Imus and what lies beneath

I often get new students or new BUILD participants who sincerely believe that racism pretty much died out with the sixties and the civil rights movement. We go to great lengths to read about and discuss the continued disparities in education, income, health care and experiences with the criminal justice system on the basis of race. It seems especially lately what lies beneath is oozing to the surface in even more outrageous incidents with Imus' outlandish statement about the Rutgers Team, Michael Richard's racial rant and Senator Joe Biden referring to Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy". These are just a few of the situations that have hit the press. We hear about these kinds of racial slams often in our community.

Here's a link to a great article by Ed Gilbreath in Christianity Today about the Imus affair. He summarizes it in the quote below...

"Racism is a sin. And sin, despite our best efforts, continues to dog us. Without honesty, without grace, without vulnerability, without humility, without the spirit of Christ from all sides, we cannot rise above our present dysfunction."