To be honest, we’re tired…

Written by Kate Coleman & Cham Kaur-Mann

We were recently asked why we hadn’t made a statement on the anniversary of George Floyd’s death (spoiler alert, this might turn into that…).

‘To be honest’ we said, ‘we’re tired’…

While we continue to be blessed by our many white Christian brothers and sisters who have clearly grasped the nettle and committed themselves to taking gospel action (you know who you are and we thank you)…

We’re tired of having to persuade people that their eyes didn’t deceive them when George Floyd was killed in the way that he was on national TV (#conspiracytheories)…

We’re tired of still having to convince some of our white Christian brothers and sisters that there really is a problem and that the black and brown people around them have a case and deserve better…

We’re tired of having to persuade white Christians to do the ‘right thing’…

We’re tired of having to wait until they are ready to do the ‘right thing’…

We’re tired that taking action is legitimised only after they do the ‘right thing’…

We’re tired that they tire so easily and are eager to ‘move on’ while we and others like us have no choice but to keep on going…

We’re tired that sin isn’t recognised for what it is and there is so little urgency in addressing it…

We’re tired that dealing with racialised oppression in general society and around our churches is deemed an optional extra…

We’re tired that black and brown people continue to be tokenised, patronised, paternalized, infantilised…

We’re tired that black and brown people are still waiting for significant, heartfelt, gospel induced action…

And we’re definitely tired of seeing the looks of disappointment from black and brown people when the bare minimum is served up and called ‘progress’…

Of course, we’re hopeful… we wanted to say something…

But to be honest, we’re just tired.