First thoughts

So, I think I will begin to tackle this whole "white priveledge" thing. Craig and I had a great talk the other night and I am pretty sure we have found some thoughts that we believe are true and we will keep...and others that we don't think are biblically based.

The example in the Bible that came first to mind was the story of the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus was Jewish by birth and the woman was from Samaria. The people of Samaria were a mixed race group of people which began when the King of Assyria brought foreigners to live in Samaria (2 Kings 17:24-31) and eventually their occurred intermarraiges with Jewish people. The Samaritans were not liked by either the Jewish people or other Gentiles (non-Jews). Samaritans were considered unclean and a Jewish person (except Jesus!) would never have even talked to or come near them by choice. Needless to say Samaritans had no invisible knapsack of assets to pull from. Sociologist might have talked about "Jewish priveledges" as opposed to "white priveledge" in this culture.

I guess I just want to first acknowledge that the Bible does describe similar (sinful) interactions between races. Being a Samaritan DID make life harder. Being a Jew DID make life easier. How do we transition now to our lives today. We do agree that our child will experience life differently than we do. Some of the points brought up in the paper I cited earlier do resonate with me. Our little town of 8,000 doesn't see much diversity so is it likely we will be stared at at Wal-Mart...yeah, I think it is a good bet. Will I feel more burdoned to protect my Ethiopian child than my other children for fear others will be unkind...yeah, maybe I will. Will my child after they are grown be pulled over by the police more often than I am...yeah, maybe they will. How then do we raise our child to feel connected to us and their community as they realize they are treated at least at times differently? I will have to continue later :)