Send them Back?

I have never had someone tell me to go back to my place of birth. 

If someone did, I would hardly understand the question.  By the way I was born in Primghar, Iowa.   

But since President Trump’s failure to stop a crowd at his rally last week from shouting “send them back,”  I’ve been astonished the number of times my friends of color have said they’ve been told this phrase.   

And I’m embarrassed by my own astonishment.

For President Trump to target Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Rep. Rashida Tlaibfour, four women of color, is clearly an act of belittling a group of people based on their race.  That’s racism, and President Trump should be called out on it.

President Trump continues to target this group of four women.  He did it this morning in another tweet.  The only way he would change is when he sees it in his own self-interest.  If he thought his own political base would decrease their approval of him based on his comments, he might stop. But according to polling his approval rating among Republicans has gone up in the last week.

If the act of the crowd at President Trump’s rally wasn’t so sad it would be comical.  To actually be sent back, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would go to the Bronx; Rep. Ayanna Pressley would go to Cincinnati,, Rep. Rashida Tlaibfour would go to Detroit, and Rep. Ilhan Omar would go to Somalia.  And if the entire Congress was sent back to their place of birth five Senators and twenty-two other Representatives in addition to Rep. Ilhan Omar would go to a foreign country.  As I said above, if I went back I would go to Primghar, Iowa.

But at the baiting of President Trump the crowd didn’t ask these other people from Congress to go back to their home countries and didn’t ask anyone who was white to go back to their home countries.

The conduct of the crowd was chilling and frightening. President Trump originally said he disagreed with the chant—even though he let it go for thirteen seconds—and then he even backtracked on that statement.

Let’s be clear.  Targeting a group of people based on race is racism; targeting a group of people based on their place of birth is xenophobia. Both racism and xenophobia have no place in our culture.  They are both sins.  Every person who is human is susceptible to each. 

I’m actually less interested in calling out racism--though it has to be done--than in developing friendships with people who have a different skin color than me and people who were born in a different country than me.  I’m also committed to leading a congregation made up of many races and nationalities. 

This Sunday at Chain of Lakes Church I’ll wrap up a summer sermon series on friendship.  I'm taking the themes of friendship in the Toy Story movies, relating them to Scripture and then asking the question of what can be learned about growing in friendship.  I’ll challenge everyone present to develop friendships with people who have a different skin color and with people from a different country of birth.  I’m not naïve enough to think that these two acts can end racism, but these friendships can be an anchor for understanding in these divisive times.  

All of us need this anchor of understanding.  Especially when race is again being used to divide our country.

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