What Our Children Need to Know About Race
I am not black, and I am not white. Some would say I’m brown. Others would say that I’m not brown enough.
As a child, I learned that I was Mexican-American. I also learned that some people didn’t like that very much and wouldn’t let us park in a parking lot one time.
Later, I was told that we were Hispanic because some of our ancestors came from Spain. . . My grandfather was Native-American though.
As an adult, I was called Latina, but my professors told me to embrace the term Chicana instead. They liked my fiction writing and thought I should represent “la raza.”
When I became a Christian, none of that mattered anymore. The focus went from myself and what I could accomplish in my name to Him.
It’s amazing how quickly the voices and noises are silenced with truth.
We live in a world that seeks to box us into compartments. For you see, when we are boxed, we are easier to manipulate, easier to divide, easier to enslave.
When we are battling one another, it is easier to cancel the things that are of utmost importance, like truth and morality and freedom. When we are battling each other, it is easier to lose sight of what is of utmost importance.
But the truth of Jesus Christ sets us free from it all, and upholds what truly matters.
According to His Word, we are all made in the very image of our Creator God. As image bearers, we have an innate need to abide in Him as we shine His light into this world.
Apart from Him, we can do nothing.
And so, when the world teaches our children that they came into being by a cosmic accident and a series of genetic mutations, it leaves them empty and void, endlessly searching for purpose and meaning. When they’re told that families and traditional Biblical roles are obsolete and do not matter, they are left floundering for belonging and connection.
And then the world comes to their “rescue” with identity politics, gender confusion, and critical race theory, promising purpose and meaning and belonging. But those are counterfeits and will only further divide and destruct the very foundations of our society.
Racism is a sin issue, not a skin issue. And we must call it out for what it is, rather than allow it to compartmentalize and divide us.
We must teach our children the truth of God’s Word. We must teach them to love as Jesus did, to see the uniqueness and distinctions in nature and in people as beautiful portrayals of His creation. Every skin color and facial feature all point to a God, who is creative, amazing, and worthy of our awe and worship. The heavens declare His glory!
We should be pointing to Him, not at one another, discriminating against something we can neither change nor control. We should be learning from our past, not destroying it, along with the stepping stones to our future. We should be sharing His truth, not perpetuating and participating in the lies.
All lives matter.
And it's more than okay to be white or black or brown or any other shade God made us.
Our children need to know this with every ounce of their being, for when they learn to value the lives of all, including the unborn, the disabled, the elderly, and the different, then they will not stand for the propaganda and power grabs. They will not be pulled by the current of trending ideologies. They will know better, and they will do better.
This work, however, begins in the home.
It is up to us to be intentional with the time we have with our children. It is up to us to train them up in the way they should go and to teach them His ways.
One talk at a time, one book at time, one day at a time, one prayer at a time, we can begin to shift the conversation.
Let us arm our children with the truth, and may they be equipped to one day shine His light into the darkness, ultimately illuminating what truly matters most.
A Few Scriptures on Love
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Philippians 2:3
John 13:34
John 3:16
1 John 4:7-8
1 Peter 4:8
Children's Books on the Beauty of Skin Colors
In this book, the author celebrates different skin colors by comparing them to delightful foods, such as honey, cinnamon, butterscotch, and cocoa brown.
All The Colors of the Earth by Sheila Hamanaka
This book celebrates the distinctions in skin colors and features by comparing them to things in nature, such as "The roaring browns of bears and soaring eagles," and "the whispering golds of late summer grasses" . . . "Love is amber and ivory and ginger and sweet."
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