Article January 15, 1990 Issue

Racism and Christly love

The Christian Science Monitor

I couldn't understand why she pointed the knife at me. She was the only minority student in our formerly all-white country school, and during the brief weeks she had attended, she and I had played happily together. Now suddenly this threat had come between us.

Since no one had ever done such a thing to me before (I was only eight), I was more puzzled than afraid. The girl never explained her action, and as I tried to reason about it in my childish way, the only difference I could see between us was the color of our skin. So somehow the incident became a kind of symbol of separation between her and me.

Such symbols are often behind racism—whatever outward form it takes. They tend to become the focus of our thoughts and keep us from dealing with the deeper issues that would divide us. And the basis for these symbols is frequently fear and ignorance.

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