Dear White Supremacists.

Dear White Supremacists,

My skin is white. Well that is what it would be defined as. In reality, it is this pale pink tone which shows scars easily and can burn within ten minutes in the sun.

My brothers are defined as white too. Despite this, I would say they are nearer a caramel colour and have a distinct tan line where there watch would lie.

Our skin colours aren’t actually very similar at all. It has always been a wonder to my Mother and I, how her skin has a yellow undertone and mine is pink. The same way, I was always mystified in Biology class when both my parents had brown hair, yet one brother and I had blonde.

You see, I never have defined myself as a skin tone, or seen it as a defining feature.

Growing up, my Mother commented that one time she couldn’t remember the name of one of my classmates, so described her as “the tall, black girl” in my class. She didn’t mean it in a racist way, just as a descriptive measure.

I had no idea who she was talking about. That girl was tall, loud, bubbly and funny; but I had never taken into consideration her skin colour.

Since then, society has forced down my throat that skin colour is something I should notice. It has forced it down in history, in culture, in geography. It has forced down my throat that skin colour is more defining than hair colour or eye colour. It has told me I should notice this about someone.

But I should not. Like I said – my family has many skin colours, yet we are all classed as white. Despite our range in tanning abilities, the different colours we suit, our ability to look good in white, despite all that, we have the same heritage.

I was reading an article the other day about Mary Beard and people of different races living in Roman times. I found it incredibly interesting and think that we should do more to educate people. I found it heart-wrenching when I read an article about the white-washing of Dunkirk, how we barely remember the lives lost and blood shed from different corners of the Earth. I hear stories from friends and stories in the news, of people being attacked because their skin colour and it makes so angry. I feel complete anger than someone is attacking someone else based on their skin colour.

So I have a message to the white supremacists who are running riot in America. The human acts which I am most of ashamed of are – the slave trade, the apartheid, human genocide and the holocaust. It is not natural to look back at these crimes and celebrate. It is not natural to think you are better than someone based on something as futile as your skin. It is not natural to cause pain, suffering or death to a fellow human being.

As a child, I didn’t see skin colour as a defining feature. Society has forced me to see it as a difference. It has forced me to group people based on only one aspect of their appearance. Even when that is not due to prejudice, it still forces me to say I am white when I go to the doctor, or hear people call music “black music” or “white basic bitches”. The thing is, it has also allowed me to see something else: injustice and wrong.

Skin colour is never going to be an easy prejudice to challenge. If you challenge skin colour, then some people think you are challenging heritage. I don’t think that I am, I think heritages should be celebrated and I enjoy learning about different cultures. If you challenge skin colour, then hurt and shame raise to the surface. But we can’t live in the past.

I pray that one day we will not let fear, prejudice and an inability to apologise rule our society. That children will not be forced to see skin colour as a defining feature. That we will not riots based on people think they are superior based on a skin colour.

After all, if you are walking because you think white is superior, then I hope you realise the only difference is you that you will get a worst sun burn. If you are walking because you think the slave trade is OK, then I hope you would be just as willing to walk if it had been your ancestors in boats and chains. If you are walking because you think the holocaust was alright, then I hope you would be just as willing to walk if your Grandfather had lost his family in a gas chamber or grew up in a concentration camp. If you are walking because you think the apartheid was justified, then would you be OK only being allowed in a worst quality school, or not being allowed on a certain bus, not based on your ability, or determination, not even based on your ability to work hard – but based on your skin colour.

Because, my dearest white supremacists, who seem to think all these things are OK. It is just damn luck that your family were on the safe side of history.

So learn to be human, learn some morals, and if you think God is on your side, pray and read the bible. Because if you have the energy and the time, to march on a peaceful town or mow a car into a group of people because you happen to have a skin colour which has faced relatively little prejudice, then you have the energy and time to protest poverty, school inequality, police shooting, gang crimes, modern slavery, sexual abuse, abortion rights, animal cruelty, climate change, mass starvation, female education – or the many problems society is actually facing right now.  

Thank you.  

PS. I think it is important to note two rather vital points. One - not all crimes above have been based totally along one-direction racial lines - there have been prejudices, attacks and injustices around the world affecting many different races - but the crimes above have been referenced in these marches and therefore find themselves in this article. Two - I do not understand the everyday life of those suffering from racial prejudice, and I don't know if I ever will. I have experienced prejudice based on gender and disabilities so while in some ways I can relate, I do not truly understand. All I can do is apologise to those experiencing it and hope that one day society will work together to overcome it. I hope my ignorance causes no offence. 

Is Trump a good Christian man? What should we pray for? Where do we go from here?

How are you meant to look at the American political situation right now? As a Christian I mean.

Well there are the evangelical Christians who supported Trump. Those who are celebrating a control on abortion as God’s will. Those who celebrate the tirade against homosexuality, trans-sexuality, Muslims and the reminder of women’s place in society.

Then there are those sitting there looking at this situation and asking – is this God’s will? Is there any good in this man?

I am sure somewhere inside Donald Trump there is some good. His love for his children and his grandchildren is apparent. His keen business acumen could be celebrated. His obsession with the American worker could be worked as a care for those less fortunate.

But, at the end of the day, in my mind a Christian is defined by love. Yes the bible speaks of judgement and punishment, but not at the hands of other men, but at the hands of God himself. Trump is not God.

His love for others can be questioned. Does he love the Syrian refugees running for their lives? Does he love the Muslim countries he has just put border controls on? Does he love the journalists who were arrested? Does he love the animals who climate change will affect? Does he love the women who will die from unsafe abortions? Does he love the women who accused him of sexual assault? Does he love the disabled who will no longer be covered with Obamacare reforms? Does he love the children being taunted for being different after the rhetoric of his election campaign? Does he love his wife after the social media taunting? Does he love the people he posts mean tweets about? Does he love the other politicians in the world or see them as pawns in his game? Does he love his own daughter when he commented he was proud of her to “a lesser extent” than her siblings? Or does he even think about them at all?

Does he just think of himself? Is he egotistical? Has he created an idol in his own vision? This is the man who used charity money for portraits of himself. This is the man who has his name on every building he owns. This is the man who tweets angry remarks when someone disagrees with him. This is the man who funded his own presidential campaign. This is the man who ran up to the White House instead of holding his wife’s hand. This is the man who stopped organisations tweeting when they didn’t tweet the right remark. This is the man who accused the press of lying when they showed photos of his inauguration.

So does he has respect and honour for the position he holds? Since taking office, he has banned many state departments from using social media. He has spoken out against climate change and reduced funding from the US. He has talked about making America great again, but forgot that he could make the whole world great again. He has moved to build a wall alongside Mexico. He has stopped abortion funding. He has reduced funding for many Diversity boards. He has threatened war with China, indirectly. He has called his lies, alternate truths. He had rioters arrested and then released the man who stabbed an anti-fascist protester. He has said torture works and talked of reinstating it. He has made moves to reject Obamacare and stop the covering of pre-existing conditions. He has done many things, whether he has signed the piece of paper or these things were done under him, but it is his government and in turn his actions.

So is this man a good Christian man? Maybe he is but currently I see little evidence to support that. I really wanted to go through this article and think this man loves, he is not egotistical and he respects his position and the good he can do with it, but the evidence thus far does not show that. I see he shows little love or understanding for the majority of the human race. He seems obsessed with himself and his values rather than what is best for the country, or world as a whole. He seems to lie at every turn and twist the truth for his own benefit. He seems to back policies which segregate, punish and hurt innocent human beings and in turn animals and the planet.

So I hope that through the next year he can show a love to the world that he has shown to his grandchildren. I hope he can show the intelligence he has shown to his business empire to the big problems facing America and the world. I hope he can share the lack of prejudice of his daughters and spread that to all groups in society. I hope that he can be mature and stop tweeting when something doesn’t go away. I hope he shows respect to all those who deserve it, compassion to all those who don’t and becomes a good influence on the world. I hope that he cares for the world with all its differences and problems.

That is a lot of hope and when his actions thus far have brought about more comparisons to Hitler than to a Christian, it seems a jolly long way to go. So if I convert all of those hopes to a prayer maybe that’s a little step there.

So what else can a do a Christian do, when you look at these questions, these statements, the news, what can we do? I think we should stand up and show that he does not represent what Christians are all about! We should show love and support to the groups he is persecuting, whatever race, religion, gender or sexuality. We should pray that he is helped to do some good with his power. We should speak out when we don’t disagree with him. We should rally our politicians to stand up to him. We should extend a hand of friendship to the Americans scared of living under him. We should help fundraise for the causes which are now underfunded. We should ensure that his rhetoric is not normalised, or respected, or permanent. We should show that God made this whole world with all its inhabitants and not just one country, one gender, one race or one religion. Essentially we should love and show what being a Christian really is all about.