Don’t Turn Away
Rev. Irene Prince
I sit like many of you in sort of a daze from all the things that have happened this year. And it’s only been six months. Every night I pray for justice. I’m outraged by the killing of my people at the hands of people who are supposed to look out for them. I’m outraged because I yell at the TV, “that’s not how we were trained!” I’m outraged that people I know and like, want to quickly dismiss this and go back to the comfort of their lives. I’m outraged because, like the priest and the Levite in the story of the Good Samaritan, some people want to turn away, avert their eyes, and pass by on the other side. I’m outraged because not enough of us want to be like the Good Samaritan. They don’t want to stop what they’re doing. They don’t want to have to bend down and help. They don’t want to invest their time, any of their money, or anything that benefits them to aid in the recovery of people who have been beaten by police, robbed of any ties to their ancestors, and left for dead by every system in America. I’m outraged because I follow the law. I graduated from college. I served my country. I pay my taxes. But I don’t get treated like you. Having to endure educated people tell a Black professional a monkey joke about his kids.
I don’t get the benefit of the doubt. I can’t expect the same consideration. Just last year, while walking out of a building at work, with a bunch of people, an older White man asked me how long I had been working in the kitchen? Bruh! I’m outraged. I’m saddened that the work of justice and equity will consume the rest of my life, and I will not live to see the completed work. I said equity because I want what is fair, I want what is right, and I want what is rightfully mine to have. Because that’s what God promises. Equity. I’m encouraged that I am not in this work alone, and some of you all do get it.
The blog posts in Forward. Together. are intended to foster an inclusive community of empathy and curiosity at Doane University by providing a glimpse into various individual identities and worldviews. These are community members’ unique stories and should not be presumed to be the experience of all who share the same identity.
