Racism

I am so blessed to belong to a multi-cultural, multi-racial group of women here in Shanghai.  Admittedly, most of my close friends are American, with a few Australians and New Zealanders thrown in for good measure.  But I belong to a beautifully international Bible study.  The cultural majority leans toward American, but we also have a woman from Sri Lanka, from South Africa, from Japan, from China by way of Finland.  Two of the Americans have married Chinese men.  One of the Americans has married a black man.  Within this group, I am one of two women whose children are both American and only one race.

This is a Bible Study which functions as a church and family for each of us.  We worship together;  we pray for each other;  we study the Bible;  we share our struggles with China, with our marriages, as parents, as daughters and sisters, nieces and grandchildren.  We share life lived away from your homeland and your family.  We also share these things in full confidentiality, and so I'm afraid this story must be told on the surface to maintain the anonymity of the individuals.

A woman described the racism her husband has faced looking for work in China.  She tells that people will ask specifically the color of his skin - this over the phone, in simple requests for information on job postings.  She described the bewilderment and frustration they both felt.

This part of racism, I have heard before.  I know that racism exists, and many overheard conversations - with acquaintances and on radio and the movies.  This I know.  The next part of the conversation, I have never been privy to.

The other women in the group heard their sister's complaints with no surprise.  They had each faced racism many times, both here and in other parts of the world.  They spoke calmly, and they spoke surely.  They spoke with compassion, but they spoke with conviction that racism can not hurt them.  They encouraged their sister that God has a plan for her life;  that God has a plan for her husband's life;  and that negative people saying negative things can have no impact on that plan.  That this negativity will simply steer them safely away from the places where God does not want them.

This is certainly not a societal plan for facing racism, but an amazing perspective on making in through life when certain ceilings and obstacles will be unavoidable.  The words came so easily to them, that clearly each had faced this conversation before.  But this part of the conversation on racism, I had never heard before.