Racial Musings Part III: A Long Way to Go

I'll let you know in advance that this will be difficult to wrap up and I apologize if I start rambling.
From sheltered Green Bay I moved to Grand Rapids, Mi at age 22. Here was my first encounter with black people who were not all well to do or well educated or even polite. I was distinctly embarrassed by my inability to understand many of them because of the heavy use of slang and a "black accent". Green Bay had poor areas of town but no slum areas or "hoods". I saw my first hooker, my first gang graffiti and my first drug dealer in GR. I know that a lot of this simply goes along with being in a bigger city (i.e., a city of 350,000 compared to a city of 90,000) but with the shock and embarrassment came the seeds of disdain and a sense of personal superiority. I also felt let down by the two black friends I made in my first year in GR when they both became pregnant out of wedlock. We all worked for a Christian publisher and had weekly chapels and prayer/share times so how could they do this? How could they not know any better? Didn't they know that they were perpetrating an ugly stereotype?

Being grieved over peoples' sin and failings would have been a lot more spiritually profitable than feeling anger or personal hurt. Grief leads rather easily to prayer while anger (sometimes useful if it's a "righteous anger",) usually leads to bitterness and pride. I needed lots of attitude checks in those early days of having my eyes opened. Praise God for the level headed people he placed in my life! They helped me be more discerning and make distinctions rather than generalizations as I sorted culture from race.

Every culture also has subcultures. While a race's general culture as a whole may be fine, there are always going to be subcultures which may be very destructive and undermining. Different crimes or problems* may appear to be more prevalent in one race than in another but that is a cultural thing, NOT a racial one. It's part of the old 'heredity vs. environment' thing. (*Some physiological problems do appear more in some races, i.e. sickle cell anemia in black females)
I happen to be having a real struggle with this again as our family is living in "the hood" for a year or so. Few people seem care about the trash laying around in their yards, or how foul their language is, or how rude they are yelling at each other under other people's windows at 2:00 a.m., or how they are completely blocking the road as they stop their cars to chat with each other or how loud their music may be or whose property has just been stolen.
Though I do not see eye- to- eye with Louis Farrakhan on many issues, he had a lot of good things to say about changing black society and the deteriorating culture of our country in general as he spoke here in Indy last night. He decried decaying sexual mores, drug use, violence, lack of education and the disrespect of men for women, adding that women have a responsibility to dress modestly. He made a very strong appeal for personal responsibility and respect for others.

Individuals. Every person unique. Each human being judged for who he or she is.
According to Galatians 3:28 God does not make distinctions among those who belong to Him; "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you all are one in Christ Jesus." If God sees His children as being of equal worth, should we not also see those who He made of being worthy of our individual attention? This being said, I do not expect an overnight change in my feelings or how I react when someone acts unkindly or thoughtlessly. What I do expect is that God, because I ask Him, will work in my heart to bring about a deep and lasting change in attitude which will become manifest in my feelings and reactions.