Because this election is historic in that an African-American is the lead on a major ticket, it was only a matter of time before the specter of racism raised its ugly head. Many of you will have undoubtedly started receiving the “anti-Obama” hate e-mails. These e-mails make all kind of racist statements and usually misconstrue some of his writings into a pro-Islamic rant against America. These e-mails are part and parcel of the extreme right and reflect a certain approach to politics that is governed not by reason and ideas but by bigotry and closed mindedness.
The episode of racism that I want to address, however, belongs to another category all together. Recently, during the Republican National Convention, a certain policy group that is historically affiliated with James Dobson’s Family Research Council was selling an interesting item. The said item was called “Obama Waffles”, which is an obvious play on Obama’s perceived or actual changes in position on a particular issue. While this is not offensive in and among itself, the pictures on the box were clearly racist and offensive. (I invite you to check the cartoonish representations of Michelle and Barack Obama at www.obamawaffles.com).
Reaching back to “Aunt Jemima” and other racist icons, the developers of the “Obama Waffles” clearly were attempting to tap into a stream of bigotry that exists within conservative America. The truly damnable aspect of this whole fiasco is that a Christian organization was involved. Racism has no place within Christian convictions, and all those involved in the “Obama Waffles” campaign should withdraw immediately if they are authentic followers of Christ. Jesus died in order to provide forgiveness for a single family that is made up of every tribe, tongue and nation under heaven. He would not tolerate this type of action from his followers and neither should we.
However, this post should not be taken as a blanket support of the Obama campaign. There are many reasons not to vote for him. Here are just a few. First, his position on the sanctity of human life is out of line with the historic Christian position. He openly supports abortion and would obviously appoint judges that reflect his convictions. Second, his position on same sex marriage is also problematic. While he says that marriage is between a man and women, he rejects the defense of marriage act, which would ultimately be an outright support of gay marriage across the country.
This is not to say that he does not have positive aspects as well such as, care for the poor and restoring international integrity. His economic plan is more in line with biblical ideas of restorative justice, and his views on the environment are also in line with the basic outline of creation care. His plan for a green economic sector is especially promising. There are positive and negatives with Obama, just as there are with McCain, however any decision should be made on significant facts and not racism or bigotry.
What I am trying to say is that this election, as all others, should be decided by what the candidates believe about the issues. There is plenty of authentic information out there that Christians should use to help them make an informed decision in November. Obama’s race, however, should not be an issue, and I seriously question the Christian character of believers who are proceeding in this fashion. They are no better than the serial e-mailers who present Obama as closet Muslim who is hell bent on enforcing Sharia law. Last time I checked, that was far too conservative for him.
As a final post script to this post, I would like to note the following. This week Dr Dobson, on his radio show, apologized for the affiliation of his lobbying arm with the “Obama Waffles” incident. I give him the benefit of the doubt that he is not racist and that he would have been upset, if he had been present. However, the fact that a Christian organization can be so wrapped up in something like this proves that so called “Conservative” attitudes are not necessarily Christian attitudes.
Rev. Donnie McDaniel, M.Th (Edinburgh University)
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International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local governments to ensure victim rescue, to prosecute perpetrators and to strengthen the community and civic factors that promote functioning public justice systems. IJM's justice professionals work in their communities in 12 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to secure tangible and sustainable protection of national laws through local court systems.
An IJM Campus Chapter is a group of students concerned about issues of injustice who desire to work together as advocates for the oppressed in a world of suffering. They partner with IJM in 3 ways:
1. Raising their voices on behalf of victims of injustice through prayer and advocacy.
2. Raising awareness on their campus and in their community of the reality of oppression in our world.
3. Raising support to enable IJM to rescue more victims of oppression.
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I whole heartedly believe that anyone who bases his or her electoral decision on the skin color of the candidate has no right to vote and ought not even be allowed to exercise that choice. I know this might come across harsh, and, honestly, it is. But I stand by the fact that the founding fathers of the United States had a much narrower scope of who held the “right” to vote. People who are uneducated on the issues and candidates, or are ignorant as humans, as racism inherently indicates, have no place in the voting booths. Period.
I cannot wait for the day when every tribe, tongue, and nation under heaven shall rejoice together in the presence of the Savior. I think the rainbow of an epidermal kaleidoscope is one of the most beautiful things in the world. That being said, I do not necessarily agree that the Obama Waffles “were clearly racist and offensive.” While I would not support this type of campaigning on other philosophical grounds and would distance myself from it, I think we are doing an injustice to label it racist. The caricature of a black man is not inherently racist. I have seen images very similar to this one of our current president George W. Bush (as well as every other president I have been alive for…). I fear that, in an ironic twist, we run the risk of racism when we label benign events that would draw no attention when applied to a white man as racist. We need to be sensitive to bigotry, sure. But we do not need to become so fearful of being (or even just as being perceived as) racist that we have to walk on eggshells and dance around pink elephants. I have just as much innate white-guilt as the next middle-class American gringo, but whenever race is the issue of focus, I am offended. Let’s be people, rather than skin colors. I submit that if John McCain were portrayed as an old white man in a similarly lame campaigning ploy released by Obama supporters, there would not have been a single eyebrow raised.
I say we need to focus on the issues and treat each candidate as what they are: human beings. Whoever you support, do so out of an educated position of seeking God’s face and how you most see His commands lining up with a candidate’s words and actions.
And God bless the world.
Who's your brother, who's your sister
You just walked passed him
I think you missed her
As we're all migrating to the place where our father lives
'Cause we married in to a family of immigrants
My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
My first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
It's to a king & a kingdom
There are two great lies that I've heard:
"the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die"
And that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican
And if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him
But nothing unifies like a common enemy
And we've got one, sure as hell
But he may be living in your house
He may be raising up your kids
He may be sleeping with your wife
Oh no, he may not look like you think
Derek Webb: A King and a Kingdom
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