Go to the parade. 

**If you have never engaged in celebrating MLK day before, this is a great place to start.  By no means am I suggesting that this is where your engagement in racial conversations should end, but rather it’s a great place to begin. 

Beginning is the most important thing here.  

Up until a few years ago, MLK day was a day to remember some MLK quotes and have a day off of school.  But then one day I realized that this day is so much more than that.  Two years ago on MLK I took my kids downtown to the MLK parade.  I love parades, and especially a parade honoring and celebrating a man I have always been taught to revere.  A little embarrassed and surprised I arrived to the parade and was one of the only white people, and certainly one of the ONLY white families there.  I sat down on the curb with my kids and watched as my African American brothers and sisters paraded the streets, smiling, waving, and some more solemn holding signs that spoke to me.  Signs about racial injustice and fighting for freedom.  My uncomfortableness slowly waned as everyone in the parade warmly greeted us and walked over to us to give my kids candy.  I felt like an imposter, but I wasn’t treated like one.  My uncomfortableness turned to compassion and to my surprise, pain.  I looked around and wished that all my white brothers and sisters would have shown up to support and show appreciation for Martin Luther King Jr and our diverse city.  These streets are lined with white people on any other parade of the year, why not this one?  Slowly I was starting to see with my own eyes a disconnect.  

You may be starting to feel a little uncomfortable.  Trust me…stick with me here, please.  Usually when a conversation becomes uncomfortable I’m out.  But, my eyes were opened to how unfair that is.  I can easily peace out on racial injustice conversations because they make me uncomfortable AND because it doesn’t directly affect me.  So, if it doesn’t directly affect me and I’m uncomfortable…is it really worth the energy to engage?  

Growing up I lived in a majority white neighborhood, had some diversity in college, but my friends were mostly white.  Then, we moved to a diverse city.  All of the sudden I was living alongside more diversity than I ever had.  And I liked it!  My sister and brother in law adopted an African American boy.  Diversity became more personal and as a result I started paying attention more to the racial conversations that were happening around me.  I started really wondering how my black friends felt about issues, because now I had diversity in close proximity. 

You see it took me

getting closer to people

who are different than me

to actually start caring.  

All of the sudden I was faced with the fact that my whole life I never engaged in racial conversations because I was completely ignorant.  Here was my opportunity to change that, and so I began a process of just listening.  Whenever I saw things happen in the media, I chose to listen to the minority voices.  What were they saying?  When my black friends spoke about racial injustice that they had faced, I listened.  I didn’t respond with anything other than, I’m listening.  To my surprise, I had many of my friends say thank you for listening and hearing them.  They were so used to being silenced or argued with by white friends when they spoke about racial topics. 

Empathy requires proximity

Can I ask you a challenging question that someone asked me?  Who are the people you are  listening to? 

Look at your social media, how many people do you follow are of another culture or race than you?  What about the music you listen to and the books you read?  Are the artists and authors diverse?  If the voices you are following all look like you, maybe it’s time to seek out more diversity in your life.  Welcoming more diversity in your life can be as easy as choosing the check out line at the grocery store with the clerk who looks different than you.  Or even diversifying the health care professionals you choose (Dentist, Doctor…).  

You may be asking why?  Does diversity in my life really matter?  Well, my short answer is YES  because God created diversity.  I know thats the churchy response, but…

That means we ALL reflect God.  There is purpose for diversity, and to have a fuller picture of who God is…it requires ALL of us! 

There are so many other reasons why diversity matters, here are a few:  

• Jesus commands us to, Love your neighbor

• Everyones voice matters

• Builds understanding 

• Allows for more creativity  

• Builds appreciation for one another

What would you add?  

A Simple Action Step…

This MLK day and Black History Month (February), I challenge you to show up and engage.  Go to the MLK parade.  Search your cities events for January and February, pick one to attend…and go!  We can’t possibly think we can teach our kids how to love everyone, if they don’t see us actively loving those who are different than us.  And I mean ACTIVE.  Just because you say you do, doesn’t mean that your actions show that you do.  Let’s do more than just quote MLK this coming Monday, but let’s choose to get uncomfortable and to move closer to one another by taking the first baby step, and showing up.  

(**Diversity as described by Websters dictionary…the inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization.  Diversity means more than just race, but for this particular topic race was focused on.)