The presidential election of 2016 elicited some very aggressive comments about racism.  Since my choices targeted me as an alleged racist,  I have chosen to share the truth about me.

I believe in God.  If you don’t, I would humbly ask for you to consider this topic as a possible talking point for racism discussions.

In the book of Genesis in the bible it briefly describes how God made man in Chapter 2 verse 7.

⁷ Then the Lord God formed a man^[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (NIV)

So, from my understanding, this story takes place in a lush garden.  I imagine it was warm, with humidity, green leafy things in a great abundance, and so on.  In Colorado, I like to hike.  I love the red stone we have in Colorado.  I have also witnessed, some dirt, tan in color, blowing around in the dry air.  This is not the same kind of soil I believe I would find in the garden of Eden.  I see that dirt as being a thick, rich, and dark. It might have been an almost black soil saturated with nutrients.  From the subtext of this story, does it seem clear that the first people ever, were black?  Or perhaps a very darkened brown.  I am very pale, and if dirt looked like my skin, I would suspect someone dumped an abundance of Lime or white, house paint on the ground.  This perspective is not intended to insult white people, or say we are not loved by God.  It is just to point out, that God made man from dust.  Dust from a Rain Forrest like garden.

“Ok Zachary, what about the other races?”  Glad you asked.  A few chapters later in that same book of Genesis one will find the story of the Tower of Babel.  I implement this one on my position of the moon landing, but that will have to wait for another blog.  In this discussion it is important to focus on the collaboration of humanity under a common language.

Genesis 11:1-9

The Tower of Babel

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ² As people moved eastward,^[a] they found a plain in Shinar^[b] and settled there.

³ They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶ The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

⁸ So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel^[c]—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth. (NIV)

From this I read that God confused the languages of humanity.  From the subtext I offer that maybe, just maybe,  God made humans look different as well.  Thus the variation of human beings.  We are all made by God, loved by God, and desired to love like God.  Racism is just a word invented to support hatred.  Perhaps this story may help to bury that word in the dirt.

Copyright © 2016 Zachary W Gilbert