#I’m not talking about black Hispanic or Latino people. I understand the difference between ethnicity and race

[peridotsimmer]

my reply was too long to make a comment but i thought this was a really great question! as a black person in the US i’d like to add some additional context:

I think there’s a lot to this answer tbh… just to define my terms at the top:

- race: a social construct defined largely by a combination of physical features like skin color, hair texture, etc… (white, black, asian, native, mixed race, etc…)

- ethnicity: a categorization based on shared ancestry, heritage, language, or geographical bounds that are usually imposed (hispanic, latino, european, african, caribbean, vietnamese, jamaican, irish etc…) ethnicity can be broad like “african” or specific like “nigerian” or “yoruba”

- nationality: citizenship in a particular country - its seen to be tied to a legal status as a citizen but i think it’s appropriate to use even in instances of immigrants. for example: someone who immigrated from china to the US might be a chinese national by law but identify as an American or Chinese American whether or not they have legal citizenship in America

now that we got that out of the way:

i’m going to start with a less obvious phenomenon: a lot of nonblack latinos (especially in the US) frequently erase black (afro latino) ppl from latino representation + discourse. Think “in the heights” being about Washington Heights, a predominantly afro latino neighborhood but cast with mostly white and nonblack latinos. The way that ppl in the US see latinos is as nonblack. And i think a lot of the replies have addressed the ignorance of these folks which i think is fair. however we’re missing the context that in major representations of latino people in the US or who is included in the label; predominantly antiblack latinos have been allowed to answer on behalf of the ethnic group. i remember many nonblack people being upset over the fact that ppl had this critique of “in the heights” saying things to the effect of “why do they have to be in everything” and “why can’t we just have this,” the “they” being black people. the way that people talk about latino and hispanic representation, resources like cultural centers, and the people more broadly- largely echo the sentiments of “mejorar la raza.” it is routinely shown by the loudest voices of latinos in the US that they want very specific representation of what is latino and that does NOT include afro latinos.

why does this matter? because it has shaped a whole nation’s perception of an entire ethnic identity. not to say that this is representative of folks who reside currently in LatAm but just to say this is what is a more prominent discourse and narrative in the united states. so when people of all races in the US are regularly shown that latino and black in one person aren’t a thing outside of someone being biracial, it becomes ingrained into the way we view and racialize different groups of people.

another piece of american context: the 1 drop rule.

if you don’t know the 1 drop rule is a phenomenon derived from chattel slavery and it basically says “if you have one drop of black blood you are black.” this rule was created to maintain racial lines between mixed or white passing ppl and “pure whites.” however in modern days it is usually a way for black people to usher people into the community. due to this understanding, there’s been an uptick in very racially ambiguous people being pushed as “black representation” think about a lot of the “first black” people in american history and see how some look. these representations effectively erase unambiguous black people. because of this, there has been a push to gatekeep blackness but this call to action has been taken different ways. in addition there are nonblack latinos in the US who have adopted the 1 drop rule and have identified as afro latino or have identified other nonblack people as afro latino re: gina rodriguez, etc… or they tout a POC status from being latino as a “proximity to blackness” and a reason to be allowed to use the n-slur re: fat joe. these specific contexts really color a large amount of people’s understanding of race and ethnicity by both black and nonblack people in the US. there is almost this understanding being inscribed that blackness is antithetical to latino and due to the examples above, there is a push for vice-versa as well.

the gatekeeping blackness discussion

by more socially progressive or liberationist black people: they usually gatekeep based on if someone would be identified as black based on features. think gina rodriguez’s father vs amara la negra. i think this distinction makes sense especially if you’re talking about freedom from marginalization, you have to be clear on who exactly is marginalized or affected by antiblackness. this group of ppl would CORRECTLY say rebeca andrade is black.

by socially conservative black people: they identify blackness based on an american national identity which is incorrect and often a form of antiblackness and xenophobia against black folks from the global south. groups like FBA, ADOS, etc… are very specific subset of socially conservative black people and not representative of most black folks in the us nor americans. these are essentially far-right, american nationalist organizations in a different flavor. they are innocuous because of their basic level of understanding of antiblackness so they are able to push socially conservative ideas like gatekeeping blackness based on nationality to people who otherwise wouldn’t subscribe to that.

in conclusion: rebeca andrade is black and we are proud of her!!! 🖤❤️💚💛

added this to give more context and understanding not to argue or debate fr. if you want to fight, you will get blocked!!! but if you’re genuinely curious that is welcome, i’m not on socials as much so i really may not reply but just wanted to put this out into the ether

sn: i learned in my african american studies class that the most amount of enslaved africans in the transatlantic slave trade were brought to brazil. so i have an american context but acknowledge Blackness globally. and understand that Black people have histories that span the globe!

I have just learned something

Can someone please explain to me why are usamericans trying to argue that Rebeca Andrade isn't black, just because she's brazilian, not usamerican, and her being there at the podium with Biles and Chiles does not make it an all-black podium? And that brazilians can't be black? Someone?

[sanyu-thewitch05]

Tw: N-word, proshipping, anti-blackness, NSFW of minors

So I found out the author of the webtoon Boyfriends used the N-word. Let me tell you, there was no excuse even if he was 16. If White southern Belle Josie can keep the N-word out of her mouth, why can’t other minorities. Him being from Indonesia isn’t an excuse. Black people have made it pretty clear that we don’t want non-blacks saying nigger/nigga. We’ve been saying that since the Civil Rights era, something that was televised across the world, but y’all haven’t taken anything from it.

The thing is that when non-black people say the N-word in this day in age, even knowing the definition and history, it’s more insidious. He knew what the N-word is and what it stands for and still decided to say it on Twitter. I can imagine what he says when he’s alone with friends and family. Or what he thinks of black people in general.

As if this man couldn’t get any problematic, he’s supports proshipper and drew NSFW of BTS when one of the members was a minor. I’m honestly more disappointed that y’all don’t hold other minorities to the same standards as white people. If a white person said nigger/nigga they’d never hear the end of it. But when it’s another minority( like someone who’s non-black Hispanic, Asian, etc) y’all just take their apology and move on. Y’all stay supporting racism and anti-blackness when it comes from other minorities. Once again:

I don’t care if you’re 16, a teenager, or a grown adult

I don’t care if you’re from Japan, Tibet, or Atlantis

If you’re non-black keep the n-word out of your mouths!!!

@thisismisogynoir

Here’s a thread showing other evidence: Ray evidence

[dalishious]

hello, i have a silly/personal question to ask you, if you don't mind? i was reading your about and i saw that you're white passing but you seem very confident in your culture/ethnicity/race etc. i'm a white passing latina, my mother is brown and so is everyone on her fathers side of the family (including himself). they're all latino/hispanic, however, i can't seem to.. find a balance between me being a white passing, biracial latina. i don't know how to describe it but (1/?)

my skin color isn’t exactly white, i’m yellow-ish (i hope this doesn’t sound offensive, it’s for lack of a better term) but to the eyes of everyone else, i’m caucasian (we have a different concept of what it means to be a poc. here, only black people are seen as such due to excessive ignorance on our behalf) and even though i know where my family comes from and even though i’m proud of my roots (2/3)

i simply don’t even know what to call myself and feel ashamed to even say i’m not white out loud. do you have any advice on how to overcome this? i wish people weren’t so prejudiced and had such stereotypical views of latinas. i can’t seem to fit in anywhere and it honestly makes me really sad (3/3)

You mention stereotypes–this is a huge reason why a lot of people who are considered whitepassing are considered whitepassing; because for example, people expect all native ladies to look like Disney’s Pocahontas.(I blame a lot of this on the lack of diversity in media, personally.) I say this because one of the most common reactions I get when people realize I am Mi’kmaw is looking at me beyond my paler skin from my mom and saying, “oh, I see it in your X.” Because that is what they do; they make my nose what defines me as native, my eyes, my face shape, whatever, because that’s easier than expanding their understanding of diversity. (Seriously, imagine expecting all white people to look the same in reverse?) But here is how I started to see it, when I began trying to accept myself more: It’s not up to white people to define my nativeness, especially when it all depends on what best suits them. That most other Mi’kmaq accept me is what matters. (Because white people really like to keep half-white people in a state of not being white enough, while also being “better” than our nonwhite families and friends. And what we need to do instead is to use that to stick up for our communities.)

I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m trying to make your situation about me–my intention is only to say that I 100% understand where you are coming from. And I’m afraid I can’t tell you that it gets easier overnight; in fact I still have complicated feelings about myself, though I’m flattered you find me confident. 

I definitely don’t want to tell you what to do, because at the end of the day it is up to you to control your identity. But I think it might be worth asking, what is it that would make you feel good and whole? And I’m going to go ahead and paraphrase a really powerful quote from this documentary: Why is one part of your family worth honouring more than the other?

And I also see it like this: Stereotypes will never be addressed if no one ever speaks against them, and that includes being vocally unashamed of your existence. There are too many people in the world who think they know who you are better than you and the people who really matter. I think it’s important not to make it that much easier for them, when we can.

PS: I also find it really helpful to remember that there are so many others who deal with the same. So like, if you ever wanna talk about stuff, feel free to DM me, okay?

[teensocial786]

Black And White Interracial Dating

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of The Black Detour.

To be pro-Black is to be for the advancement of Black people in the form of social, political, economic, and cultural issues. This means you are actively fighting for the advancement of Black people in all those domains. It is contradicting to be both pro-Black and in an interracial relationship. Black White Interracial Dating is an app that is looking to revolutionize the dating scene by bringing something new, fresh and exciting to put the spark back in dating.

To be pro-Black is to be for the advancement of Black people in the form of social, political, economic, and cultural issues. This means you are actively fighting for the advancement of Black people in all those domains. It is contradicting to be both pro-Black and in an interracial relationship. I don’t doubt that love can exist between you and your spouse, but love is not purely blind. Love is a function of your priorities and values. If your priorities and values are centered around your culture and Black identity, you will marry within your race. You can’t be pro-Black if your actions don’t reflect that ideology.

Black White Interracial Dating Apk

Well, that can present a steep learning curve that few of us are willing to talk about — especially if you’re a Black woman dating a White man. But given the growing number of interracial dating sites (such as interracialmatch.com and interracialdatingcentral.com) and the fact that interracial marriage within our community has tripled since.

All kinds of men and women are logging onto our website. People from all over the world, of all different races and skin colors, log onto our interracial dating site looking for their one and only. From white men to African American women, to Asian women and black men. Join a website that makes you feel comfortable.

Succinctly, middle class African Americans often experience different dating and marriage patterns, leaving black females with fewer dating and marriage options if they only seek partners within their racial/ethnic group. The primary purpose of this book is to tell the stories of black women who are dating, married to, or divorced from white males.

In response to a thought-provoking question on Twitter: “Black women, would you date a white man,” my response incited controversy. My reply was “No, I’m pro-Black. A white man can’t understand my struggle and definitely can’t love me like a Black man can. I want my children to be Black and proud of it. Black love is beautiful and I refuse to deny myself of it.” I then followed that statement by clarifying “I’m not insinuating that you can’t be half Black and proud of your Blackness. I’m just saying that I want my child to be fully Black & proud of it, which is my prerogative.”

SEE ALSO: Opinion: Will Black Liberation Ever Happen?

Non-Black men don’t understand the struggle or systematic oppression that Black people face. A non-Black man can only be sympathetic to my struggles with no deep level of understanding. Contrastingly, a Black man can empathize with me because we have faced and continue to face similar struggles. My pro-Blackness is defined by loving a Black man. I believe that is one of the highest forms of resistance against the system. It is my choice to prioritize and preserve my own culture and Blackness. This being said, if you date outside your race, I will question the degree to which you are pro-Black.

If you are mixed and a product of an interracial relationship, I recognize you may have identity issues regarding your race. However, if you fully identify with your Black side, you should also be held to the same accord and marry Black. I bring this up because it has been a common retort to my perspective. I address this to say that I have nothing against mixed people and this is not about mixed people. My tweet was not addressed to them, nor was it an attack on their Blackness. Best bi dating sites.

Many Black women are distracted by the belief that Black men do not love and support us as a collective. To those women I bring up the fact that 85% of married Black men are married are to Black women, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Some Black women even suggest that Black men cannot understand our struggles. I ask them: Ever think about the struggles Black men go through that we don’t understand? There should be an equal effort on both sides to gain an understanding. We should have unequivocal support for each other. You should want to see Blackness reflected in your spouse. As articulated by Dr. Umar Johnson, “There is no greater symbol of your loyalty to your struggle than marrying a man who shares that struggle.”

You can’t fight white supremacy and contradict yourself within your mating practices. The problem with procreation within Black interracial relationships is that it dilutes the Black race. The Black family in America is at risk of becoming obsolete. Our goal should be to uplift and empower the Black family. Marriage is not just about love, it is a political statement. A code of conduct needs to be established. In the words of Dr. Umar Johnson, “When you marry someone you marry their culture, their community, and their people.” Black people need to understand the implications of dating outside their race. You are not just dating a white partner, you’re dating their family as well. Culture, which plays a large part in our history, becomes diluted when we mix races. When we integrated, the appropriation of our culture was greatly increased.

Additionally, there’s generational value in keeping wealth within your own race. Black people are in a dire situation economically. Statistically speaking, “The typical black household now has just 6% of the wealth of the typical white household,” according to Forbes. When Black people were separated there was financial gain. For example, after integration, Black entrepreneurship and businesses declined. As a pro-Black person, you should want to preserve your culture and generate economic power towards your own people. We need the Black dollar to circulate within the community. If you’re pro-Black you have to understand that marrying within your race is part of the agenda of advancing socio-economic conditions.

Illustrated Black And White Interracial Dating

SEE ALSO: Was Integration the Worst Thing To Ever Happen to Black People?

In the end, my place is with my people. https://teensocial786.tumblr.com/post/658095439340519424/mobile-adamforadam. I will continue to direct my energy towards the advancement and empowerment of Black people. I’ve never dated outside of my race and I never will. There is hypocrisy within preaching Black empowerment and dating someone who does not emulate that agenda. If you say that you are pro-Black, there is an image you must uphold, actions you must take, and a certain agenda you should have to preserve and empower Blackness.

Copyright ©2018 The Black Detour All Rights Reserved.

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[beausbatons]

hi potentially ignorant question because i've always struggled with how to identify certain races/ethnicities (i'm latinx myself and it's still difficult to fully understand sometimes!) but would deus salve o rei be considered poc? i know not all brazilians are but also idk what makes a brazilian poc or white. thank you!

please look at the tags before proceeding to read my answer. i tagged a few possible triggers, but if anyone would like me to add more just send me an ask! the last thing i want is to hurt someone. also forgive any mistakes i may have made and feel free to educate me if i missed something.

hi!! im sorry, im gonna rant a lot because its not easy at all and you definitely shouldn’t feel ignorant especially because you are trying to learn. i am trying to learn too and the only conclusion i came to, based on my experiences and what i read about the subject, is that there’s no simple explanation. just remember that labels are given by people and people give labels a meaning (anscombe said that, not me), which is why us people who have mixed native american ancestry are mixed and south american people who have mixed native ancestry are ‘hispanic�� or ‘latino’, even though everybody was fucking colonized.

im really no expert either tbh especially for the fact that i only ever saw myself as a latina when i travelled outside brazil. because of the mess that was colonialism in south america, ethnicity, especially in brazil, is a really tricky question. the majority of brazilians are a mix between european (mainly portuguese, italian, spanish, german and dutch), native and west african. that excluding the immigrant waves that came after the first ones, like the japanese community, which is the biggest in the world outside of japan. that being said, i think bruna especifically is european, native american and probably a little bit black as well. her father looks mainly white, but could still be mixed from generations back and her mother definitely isn’t white. in brazil, generally, you are only considered not white if your skin is dark. i’m multiracial, even found out i have a little bit of asian in me, possibly from japan and it goes way back, but in brazil, im considered white. bruna would be considered white even though her mother is clearly not. ‘race’ is not the correct term here. my maternal grandfather is clearly not white and my mother looks just like her mother, with fair skin and red-ish hair, so she’s white. its really complicated and not something i feel like i can explain clearly. 

i don’t feel like i look white, but in brazil im white and i feel white, because i understand that i have privileges that are not shared with my black friends. and i didn’t feel like i was latina until i went to the us for the first time and people just looked at me and assumed they should talk to me in spanish. my great grandfather was a white-ass british man nAMED EDWARD MURRAY. i speak korean better than spanish. like bitch your sixth grade mediocre spanish is probably better than mine. and still, i experienced hispanic culture in brazil intimately. i watched a lot of tv shows and novelas from argentina and mexico and came to understand the differences between hispanic and latina. hispanics are people who are of mixed ancestry between the spanish colonizers and native americans in the determined areas they colonized. latinx is a term for someone from latin america, which i am too. i can’t tell you what hispanic is/feels like, because even if i do have spanish and native american ancestry, my country was colonized by PORTUGAL, even though i assume (again, this is a supposition) that hispanics feel hispanic not mainly because of their spanish ancestors, but because of the roots of their native cultures, which are NOT interchangeable and are widely different from brazil. 

so there are white people in brazil, there are black people, native people, asian people, middle eastern peoples, a mix between two of these peoples, a mix between all of these peoples, so i can’t say that everyone in deus salve o rei is a poc, but i can say that most of them are not entirely descended from europeans, even if it’s hard to keep track. it feels like every single person has a different ethnic background here. so for brazilian faceclaims, you have to search case by case. marina ruy barbosa, for example, is the actress who plays the main protagonist, a redhead named amalia in the show and idk if her family has mixed ancestry (if they have it’s minimal), but to me, she’s white, even though she is latina. i dont know how much use that is for you, and especially because in this community people are quick to throw you to the wolves, i suggest you search for help from someone who is better educated. i can tell you, though, that there is no definite answer. im sorry this answer got so huge. 

the general rule in brazil, especially in the entertainment industry, is that if you look white, you are white. that is completely fucked up, but if you understand the culture of racial privilege, it makes sense. i’m not saying it’s right, just that it’s the way things are treated here. the biggest tv channel did an indian themed prime time novela a few years back and none of the artists in the cast had anything to do with india, but most were tanned and not white-passing (even though a few did look white), so hey, you can totally be indian now and maybe we’ll give you a new ethnicity next time you have a role and no one will give a fuck.

[cosiita]

So here’s a story for you. I’m pale-skinned, blonde, and a US citizen on my passport. I live in Latin America. My fiancé is Latin American, and he has tan skin and black hair. No one really knows their exact ancestry here, but we do know that my fiancé’s great grandmother was 100% indigenous. He and I recently had to explain to his mother (who has lived here her entire life and does not speak English) that her son is not considered white in the US, and that part of my American family’s objection to our relationship is based on how they perceive his race. She didn’t understand, because in her mind, she and her family are white. It’s a fact that she’s believed all her life, and nothing we can say will make her understand otherwise, since her understanding of race is shaped by her culture and society. Meanwhile, my mother was lamenting the fact that she’s not going to have white grandkids (despite the fact that I’m considered white, and our kids will have just as much of my DNA as his). While we live in Latin America, he and I belong to the same racial group, but as soon as we move elsewhere, we’re considered to be in an interracial union. To my mother, her grandchildren will not be white, but Latino. To my mother-in-law, they’ll just be her grandchildren.

What I’m trying to demonstrate here is that race is culturally dependent. My mom is not incorrect about my fiancé being nonwhite, and his mother is not incorrect about him being white, because race is not an objective biological category like species or sex. There are physiological differences between people depending on where the majority of their ancestors lived, but because of constant global migration, these can’t be divided into neat categories with no overlap. Most Latin Americans are considered nonwhite in the US because of their mixed heritage, but are simultaneously considered white in their own countries. Their DNA doesn’t change when they move locations, it’s their cultural context that changes.

The reason some people define “Hispanic” as an ethnicity and not a race is because they view ethnicity as cultural, and race as biological. However, this distinction misses the fact that race is not a distinct biological category to begin with. Biologically speaking, an Argentinian immigrant with 100% German ancestry and a Mexican immigrant with indigenous ancestry would have nothing in common, yet a significant number of people in the US would still group the former together with the latter, because they consider “Hispanic” to be synonymous with “Mexican.” As you pointed out, most people in the US only have experience with Mexican immigrants, who are majority (but not all) brown-skinned and treated as a separate racial group, therefore a significant chunk of American people view “Hispanic” as synonymous with “nonwhite.”

Since Rittenhouse is American and we’re talking about a US political landscape, he might be classified as nonwhite due to Americans’ tendency to classify those with even a minority of Latin American heritage as nonwhite. (I said might because, as far as I know, the designation of Kyle as Hispanic comes from a traffic officer writing it on his ticket and hasn’t been confirmed true or false. If I’m incorrect and there has been verification one way or another, please let me know, since I haven’t been able to find any statements by Kyle or his family, or any information about his ancestry.)

The issue is not whether he’s Hispanic or not, or whether Hispanic is a race or not, but that Rittenhouse is classed as white when he needs to be for the sake of a certain political narrative, and nonwhite when he needs to be for the sake of another. Calling him white is meant to construct a narrative where race has a significant impact on both his actions and how he was treated by the legal system, and calling him nonwhite is meant to deconstruct this narrative. The entire debate is so deeply entrenched in US racial politics that it’s meaningless outside of that context.

Tl;dr you’re both correct in different ways because race is culturally dependent. Anon is right about race in Latin America and you’re right about race in the US. There’s no objective truth here, only perception.

Hispanic is technically white because Spaniards are white. But Hispanic means from a Spanish speaking country. Latin America has immigrants and mixed people. The original people are native Americans, but the Spaniards mixed with them way more than the anglos did up north. But there are “pure” white people, who immigrated recently. And there are some arabs and asians in Latin America, as well. It’s not a “race”. If a German couple moves to a Latin American country and gives birth to a child and he is born and raised there, he is latino, and if it’s a Spanish speaking country he is hispanic. If he marries and has a child with another white person and has a child there and raises them there, they are again also latino/hispanic. Overall “hispanic” has Spaniard cultural elements, the original people are indigenous and the indigenous elements are mainly only with the more indigenous. There are also class differences. The upper class being more European and the lower class more indigenous. Point being treating “latino/hispanic” as a “race” isn’t very accurate. It’s like treating being an American or Canadian as a race, which it isn’t. All of the Americas is just full of mixed people and immigrants, as well as few surviving indigenous tribes. And some colonized natives in latin America who speak Spanish and have Spanish names but look and have traditions that are indigenous.

That's all nice and all. But Kyle isn't white. So all this is rather pointless bud. I said hispanic/latino in the original, because where I'm from hispanic means predominantly "Mexican blood." So either way, but it doesn't matter because Kyle ain't white anyway.

[taowministries-blog]

THE CHURCH, THE GOSPEL, AND RACIAL RECONCILIATION

Sin penetrates every aspect of man since the fall. The effect is that our minds, will, affections, and hearts have been infected by sin's sickness, which manifests itself in the symptoms of behavior. The problem, therefore, is not primarily the behavior that we see, but the heart that causes it. This is crucial in understanding the world around us.

In the past few years, and especially in the past week, I have seen a lot about racism on both the news and social media. Most recently, it centers on the election. While all sides blame others, I think that this unique situation we are facing in our country presents believers with a unique opportunity for gospel ministry.

Racial tension has always been a problem. Since the fall, we categorize others by external factors as a way of creating division because of differences in an effort to elevate ourselves. While this is a very complex issue, it is simultaneously very simple. We can reflect back upon the civil rights movement of the sixties and it is easy to identify how the church has failed in the past. I hail from a Southern Baptist tradition, and one of the deficiencies of the Southern Baptists is their failure to fight against racial prejudice. Yet, while the past makes mistakes clear, do we learn from them and seek to not make those same mistakes again, or do we continue down the same path masked in different social issues? As we see racial tension in our own country, I would offer up the following thoughts for Christians to ponder.

It Starts In The Church

I pastor in a church that belongs to the Converge Network (formerly Baptist General Conference), and the denomination has recently been looking at racial diversity within our network of churches. Just the other day, however, I was speaking with a brother in Christ within our denomination, and he was talking about churches within our district. As we were talking about various churches, any that were not "white churches" (my quotations) were labeled by their prominent ethnicity. "We only have x number of African American churches, and x number of Latino churches in our district. We need to find a way to plant more ethnic churches." I would submit that we contribute to this problem within the church. What is an "African American” church? What is a “Latino” or “Chinese” church? I honestly have no idea. There is no such thing in Scripture. There is simply “the” church: the bride of a Christ made up of a multi-ethnic family of God, purchased by Jesus, and joined together with a common Spirit. The church, by her very nature, is not defined by race. Therein lies the problem. Even within the body of Christ, we think of ourselves in terms of ethnicity. Even when we share a common language, we gravitate toward others "like us". 

But someone might ask, "what about different cultural traditions?" I'm currently preaching through Romans, and one of the issues that the Roman church faced was its multi-ethnicity; there was racial tension due to traditions that came from different ethnicities and cultures. Paul's thesis throughout the book of Romans is how the gospel addresses this. The gospel brings racial reconciliation. The gospel makes one multi-ethnic people of God, purchased by Jesus, that share a commonality of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. So how does the gospel address racial tension?

Imago Dei

The first step to dealing with racial reconciliation is having a deep conviction that all human beings bear God's image, and, therefore, are wiry of dignity and respect. God created humanity, and each person was created in His image. We share attributes with our Creator. We are special among creation, and distinct from all the rest of creation. In a world that claims that we evolved from single cell organisms and are descended from monkeys, it is no wonder that the respect and dignity of humanity has given way to racial prejudice. We are nothing but evolved creatures, not eternal beings made by God in His image. In an age where children in the womb are expendable and we celebrate the destruction of unborn humans, we should not be surprised when there is no respect for human beings simply by virtue of the fact that they are human beings. Therefore, we as Christians should treat others with dignity and respect. We should see people first as image bearers of God, and worthy of respect and dignity. This means that we don't differentiate between people based on the color of their skin, the political party they affiliate with, or any other thing that would cause us to look down on someone.

The Gospel Of Reconciliation

Ultimately, the only thing that will bring about true racial reconciliation is the gospel of reconciliation. At its heart, the gospel is a message of reconciliation: reconciliation of God and man. Those who were once enemies are now at peace. Not only peace, though, brought into the family of God; the reconciliation of the gospel is not just enemies putting down their weapons, but enemies being pardoned and counted as children of the King they once hated. That has tremendous bearing on what we see around us. True racial reconciliation will only come about through the gospel, because the gospel not only changes our vertical relationship (us and God), but it also transforms our horizontal relationships (us and others). What God has done for us, He does for others, and in doing so, we become brothers and sisters in God's family. Not only that, but through the gospel, we are given a Holy Spirit-empowered love. Love for others cannot exist alongside hatred. The gospel transforms our lives so we don't live for ourselves anymore, but live for our God, and the primary way we show our love for God is by loving others.

Racial tension is an issue of the heart, not a result of a social construct. Until the sin in our hearts is dealt with through the gospel, our sinful hearts will continue to reign over our behavior. When our hearts are cured of the sickness of sin, however, we are freed from all that keeps us from seeing others as image bearers of God. The gospel empowers us to love others and seek their good, even when there are differences. Racial equality is not found in politics, and is not secured through government in an ultimate or decisive sense. The government is charged with protecting and encouraging good, but laws cannot regulate the heart. True racial reconciliation is only found in seeing others as image bearers of God, and allowing the gospel to give us new eyes through which we see others.

Christ, Our Example

As we look to the gospel, we see the perfect example of reconciliation in Christ. Certainly there is no difference between men greater than the difference between God and man. God is eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfect in every sense; the most excellent of all beings personifying moral purity. Man in contrast is corrupt, wicked, finite, and fallen. Yet, in spite of these differences, God became man and pursued those who are different. Those, who in a way we cannot claim in our relationships with others, was infinitely better than us. Not only that, but the relationship between God and man was destroyed by sin to a point where it seemed irreparable. As we look around and see the hatred that is based on race all around us, it seems very dark and hopeless; yet the gospel shines all the more brightly in darkness. Just as Christ pursued those who were not like Him, so also we are to pursue those who are not like us -- so that the multi-ethnic family of a God might be a beacon of hope in a dark and fallen world. 

Conclusion

For Christians, when we see racial injustice against a person of any color, we are to stand for truth and justice -- but not just in a social sense. We are to carry the good news of Jesus Christ to the hurting, marginalized, and oppressed. The book of Philemon is so helpful in seeing how the gospel changes our relationships with others. Philemon, a runaway slave, served with Paul, and Paul sent him back to the owner he ran away from. Not only that, but Paul sent a letter with him that instructed Onimisous to receive Philemon not as a slave, but as a brother, and to charge any wrongdoing to Paul's account. That is what the gospel can do. It can change us from seeing each other through fallen eyes to seeing each other through the eyes of Christ.

As I mentioned earlier, our denomination is talking about racial reconciliation; however, at the national level, the approach seems to be wrong. Instead of racial profiles of churches, looking at ethnic heritage, encouraging racial sensitivity training, and other worldly approaches, we need to have a rekindled passion to take the gospel to all in our communities, and in doing so, seek the good not only of the individual, but of the city. Until the church stops seeing itself along lines of racial divides, we cannot properly show the world what the gospel does. Until we have Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, rich, poor, educated, and uneducated worshiping our Lord side by side, we cannot expect those around us to see a thing differently than what they see in the world. Our church gatherings should reflect our community, and more importantly, the multi-ethnic family of God, purchased by Jesus and indwelt by the Spirit. For that to happen, we must die to self, take risks, die to preference, and see the gospel as the true hope for peace and joy for humanity. Until the church reflects the gospel to the town or city it is in, we offer nothing for people to look at and see in Christ -- a final, decisive, and ultimate solution to racial hostility. Let us therefore seek the good of those of every race through sharing the gospel as our greatest expression of love so that others might experience the transformation and joy that comes through being reconciled to God, and through that, being reconciled to others.

[pinktheoristcollector]

New top story from Time: Why It’s A Mistake To Simplify the ‘Latino Vote’

Ten years after political science professor Marisa Abrajano wrote about the false assumptions made towards Latino voters, political pundits and campaigns are still making the same mistakes in this election, she says. The assumption of a singular “Latino vote” is wrong, for one, and actually it should come as no surprise that Cuban Americans in Miami Dade voted for President Trump.

Latinos are not a monolith, and not one unified force. The differences between communities are vast and deep. The U.S. is home to an estimated nearly 61 million Latinos, according to the Pew Research Center, and range in age, race, gender, religion, socio-economic status, political ideology and educational attainment. Most are English proficient, and most were born in the U.S.

Despite these nuances, on Election Day the “Latino vote,” was analyzed as a single, unified entity by some political pundits, journalists and campaign officials without acknowledgment of the complexities of a demographic that makes up an estimated 18% of the U.S. population—a symptom of a wider trend of limited Latino outreach during political elections.

Latinos in the U.S. come from all parts of Latin America, Central America and Mexico. Some Latinos have lived in the U.S. for generations. There’s a variety of Spanish dialects, languages, foods, and traditions. It should come as no surprise that there are also differences in political ideology.

“The assumption is that Latinos are a monolithic group of voters, and the reality is that Latinos make up individuals hailing from more than a dozen different countries,” Abrajano, who teaches at UC San Diego, tells TIME. “The Latino vote in Florida is different from the Latino vote in California, and from Nevada, Arizona—and so to make broad strokes, or using this pan-ethnic term, can be problematic, and the same trend was evident 10 years ago.”

In the aftermath of Election Day, many took to social media to express their concern that analysts were painting Latinos with a broad brush. “It’s laughable that in 2020, this country still needs to be reminded, Sesame Street style, that Latinos are not a monolith & the Latino vote is a mirage,” wrote Los Angeles Times writer Esmeralda Bermudez in a Twitter thread.

It’s laughable that in 2020, this country still needs to be reminded, Sesame Street style, that Latinos are not a monolith & the Latino vote is a mirage. This misconception comes from how little u bother knowing us, how superficially u cover us & how absent we are in newsrooms.

— Esmeralda Bermudez (@BermudezWrites) November 4, 2020

“I think the most important thing for people to understand is that there is no ‘Latino vote,'” says Lisa García Bedolla, vice provost for graduate studies and dean of the Graduate Division at the UC Berkeley. “What we call Latinos or the Latino community is made up of folks who are very different in terms of national origin, in terms of generation, in terms of language use, nativity, class, gender, gender identity, sexuality, and then it also really matters where people end up living.”

But though social scientists like García Bedolla and Abrajano have for decades studied and even provided advice for how political campaigns could better engage wide-ranging communities with nuance, not much has changed, including this election year. García Bedolla says what often happens is that campaign managers wait until late into a campaign to begin Latino voter outreach. Often that comes in the form of a campaign ad in Spanish.

“I have been involved for at least a decade in trying to educate [political operatives] about these nuances,” García Bedolla says, but, she adds, often the people in decision-making positions lack the cultural awareness necessary to be effective.

“I literally had somebody ask me in 2016 what’s the bumper sticker that is going to mobilize Latinos?” García Bedolla says. “What we actually needed were mobilization strategies that would talk to the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth generation English monolingual Mexican Americans in San Antonio…That’s the kind of specificity that we need.”

García Bedolla and those who spoke to TIME all say that political campaigners need to engage with Latinos early and often, year-round, to understand the needs of individual communities. What’s important to Puerto Ricans in New York City, for example, will differ from Mexican Americans in the Rio Grande Valley.

Because Latinos nationwide vote for Democrats in larger numbers than they do for Republicans, one misconception is that as the population of eligible Latino voters grows in the U.S., so will votes for Democrats. It’s a myth social scientists refer to as “demography as destiny.” Of the estimated nearly 61 million Latinos in the U.S., Pew estimates 32 million were eligible to vote this year, or 13.3% of all eligible voters.

“Both political parties in this country need to recognize that Latinos are not a given entity, they are a constituency that demands recruitment,” says Antonio Arrellano, interim executive director of Jolt Action, a progressive organization in Texas that aims to increase Latino political engagement. Texas is home an estimated 5.6 million eligible Latino voters, coming in second only to California with an estimated 7.9 million, according to Pew.

For that reason, Arrellano says, campaigns cannot take Latino voters for granted. “We need to recognize that Latinx folks across the country have been here for decades, for centuries and have…for generations been overlooked, neglected and underrepresented,” he says. “It looks like now more than ever before, Latinos are coming to terms with the fact that the political power in this country is rightly in their hands and you have seen that turnout in Arizona, in Nevada, in Texas, where Latinos are engaged like never before because they know that the next chapter of American history will be written by them.”

Party recruitment, Arrellano, Abrajano, and García Bedolla stress, cannot be as simple as speaking Spanish during a political debate, or opening a rally with mariachi music—symbolic cultural messaging to relate to Latino voters that lack substance, which García Bedolla adds, she finds insulting.

Just like all voters, life’s experiences inform the way Latino voters vote, not just ethnic or racial identity. “It makes it seem that, if I’m a Democrat, it’s just because I’m a Latina,” she says. “It’s not because of anything that’s happened to me in my life.”

In fact according to Pew, in 2018, 62% of Latino voters identified with or leaned toward the Democratic Party, while 27% leaned toward or identified with Republicans. But this is not something that is widely recognized and political pundits’ surprise at Latino support for Trump on Election Day—the Cuban vote in Florida, for example—points to a lack of understanding of nuances of Latinos in the U.S., says Geraldo Cadava, a professor of history at Northwestern University who wrote “The Hispanic Republican.”

“I mean it really shouldn’t be a surprise,” he tells TIME. “The fact of the matter is that in every presidential election since Richard Nixon won the election in 1972, between a quarter and a third of Latinos have voted for the Republican candidate…by this point you could say that there has been a half-century tradition of Latinos, a significant minority of Latinos, voting for Republican candidates.”

The Cuban American population of Miami-Dade County, for example, has since the 1970s leaned towards the Republican party. But within that community exists nuances as well. Older Cubans who fled from the Castro Regime are still more likely to vote for a Republican than younger generations, Cadava says.

The Trump 2020 Campaign did make attempts to reach Cuban Americans by propagating an anti-socialist message, one that may also resonate with other Latino groups who have their own anti-socialism sentiments, Cadava adds. Venezuelan’s, for example, who take issue with President Nicolás Maduro.

On the other side of the coin, former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders also saw wide support from Latinos in Nevada. Analysts credit that success to the months-long effort to win over Nevada Latinos, who eventually helped him win the state in February. “It’s because he did something that other politicians sometimes forget to do: He asked for their votes,” wrote USA Today’s Ruben Navarrette Jr.

When political campaigns fail to do the robust outreach to individual Latino communities, grassroots organizers are often the one ones to fill the void. In Arizona, a battleground state, grassroots organizers have stepped up to mobilize Black, indigenous and people of color, an effort at least 10 years in the making, since campaigners were not taking the steps to engage with this block of voters.

This year, the state saw a strong turn out for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, something Alejandra Gomez, co-executive director of Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), a grassroots organization that works to support communities of color, credits to long-term mobilization efforts of organizations like hers.

For a decade, the organization has mobilized around campaign season, knocking on doors in neighborhoods that went ignored by party officials. They helped to increase Latino voter registration, hosted community meetings in key locations, and developed relationships within communities. Gomez says they considered how an outreach strategy for Latinos who are newly naturalized citizens could differ from a strategy intended for Latinos who have lived in the U.S. for multiple generations.

“Demographics are absolutely not destiny,” Gomez tells TIME. “We just did something historic…and for us that is incredible, that is the work, that is 10 years of organizing. And those voters, we’re not going to lose them because we’re gonna call them next week and we’re gonna debrief and thank them for having participated.”

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