Written by Mireya Del Cid, Wendy Flores, Maiju Karkkainen and Danielle Moser

“He is going to get assassinated anyway.”

“All white people are to report to the cotton fields at 7 a.m. tomorrow for orientation.”

“They are going to turn the White House rose garden into a watermelon patch.”

Put yourself in an outsider’s shoes. You are visiting campus and you hear a comment like one of these. Would you believe that this is a Christian campus? Would your stereotypes of Christians be reinforced? Would you believe that this is an environment that nurtures thoughtfulness, maturity and love? Did you laugh? Did you cringe? Did you ignore it?

Regardless of your political views and who you supported, Barack Obama was elected to be our next president. As he so eloquently put it in his acceptance speech, “to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn — I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.” Whether we voted for him or not, as Christians we are called to respect him as our president. Racism has always existed on our campus but through this election, it has become more prevalent. Now is the time to really take a stand. Our nation is ready to move forward. Is Biola?

None of us are free from racist thoughts and prejudice. Racism surrounds us and affects us in ways both obvious and subtle. However, it’s the responsibility of each individual to confront themselves and the things that they hear. Do you realize the things that you say? Do you realize how much they affect those around you? It hurts deeply. In this environment it’s easy to assume that everyone shares your views and end up acting insensitively and ignorantly toward others’ beliefs and experiences. It’s a hard sin to confront. We have all faced this reality and we face it daily. At first we denied that we were racist, we blamed it on others and our experiences with other races and we refused to take responsibility. But when we are faced with opportunities to confront racism, such as the degrading remarks and jokes, we respond with cowardice. By making racist remarks and not taking a stand, we are not taking the opportunity to celebrate the diversity that exists in our country and on our campus. Our actions and words are filled with hate. So what can we do about it?

We must first realize that the gospel transcends cultures and races and then we need to live like we believe it. We need to take a stand and not laugh at racist or offensive jokes. We need to confront our own prejudices by having more conversations about this topic. We need to expose ourselves to different cultures and other points of view. Ask more questions. Hear more stories. Don’t rely on information that is fed to us by others from our own culture. We assume that we are the experts on politics and religion and we rarely take the opportunity to be learners. Once we learn about different cultures, we need to understand that everyone has had different experiences and be sensitive to that. We need to have a sense of humility about our own culture because we all have things that we need to work on. Explore boundaries and push past the awkwardness of the unknown.

This article wasn’t written with the purpose of attacking anyone or their views. It was written to inspire people on campus to become more self-aware and sensitive to the diversity of this community. Biola, will you take a stand?