Saturday – Open Topic

Reading – Luke 10:29-37

Highlight Verse:

“The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭10‬:‭29‬ ‭NLT‬‬

My dad moved our family from Chicago to California to avoid racism. As diverse as California is, back in the sixties, he still encountered quite a bit of racism. When people found out that he, a Mexican, had married a very white woman, he encountered another level of prejudice.

At first he handled this by insulating us kids from the culture he grew up with. He refused to speak Spanish. The only Mexican friends he spent any time with were those he competed with in handball at the YMCA.

Eventually, he embraced his culture again when he went to work as controller for a tortilla and Mexican food company and got remarried to a Mexican woman.

I was glad for the diversity in upbringing. There were some awkward moments when I didn’t understand the language or the culture among his friends and step family. Nor did I understand those few times of prejudice that I saw when racist people figured out that I was half-Mexican.

Having been raised in two races and cultures, I don’t understand racism, but I know it still exists.

Through the story of the Good Samaritan, we see that Jesus himself came out against racism.

Do you ever have to encounter racism the way my dad did?
How do you handle it?