ears to hear

I woke up this morning, scanned twitter, and once again lost faith in the police. In Santa Clarita, CA a few days ago, three teenagers were sitting at a bus stop where they were attacked with a knife by a man. Witnesses called the police and when they arrived, the police drew assault rifles on the teens, arrested them and put them in handcuffs.

The teens were black. They had a skateboard and zero weapons. In what world does getting attacked at a bus stop lead to having the police point guns at you? In what world do we support a system that traumatizes our youth? Unfortunately, ours.

My heart keeps breaking over and over again and then breaks even harder when I realize that this is not new for our black neighbors, that they have been sharing their stories for years, but I haven’t had ears to listen. I’m so embarrassed. But I’m also grateful that I now can hear because that means I can be a part of bringing the kingdom of God to fruition.

In order to do this, though, we need to listen to people’s stories and seek to understand. So today, I’m suggesting we go on a journey to find people to follow who are speaking to issues that are breaking our hearts. To get you started, here are a few people who are helping me:

For anti-racist work, look to Ibram X. Kendi. He wrote books for all ages, even babies. (@ibramxk)

For asylum stories on the US/Mexico border, read the migrant stories shared on the Kino Border Initiative website. (@kino_border_initiative)

For stories from pregnant women who had nowhere to turn until Maggie’s Place took them in and showed them that they are loved, listen to the Maggie’s Place podcast. (@maggies_place)

For stories from an Indigenous Christian, I am loving Kaitlin Curtice’s book: Native. (@kaitlincurtice)

Our stories matter. Keep reading, keep listening, keep sharing, and I’ll keep praying that our hearts and eyes and ears will be opened to the cries of the people.

Love you all. Let’s do this work together in love.