The recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia has left oceans of public pain and outrage and debate in its wake. I’ve been asking myself how I should respond.

Silence is complicity, I’ve heard.

So I shared some relevant posts on Facebook. However, I haven’t addressed the issues of racism and violence here. My question has been, “Plenty of eloquent people are already proclaiming how evil racism is… will it make things any better if I put my voice into the mix, or would I merely be adding noise?”

Then a Twitter connection led me to a fabulous blog post at Sojourners. Courtney Ariel, the author, answered my question with these words:

Listen more; talk less. You don’t have to have something to say all of the time. You don’t have to post something on social media that points to how liberal/how aware/how cool/how good you are.

So that’s what I’m doing. I’m listening. Because nobody needs to hear me talk, but everyone needs to be heard.

If you’re willing, you could join me in listening.

For starters, you can click here to read the Sojourners blog post.

And there’s this insightful piece written by Jon Foreman of the band Switchfoot.

Okay, I’ll be quiet now.

What about you? Have you been on the receiving end of racism, or observed it happening first-hand? Did you do anything to counter it? Or wish you had? Is there anything you’d like for me to understand? Your comments are welcome… please use the “Leave a Reply” box below.

I’m listening.

Peace.

Thanks for reading,
Jan