White supremacists in the Church

A few years ago, I discovered that the hideous remarks I’d occasionally heard about First Nations people weren’t the exception; they were the rule in much of Canada. I was even more appalled to find that this was especially true in the Church. Just to name a few:

• "Well, my friend couldn’t rent to native people. It was just a business decision."
• "I just can’t picture any native person being faithful to God."
• "They can’t run a church on their own. They wouldn’t know how."
• "Well, I just have a hard time with Indians."

Well, brothers and sisters, I have a hard time with white supremacists. Now let me reiterate; I’ve heard all of these in the context of church. I am beyond sick of the egocentric attitude that we as whites have perpetuated. The residential schools are closed down. We would now be outraged (I hope) at the thought of forced sterilization. Seeing women hide in the bush to have their babies so their little ones won’t be kidnapped by government agents would likely spark widespread public protests. Children whose teeth were yanked out of their faces without freezing just because they were "Indian kids" would sicken us… maybe… then again, we might hear justification for it. "Well, you have to understand…"

No, we don’t have to understand any justification for these abuses. These people have been traumatized beyond belief and yet many of us have the gall to say, "They need to just get over it." Living through the hell that they have, is it any wonder they wish we had never crossed the pond?
We could apologize. Many are asking for that. I honestly have some questions about that. I’m afraid the words, "I’m sorry" have been so overused they’ve lost their meaning. We say "I’m sorry" if we bump into someone at the grocery store. We say "I’m sorry" to get a ranting family member off of our backs. We say "I’m sorry" as children when we’re dragged by the scruff of the neck to face the kid whose face we just bloodied and lie, "I’m sorry."

We need to walk differently. God teach us!