Today is George Floyd's birthday, and it seems fitting to revive this post, first written and published on Saturday, May 30, 2020.
Christians Can’t Be Silent No More
(Image: Source: Courtesy of Christianity Today from "George Floyd Left a Gospel Legacy in Houston")
I read an article today on the George Floyd incident, the senseless killing of a black man by a police officer who kneeled on the man’s neck, ignoring the pleas of both the man and his companions. I watched the footage of the incident and was very disgusted by the police officers in the video.
The author of the article that I read is a Chinese immigrant, and he calls for Chinese immigrants in the US to stand up for the black community. The author’s reason for such a call is not only because Chinese/Asian Americans have widely become the target of hate crimes due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He writes:
“The ultimate benchmark for the assimilation of the Chinese (or any ethnic group) in the American society should be the identification of the American value: all men are born equal. Only a goal of this level is worthy of people of all ethnicities to strive together for.” (Translation mine)
I was very touched by these words, “all men are born equal. Only a goal of this level is worthy of people of all ethnicities to strive together for.”
As a matter of fact, “all men are born equal” is not just an unspoken value agreed upon in American society, it is part of the US Declaration of Independence. It reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights...”
This American value is the reason why American Christians so proudly call their country a Christian country. And this American value is influenced heavily by the Christian belief that all men (men as human beings, not as a gender pronoun) are born equal because all men are created in the image of God. And so all men are co-image bearers of God, whether they realize it or not. To Christians, this is what gives sanctity, dignity, and value to human life.
Therefore, disrespecting the life of a co-image bearer is disrespecting the image of God. And to protect and stand up for another co-image bearer of God is to show reverence to the Creator God.
This is why discrimination and police brutality against black people is not just a matter for minorities in this country. Christians of all ethnicities, both majority and minority, should stand up against such disrespect and mocking of the image of God. We cannot love God with only our lips, we need to be doers of our faith. If we believe God is true and real, then our words and deeds should manifest our beliefs.
At the scene of the George Floyd incident, there were actually four police officers. While Derek Chauvin was kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, the other three police officers remained silent. Maybe those three officers thought they were innocent parties because they did not join in Chauvin’s behavior, but their silence condoned the killing of Floyd. As the famous quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. says, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Christians cannot continue to condone this kind of violence and cruelty by remaining silent.
Christians Can’t Be Silent No More
I read an article today on the George Floyd incident, the senseless killing of a black man by a police officer who kneeled on the man’s neck, ignoring the pleas of both the man and his companions. I watched the footage of the incident and was very disgusted by the police officers in the video.
The author of the article that I read is a Chinese immigrant, and he calls for Chinese immigrants in the US to stand up for the black community. The author’s reason for such a call is not only because Chinese/Asian Americans have widely become the target of hate crimes due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He writes:
“The ultimate benchmark for the assimilation of the Chinese (or any ethnic group) in the American society should be the identification of the American value: all men are born equal. Only a goal of this level is worthy of people of all ethnicities to strive together for.” (Translation mine)
I was very touched by these words, “all men are born equal. Only a goal of this level is worthy of people of all ethnicities to strive together for.”
As a matter of fact, “all men are born equal” is not just an unspoken value agreed upon in American society, it is part of the US Declaration of Independence. It reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights...”
This American value is the reason why American Christians so proudly call their country a Christian country. And this American value is influenced heavily by the Christian belief that all men (men as human beings, not as a gender pronoun) are born equal because all men are created in the image of God. And so all men are co-image bearers of God, whether they realize it or not. To Christians, this is what gives sanctity, dignity, and value to human life.
Therefore, disrespecting the life of a co-image bearer is disrespecting the image of God. And to protect and stand up for another co-image bearer of God is to show reverence to the Creator God.
This is why discrimination and police brutality against black people is not just a matter for minorities in this country. Christians of all ethnicities, both majority and minority, should stand up against such disrespect and mocking of the image of God. We cannot love God with only our lips, we need to be doers of our faith. If we believe God is true and real, then our words and deeds should manifest our beliefs.
At the scene of the George Floyd incident, there were actually four police officers. While Derek Chauvin was kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, the other three police officers remained silent. Maybe those three officers thought they were innocent parties because they did not join in Chauvin’s behavior, but their silence condoned the killing of Floyd. As the famous quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. says, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Christians cannot continue to condone this kind of violence and cruelty by remaining silent.
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