Solidarity . . . Best I Can

Last updated on: March 19, 2021 at 10:37 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

Solidarity . . . Best I Can 2021-03-19T10:37:03-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

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Racism is evil. Objectifying women is wrong, a sin that is a particular application of the evils of misogyny. Human trafficking is a great wrong, as is blaming the victims of that terrible trade. The ancient and abominable lie of Adam that the woman caused the man to sin has not gained any virtue over the millennia.

These are ancient evils and present problems.

Solidarity is a necessity with my friends in the Asian American community against hate and racism. I push for truthful history and tearing down stereotypes that perpetuate evil in American society.

My job is to listen and learn, but when I listen and learn, one thing I learn is the differences in suggested remedies to ancient evils amongst my colleagues and friends. I must listen to all my friends and not just the ones amplified by the American establishment or elites. If I make that mistake, then I will repeat past errors.

To my friends that are from Korea, China, Vietnam and other areas who dislike the phrase “Asian American” and view the entire framing of this discussion as foolish or merely media madness, I hear you as well. The nations of Asia have contributed millions of people to the United States for her entire history, and are a majority of the global population and the Church, and have a diversity of views! May I never conveniently forget the horrors of the present Communist regime in China nor whitewash the failures of the United States as a colonial power in Asia.

Present events remind me to renounce Satan and all his works, but not, I hope, merely to perform on cue from those disinterested in real change everywhere, but very interested in attention.

What is to be done? Those that I love, disagree, but none disagree on the sinfulness of sin or that the sin, from Adam to now, is systematic. Evil men like Woodrow Wilson built defenses for their hateful views of Black and Asian Americans. We can at least agree to root out those and other blockades to virtue.

Some friends are in pain and this much seems true to me: repeating that sinfulness is sin does no harm and does me (at least) much good. I am reminded that my problems and vices are my own. It is my own (metaphorical!) eye that the Lord Jesus commands me to pluck out, not somebody else’s.

And so the focus must remain on ending the vices, not just worrying that in ending them we will do some other harm. When we pass too quickly from a focus on the present evils to “being misunderstood” or “empowering those enemies,” we have failed. The focus must be on becoming a better society, on minimizing harms, and standing with those that weep.

The Socratic dictum, the Christian moral imperative, is self-examination. We must not see evil coming from our midst and hasten to defensiveness. Instead, we begin with sorrow, contrition, repentance. No compromise on truth, but when the fruit of truth is rotten, then mayhap we are fooling ourselves that we have applied the truth and not some vice in our communities.

We are all unlikely to agree on solutions, but should all agree on seeing a problem and doing the best we can to either end or minimize the evils of our own day. So solidarity…best I can, with all humankind toward goodness, truth, and beauty.

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