When my grandfather, an immigrant to America, died, the family received hordes of messages of grief from local neighbors and from foreign heads of state and everyone in between. The expressions of sorrow on his passing were combined with proclamations of thanks and honor for his humanity and his philanthropy.
In America my grandfather learned English, worked his way to receive degrees in chemistry and management, worked his way up to a position of Executive Vice President in a large corporation, and, most importantly to him, spent his life doing work on behalf of others including work with the Salvation Army.
My grandfather was a lifelong Rotarian, serving Rotary both locally and internationally. As President of Rotary International, he traveled around the world in the years shortly after WWII. He spoke of the hope he had for world peace as the United Nations was formed. He was decorated by the governments of France and Lebanon. He served Rotary throughout his life, but he also served his community.
He was a member of the Board of Education for 25 years and was also briefly on the City Council. He was President of the Detroit Tuberculosis Society, served on the city convention bureau, Director and Past President of the Convention and Tourist Bureau, was Director of the Inter-American Center and of the Civic Light Opera Association, member of the Area Council of Boy Scouts, Director of the Boys' Club and Director of the United Savings Bank. He was a member of the city economic club and the Chamber of Commerce and the State Legislature Advisory Council. He was an active member of his Methodist church, serving on the Board and as its President. His hometown named a school after him.
And my grandfather served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army. In that capacity, he served his community, including helping in the establishment of a hospital and then group home for unwed mothers and their families. I can remember his care and concern for others. Going to his house on occasion I would find someone there of different nationality and/or different color whom he was personally counseling and helping with some personal issue. He didn’t brag about what he did, following the idea that the Army’s work is not glorified but rather approaches areas others never touch and “deals with broken minds and broken people to help them find themselves. Little of what the Army does ever comes to light.”
The Salvation Army conferred upon my grandfather its Order of Distinguished Auxiliary Service. He once said “You always feel grateful to the people and the country that made such a thing [his success] possible. So, when I can I like to pitch in and help make such things possible for others.”
My grandfather did not have a racist bone in his body. Yet, if he were alive today the Salvation Army would label him as racist simply because of his color and his faith.
The Salvation Army has new materials titled “Let’s Talk
About Race.” LINK
Its content essentially puts forth the most racist aspects of Critical Race Theory and other similar programs that would divide us by race and hold certain identity groups guilty for what the theory labels as evils of the past. The document urges Whites to stop trying to be colorblind (that of course means interacting with one another based on the color of one’s skin rather than the content of their character – a complete reversal of the once lauded goal of Martin Luther King Jr.)
The goals of this new program of the Army include: “to “lament, repent and apologize for biases or racist ideologies held and actions committed.” The resource claims Christianity is inherently racist and calls for white Christians to repent and offer “a sincere apology” to Blacks for being “antagonistic… to black people or the culture, values and interests of the Black community.”
In an accompanying Study Guide on Racism, the Salvation Army proclaims Whites are racist. “The subtle nature of racism is such that people who are not consciously racist easily function with the privileges, empowerment and benefits of the dominant ethnicity, thus unintentionally perpetuating injustice.”
My grandfather was not perfect, but he was not ever “antagonistic… to black people or the culture, values and interests of the black community.” He was not antagonistic to anyone, consciously or unconsciously. Instead, he treated everyone equally and fairly for the individual that they were. His humanitarian behavior was in large part formed by his Christianity. That Christianity was not racist. Yet today my grandfather would be asked to repent and apologize for his racism and hatred that in reality did not exist.
Because of my grandfather’s commitment to the goals and mission of Salvation Army, I have always donated, both monetarily and in other ways, to the Army. Just last week I gave them a generous donation and we have a large donation of slightly used clothing and household items ready to go to them.
But those things will not go to the Salvation Army. Nor will any future donations. I might assume the Army doesn’t even want them from someone they see as an unrepentant racist. Would they have turned down all my grandfather’s good works if he did not satisfy their demand for repentance and lament?
My grandfather said of himself that “analysis was his natural bent in his approach to every problem.” I think I inherited that love of analysis from him. When I analyze what the Salvation Army is currently doing, I am at a complete loss. Why would a good and humanitarian institution suddenly decide that they have the right to judge and condemn an entire race, not based on any actual evidence but simply on accepting the popular woke theories of racism?
And how does this help the people whom the Salvation Army serves? Go online and see how many people are stopping donations. How is that going to help anyone, especially those who were once served by donations of time and money from the Whites whom the Army has now labeled as evil and in need of repentance?
The answer is that this new wokeness does not serve the mission of the Salvation Army or the people whom it traditionally has served. It divides people rather than bringing them together. It serves to feed the hate that is already rampant in our country.
I have no issue with self-examination – of one’s biases and one’s privileges. But we all have biases of some sort and are privileged in one way or another. Not all, indeed not even most, use their biases and privileges either consciously or unconsciously to antagonize and hurt others who are not like them. That the Salvation Army thinks we do, at least if we are White, shows that the Army has lost its way along with its humility, tolerance, and love.
It hurts me deeply as I think of all the good my grandfather did in his work with the Army and his respect for that organization. It hurts as I think of this man of peace who wanted to bring the world together, knowing that one of the organizations he so respected is now a part of the movement that tears us all apart. It hurts me deeply to know that this is not some isolated happening, but it is the trend as wokeness takes over our culture.
Contrary to the Salvation Army’s proclamation, the
Christianity that I know, like the Christ upon which it is based, is not racist.
I will pray that the racism and equity of wokeness will not survive and that we
may soon return to a culture and a country that aspires to tolerance and equality.
No comments:
Post a Comment