask why I joined staff with a majority culture organization as a Puerto Rican American. They've asked if I'm "more American" or if I feel more comfortable with the majority culture. The answer is no to both by the way. I didn't go where I felt comfortable. I'm a New Yorker working in New Jersey! Hello. I obeyed the Lord as He showed me the need to be uncomfortable here to make changes.

When I think of times where there was change to God's glory, I think of people like Martin Luther or Martin Luther King Jr. Two men who faced opposition, often alone because of an impossible dream that would be more like what God intended - reconciled relationships between God and His people as well as among themselves. King Jr wasn't just fighting for equality, I believe he desired reconciliation and true community. 

How could we truly show the power of the Gospel if we can't live like they did in Acts 2? - A diverse community who stayed true to their individual ethnic backgrounds but fellowshipped and communed together as they studied scripture SO THAT many would come to know Him daily.

The need to contextualize:

Still there are many not-yet believers who would NEVER hear the Gospel from someone who doesn't relatively apply it to them in their culture or show it to them through their cultural lenses via their ethnicity. Some may not even listen to a majority culture person... they'll never go to the other side of the table if invited. So they need to be invited to an ethnically focused side of the table. - *But let me remind you, there is still one table and one family of God.

On the other hand, there are so few ethnic minorities within my organization or within those separate ethnically focused groups, that we need the help of the majority culture in a few ways.

1. Step out of your comfort zone and go to the other side of the table (stay true to your culture but go learn how to present the Gospel to a new culture). 
2. Send ethnic minorities (there are too many ethnic minorities who cannot go to invite people to either side of the table because they are not funded).
3. Love & invite ethnic minorities to learn, grow and lead alongside you.... be willing to take risks, be uncomfortable with a few songs, learn a new culture, learn about a new brother or sister in Christ, and help them feel welcomed with a humble and considerate spirit.

Culture or comfort?

I guess what I'm saying is organizing a group of people to seek the lost who do so through culture or through comfort are both not enough. It's still not a complete presentation of the family of God that He'd want us to present. It needs to be both/ and. I need to stay true and even learn more about who He created me to individually be and I need to function in an environment where others unlike me can see and experience that. He expresses His glory through us, we are missing out so much when we either fade into the background or separate ourselves from others to see and glorify Him. It's neither culture, nor comfort that brings Him the most glory, it's Christ and our unity of cultures through His blood. One table. One family, worshipping on God.

Hungry

I was recently asked to describe what it feels like to be an ethnic minority on staff with a majority Caucasian organization in the United States. Here is my attempt to paint the picture.

The image of a banquet comes to mind. The heavenly kind referred to in scriptures when we will all see the face of our Savior, in full fellowship with the Father and the Spirit as one giant family of God. The problem with the image in my head right now is that the table seems to be unbalanced and segregated. (I recognize how heavy that word is, but stick with me.)

When I look at the staff across the nation (within my organization as well as Christians outside) who are taking the delightful and fulfilling news of Jesus Christ to people in various communities, I see an overwhelming number of Caucasians in comparison to ethnic minorities. Now if I worked for a secular organization, I could argue that this needs to change so that we are an equal employment company. However, I don't work for a company for profit. I work for a company who's existence is based upon the fulfillment of the Great Commission. This means, we exist to take the Gospel to any and every person we come into contact with. Yet, as I glance over the Christians who are doing this on staff and often even off staff, through sending or going, a vast amount of people I see are Caucasian.

At this banquet, it almost seems as though there are MANY of the majority culture having their fill of the wholeness of the Gospel on one side of the table. So many, that the table even tips in there direction. On the other side, are the few ethnic minorities who've had a rare chance to receive the same meal. There are so few of them however, that their side of the table lifts, causing them to slide into the masses on the other side of the table.

I feel like one of those sliders, recognizing that in order to get a full meal of the Gospel (at least, in my personal experience), I had to step into the majority culture world. I can relate to most people, so this isn't as much of a problem for me except that as I'm there, all I can seem to think of are the ethnic minorities not yet at this table. To be direct, the White people are calling their friends and family easily (they've been trained by their own, sent by their own to go get their own), while the rest are striving to climb this table to stay true to their ethnic culture, while still staying at the table to hopefully grab some resources, even scraps, for their own.

When I stepped into this organization, I thought "wow! They have it! They understand this whole thing in a way I never did. Who's telling my friends and family?"

If you haven't noticed, I've not yet addressed the segregated part. Well, I don't think that those on the heavy side of the table mean to share with their own alone, but until they are willing to cross to our side of the table, that appears to be how things will always be. Within my organization, on occasion, they will send one or two over to help us reach our own but in all honesty, why bother?

People are HUNGRY for the Gospel! Why can't we all partake together at the same table, sitting anywhere we'd like, engaging with new friends... no, our new FAMILY in Christ? Then why don't we all together in that new likeness, go together to share with those not yet at the table? Caucasian, African-American, Latino, Asian, Caribbean, Indian, etc.

In my years on staff, I've disciple women from over 11 different nations and still kept my Puerto Rican culture. Mainly because my job is NOT my life and I can experience my culture in and outside of my job, at the dinner table with my family or the park with friends. At work, I'm meant to be a Christian first. Not a Puerto Rican woman.

Estoy Cansada - tired of...

I recently received this email from a friend with whom I've often discussed race and racial reconciliation as it pertains to the body of Christ. You're at this blog as so you are probably open to my thoughts on the topic. I simply want to point you to another blog that nearly perfectly describes how I feel as an ethnic minority in ministry. It's fairly short and I would say worth your time.

The only thing I would add is the feeling of being made "fun of" / "pinned as" the one who would so often bringing up the topic of race within Cru. It's true that I talk about it a lot, but I actually have to deal with it a lot more than I talk about it and I think I should be allowed to be known as more than that.

Anyway, here is the article:

http://yosoykristy.com/estoy-cansada-reflections-on-my-own-reconciliation-blues/

Feel free to respond directly if you have any questions, comments or concerns. I just thought it'd be beneficial to you and me to share. :)

#itooamharvard

Listen to 63 Black Harvard Students....

A quick read I think all my friends should read and talk about with a diverse group of people.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/21-black-harvard-students-share-their-experiences-through-a

Definitely want to see the play!

Picture by: Carol Powell

Check out a short clip:  http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/21-black-harvard-students-share-their-experiences-through-a?sub=3051581_2542190

...how can we come alongside and support these young adults? How can the Christian ministries at Harvard or any majority culture group engage with these students in a healthy, God-glorifying way?

One New Body / New Community

Key words: One, New, Body, Community

Maybe everyone isn't receptive to a young Puerto Rican chica from the Bronx, so let's hear about this tense issue from some others:

Click here to read the article: Fireball Christians: The Spirit-Filled Community of Acts 2 - Trevin Wax (found on PreachitTeachit.org) or click here for the audio / visual sermon: Prayer: Racial Reconciliation - Matt Chandler (PreachitTeachit.org)

He created all things & still man is the epitome of His creation.
How we care for and interact with each other is vital.

As I process through that which God has called me, which is to help bring racial reconciliation to a united yet diverse community of believers who then bring the Gospel to the world, I recognize there are very many different aspects that need to be sensitively approached. This article and sermon both speak to the need of embracing our new identity in Christ while valuing our diversity. I will confess: they don't give as much emphasis to the nature of the uniqueness of our ethnic identities and how that plays out in our unity, but I don't believe that devalues this biblical truth. - We are one. (Ephesians 2:14-22)