One of the issues that we parents have to understand and address with our teens, is racism. Racism is everywhere lately. It is in the news. Our kids are all around it. It permeates their social media. It is in the music. It is all around them. Let’s define racism first.
Racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.
In the news
- Morgan Wallen’s use of the N-word
- Kanye West Hitler comments.
- Anti-Semitism in the news.
- The Royal Family Drama
These are just a few examples of what is going on in our teenager’s atmosphere. They hear the n-word in all their music, all over TikTok, in their video game chats, in their school hallways, at their sporting events, from coaches, friends, and family. It is just everywhere. How do we even begin to talk about it with our teens? I will do my best to give you some guidance.
God made man in His image.
Let’s start at the very beginning. God created man, Adam to be specific. He created him perfect. God made Adam a perfect partner, Eve. From there He never created another thing. He does not create today. He never created another race. GOD ONLY CREATED THE HUMAN RACE!!!!!!! There are no different races. There is only one race, the human race. This is the Biblical foundation of Christianity. No, we did not evolve from apes. We are all one race. There are definitely different ethnicities. No doubt about that.
Evolution
“The late Harvard professor Stephen Jay Gould said, “Biological arguments for racism may have been common before 1859 [the year Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was published], but they increased by orders of magnitude following the acceptance of the evolutionary theory.”“
One of the worst things to be taught is the theory that we as humans somehow evolved from apes. Darwin himself concluded that the white race is the superior race. That thinking led Hitler to try and create a “master” race and that led to the wholesale murder of millions of Jewish people. That whole idea is ant-Christian in its thinking and is being shoved down your children’s throats at schools all across the country. It is your responsibility as a parent to teach your kids that we did not come from a monkey and that we were created by a Creator.
The never-ending conversation.
The n-word is in my opinion more prevalent today than it has ever been. It is in all of our music, movies, culture, and society. It causes pain, frustration, and anger, and just gets an emotional response when used. Recently a high school student had his football scholarship rescinded after a social media post showed him rapping along to a rap song that uses the n-word. Morgan Wallen was canceled for a while after a video showed him using a racial slur. The conversation to have with our kids is about the origin of the word, the connotation of the word, and how it has been used to disparage, degrade, and dehumanize people of color. As Christians, this word has no place in our vocabulary, no matter the color of our skin. Will this be an uncomfortable conversation? Yep. Most conversations about racism are. Remember, words do indeed have power.
Talk It Out
Understanding the roots of racism will help us deal with combatting racism in our lives, churches, and schools. So, any fight worth fighting, and fighting racism is one, starts at home. Understanding our Creator’s design and the plan is paramount to combatting racism. Just talk t your kids about race, creation, Jesus, and how a Christian should behave.
Focusing On Godly Things 