Looting. Rioting. Burning Cities. These are the realities of a Biden America. See his future for yourself & ensure it’s not ours. Click here: bit.ly/3aRNxsl
I received this text on the second day of the Republican National Convention. At the time, it clicked through to the official website for the campaign to re-elect President Donald Trump. Don’t bother trying it now, because the link no longer works.
I have a couple questions for you:
Did you receive this text?
Do you approve of the message?
If you’re sensing that my questions are a trap, you are wrong. I’m curious who got it. I did, but my husband didn’t. I have a friend who got it, and she is a white evangelical Christian like me. I really want to know if this kind of campaign messaging is OK and if it finds traction in your Christian circles.
I showed my husband this text, because I admit I was shocked. “Wait,” he said. “All of this stuff happened while Trump was president.”
Darn if he’s right. I missed the obvious because my brain was 20 miles down the road. I’m old enough to know the history of race-baiting in presidential elections (Google “Willie Horton” or “welfare queen”), so I instantly got the subliminal message embedded in the code words—looting, rioting, burning cities. And I’m pretty sure you did, too, especially if you’re white and middle-aged like me.
Allow me to translate: The Black people are coming. The BLMers are gonna tear up your cities and destroy your way of life. There’s “Joe Hiden” and crazy Kamala, egging them on.
So I return to my questions. If you received this text, and you wish to share your ethnicity, I’d be happy to know for my little political science experiment. But my other question is far more important to the state of our hearts and faith: Are you OK with this message? Do you approve of the race baiting, the code words, and the malignant stereotypes?
If so, please don’t tell me this presidential election isn’t about race. Or that your Christianity is color-blind. Or that you love everyone the same, and that President Donald Trump really does, too.
I know some will have already labeled me a bleeding-heart liberal, which is amusing, because I’m not. I’m conservative by reflex. But the faces of my Black brothers and sisters are always before me, and I do not approve of the Trump campaign’s racist messaging.
Some see Black people, but I see my friends, loved ones, and fellow Christ-followers doing their best to hold their heads up in an evangelical culture that cherishes its political idols more than the brown-skinned person sitting next to them. In church.
Words matter. Words kill.
Your mom said it, and the Bible does, too.
Thou shalt not kill.
