Our Pain

On By EfuaIn life

I was walking on the road when i felt him walking behind me. As he walked past me, he turned, spat on my face and yelled “monkey, go back to your country”. I was scared. Others walked past me without uttering a word. I felt isolated and alone. It was just me and my 7 months baby in my womb.

Two years later, i was taking my baby to the childminder. My daughter is very friendly and would wave to this little girl with her mum. But each time, her mum would pull her closer and shield her away as though our presence terrorised them both. One day, my daughter said;

“Mum, why don’t they ever wave back at us?”

Seven years ago, i was working in a call centre when i had another terrifying experience. The conversation went like this.

Me: Welcome to xxx, you’re speaking with Efy. How can i help?

Caller: Can you pass me to an English speaking person?

Me: I am speaking English. Please how can i help you?

Caller: Well i want to speak with someone who has a british accent. I know you are speaking English and i can understand you but i don’t like your accent. Pass me to someone with an English accent.

Me: I’m sorry, i am not allowed to pass the call to someone else because i have been trained to deal with your query. Please how can i help you?

Caller: Right, let me be clearer. I don’t want to speak with a monkey. I want to speak with a human being. Pass me to an English person please or transfer me to your manager because i no longer want to speak with you.

I placed him on hold and went off to speak with one of our managers who said that i should go back and deal with that call. So i went back.

Me: Hello xxx, i’m sorry i have spoken with my manager and she wants to know what the query is; as she is sure it is something i can deal with.

Caller: (Screaming and cussing. With more people in the background making monkey noises) I do not want to speak with you. Pass me through to an English person.

I got off to speak with the manager again and explained what was going on. She said ” Well when you left your country to come to England, you should be ready to deal with things like this. Go deal with that call.”

Me: Hello xxx..

Caller: (Interrupts with anger and cussing)

I was scared and took off my headset, trying to be professional. Trying not to be accused of playing the race card. Trying not to allow the tears gathering in my eyes fall down my cheeks. Trying so hard.

It was at this point, that my teammates noticed something wasn’t right. My colleague asked, “Efy, is everything ok?”.

This was all it took and the tears just won’t stop. I went to the toilet and wept. I wept because it was my first time experiencing something of this degree. I have been called several names by other callers. “Go back to your country” was a phrase we have become accustomed to, so to be honest that didn’t affect me much anymore. But this incident was hard. Very hard.

My husband was coming home from the city centre and he used the tram which is one of our public transports. He was sitting in a corner when he heard the famous phrase “go back to your country”. However this time, it wasn’t just the phrase. It came with a punch to his eyes. There were other people in the tram and they did what we are used to experiencing here. They were minding their business.

My husband rang the police. However the guy has gotten off at the next stop. Knowing that the trams have CCTV we thought he will be caught. Our hopes were too high because the police came to our house several times with the same line “we are so sorry. We can’t see him clearly on the CCTV camera. Here is a form for you to make a claim should you want to”. My husband was left to nurse his injury to his eye. And no we didn’t make a claim.

My kids came back from school few years ago and said their friends were asking them when they will be going back to their country. My kids were all born and raised here in the UK.

I now work in the corporate world. I have been for about 6 years. When i came into my last role, i realised that majority of my clients owed the company money. This wasn’t mainly their fault. It was because at the time, although the company had a process, it wasn’t implemented and lack of accountability meant that most of it was going unnoticed. I got all the money back and implemented a better process to help avoid that from happening again. My manager was grateful. Weeks later, a joke started going around and it was “if you have a difficult client, pass them to Efy, she will bully and scare them into paying”. This lines sounded very familiar. “The angry black woman” came to mind.

I was used to that stereotype. Many people like me are used to it too.

My Nigerian accent is a problem. My skin colour is a problem. My sassiness is a problem. My enthusiasm doesn’t go down well either. There is always a problem with my tone. No matter how polite i try to sound and be.

I say all of this to say, RACISM DO AND STILL EXIST! I understand some people might not want us to mention it. I know you might prefer we just sing kumbaya and just move on. I understand you think it is media propaganda because you have an election coming up soon. I don’t hear you say the same thing when your voice is loud to speak up against abortion. Just saying!

I understand you want to focus on heaven. And Jesus. And your glorious eternal prize. And all of that good stuff. I get it. We get it. We see it. We know it.

Silence is a response. Your silence is deafening! It isn’t enough to be non-racist. What brings about change is when you are anti-racist. Your people hear you better when you speak! Speak up! Speak up!!

When we say #blacklivesmatter, you don’t like it. You prefer to say #alllivesmatter. But when a house is burning in the street, you don’t say all houses are burning. You are specific because you realise that that is the only way the desired help can be offered to the burning house. Do you understand this analogy? This is why we say #blacklivesmatter.

And before you come on the defensive, i am not saying all white people are racist. Of course not. Just to be clear, the person who spat on my face, the caller, the lady and her daughter, the guy who hit my husband, the school kids, my colleagues who made silly jokes at me, are all white. And…..

My lovely team mates who stood up for me and ensured that the call was listened to, and that it was escalated to the highest level, were all white except for one who was black. In fact one of the ladies reached out to me after seeing the killing of another black man by a white man in the US and said “Efy I am so sorry. Please i am doing my best in educating myself and those around me. I am always standing with you all. I am speaking up against this. Please let me know any way i can help make this stop”.

I wanted to continue with my bible study post today because i love to do that. However if you want to know me, i feel it is important for you to know how i am feeling today. I am sad. I am heart broken.

In the words of Will Smith;

“Racism isn’t getting worse. It is getting filmed.“

Are you still paying a blind eye? Jesus didn’t. He wouldn’t. He stands for justice.

87 thoughts on “Our Pain”

  1. This is heart breaking. I’m sorry you went through all of these with your family. All for what? Skin color. This is so inhumane and heartless. My families all resides in spain and one of my uncles live in UK. Everyday they all ask me why I choose to stay in Nigeria with my daughter and not give her a better life. I just smile and use another topic to cover it up. Yesterday a black woman was thrown from the balcony to the floor by police in Toronto and they name it suicide. I saw the list of blacks that has been brutally killed. I wept and ask God why? Everyday I pray my family and loved ones doesn’t become a victim of circumstances. People will gladly come back to their country if things were okay but then who gave them power to choose which skin color gets to rule others. I’m really angry, sad, hurt, pained and so I feel so defeated because of my color. Efua, a lot of Nigerian ladies are changing their skin color just to remain alive. About 5 distant aunties that were in Germany came back looking unrecognisable.

    These has to stop. Black is not a reason for anyone to hate us. Black is who we are. They love a black coloured dog, they can give their lives for a black coloured cat or any pet that is black but another human with a different color is a threate to them.

    BLACK LIVES MATTERS 🖤🖤🖤🖤

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    2. This week’s incidence honestly brought everything to the surface again. It is really sad. Very sad. It hurts even more to hear people say it no longer exists. When the caller who called me monkey at work was told to apologise, he said he didn’t know that calling me a monkey would upset me. Shocking! It has to stop! It is sickening!

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      2. Oh yes! I was told “i speak English so well for someone who came from Nigeria”. And the person expected me to be impressed and take that as a compliment. It does hurt. I remember there used to be a time when I would tell someone I came from Nigeria and the next question they would ask will be about animals and how we live with them

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  2. Hello Efua 1Cor 1: 25-29 was my meditation this morning. In there I saw the 5 things God chooses;1- the weak2- the foolish 3- the base4- the disposed5- the nothing In these, I  saw pain as it is painful to come to terms with any of the attribute above but I also saw “Grace in Pain” as 5 is the number of grace and His grace is perfected in our weaknesses.  The bible says we should Just consider and meditate on Him who endured from sinners such bitter hostility against Himself [consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.Hebrews 12:3 Amp Consider, that Jesus was called a bastardConsider, that He was second class citizen under Roman authority. Mk 12:14 -17Consider that though children of promise, Israelites were not worthy to eat with Egytians on same table. Gen 43:32Most importantly, know that these troubles are all in the flesh. In Christ however, there is liberty for you and you reign with Christ.  I hope you found comfort in these words and if not, then pardon my delivery. But I know God had you in mind….somewhere in this writing. Stay blessed.  Kind Regards  Ola Bewaji

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    1. Thanks Ola. I understand that Christ suffered more and that His grace is sufficient. I also believe in the power of our voices and justice. We most likely would still be slaves today if certain people didn’t speak up. The same applies to a lot of freedom we enjoy today. I am allowing myself feel this pain because it is part of my humanity and I think it is ok. But I am also using my platform to let the world know that it is about time this stopped.

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  3. Thank you for such a well written post. It certainly opens eyes to the truth that ugly and disgusting sin of racism still exists. No-one should be judged by the color of their skin.
    I am so genuinely sorry those things happened to you. It’s hard to believe this sort of evil is in our lives at all. I think of how Jesus is the only One who truly can identify with you. Oh the thought of Him on the cross, crying out, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. ‘ I know it is hard to forgive, but forgive we must. Even go a step further and love them. That is a tough order. How can you love someone hurting you with their words? Yet it is what Jesus wants from us, His children.
    I posted something in Facebook about George Floyd. It is a downright sickening and sad day in America for this to happen. And to be filmed! I weep with his momma who has to see her sons last breaths in such a disgusting manner. I want to help. I want to do something, I want to say something. I just don’t know what or even if I should.
    What can I do to help is my question? I love you Efy as my sister in Christ and I want to help, support and encourage you. This is not right! What can we do to make things better? I am here and I am on your side. Your sister, Donna Marie.

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    1. Donna, thank you so much for your words. I really do appreciate you SHOWING that you are grieving with us right now. There is power in that! Like you mentioned, the killing was awful and to see others watching without any intervention is equally scary because it was the same reaction the people in the tram had towards my husband. I believe that forgiveness is important regardless because God has commanded us to. I am praying.

      I do think that there has been a good shift in the body of Christ this week. I follow quite a few American preachers and for the first time, I see majority of the white pastors coming out to use their platforms to publicly condemn this. This has triggered a conversation that is long overdue in the body of Christ. It is a moment that we all have been waiting for. I honestly think it is a pivotal moment.

      With regards to what you can do, I will be sharing a post tomorrow with a video done by Christine Caine (a white preacher) and Dr. Anita Phillips (a Black preacher). It will really help give insight as to what needs to be done.

      Thanks again for saying something. I do love you sis💕. By the way, the lady who reached out to me yesterday is called Donna too😁

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      1. ♡ God bless you sister♡ I will be looking forward to tomorrow’s post. I wrote about George Floyd in my post today titled Yes America sadly Racism Still Exists. I am appalled, saddened, and sickened by this injustice. I feel like a petition needs to go around or something. But I just don’t know how or what. Thank you for the answers you will be giving tomorrow. May the Lord bless, protect and comfort you. I care. ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ your sister, Donna Marie

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      2. Thank you so much Donna. I will be catching up on here tonight and I will read your post. I don’t know if petitions do anything anymore as many have been done in the past. But I feel this time, something is shifting for good.

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  4. I am so sorry for all that happened to you, Efua. It should never happen in a civilized world. As I tell my Sunday school students, we are all family, some with a little more melatonin than others becasue God wanted people to be able to adapt to the sun in the area in which they lived. I also make sure I tell them that we are ALL related to each other through Noah, so that makes us family. Nevertheless, I am always appalled at what happens after such incidents as what occurred in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I don’t have all the facts, but I have watched part of the video and the police officer should have his badge permanently removed and go on trial for murder. But what I don’t and never will understand is the violence and looting from those who claim to be seeking justice for Mr. Floyd. I don’t understand how setting your neighborhood businesses on fire and robbing from a Target store are helping establish justice. A lot needs to change in this country, but one of them is that people who are using violence to claim that they are seeking justice should also be prosecuted. I wish we could go back to the times of peaceful protests led by great Americans like Martin Luther KIng, Jr. But, alas, I don’t think that we have a charismatic Christian leader like him in today’s world, but I am praying for God to raise up someone like Him. Again, my heart weeps for what you had to go through and are still going through daily. Persecution like this is racism and should always be condemned, never allowed or even encouraged. I am so sorry and pray that God will heal your heart and protect you and your family.

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    1. Glad you teaching that sis. And I too publicly condemn violence in any form. I also want to mention that trauma can make people become violent. There is so much of a hit anyone can take. I am aware of peaceful protests that have happened here but nothing came out of it. I am sure there has also been peaceful protests in the USA over the years about similar cases but that hasn’t stopped it either. When you feel knocked down again, and again, and again and you see the same questions being raised, it can trigger something like the kind of protest that we are seeing now. This isn’t to say that it is good. It also shouldn’t divert our attention from the cause of the issue.

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      1. Unfortunately, I don’t think that most of the rioters are thinking about the death of George Floyd as they walk out with cases of liquor or other things that they have stolen. There is a huge difference between protests and riots and what we have seen this week is rioting. Regardless of how many times Christians are knocked down, the only right response is a peaceful protest. It’s sad that what these rioters are doing is destroying businesses in the low income neighborhoods where some of the people there may need to shop and work. I think that there needs to be consequences for the destruction and as AG Barr just said, it is against federal law to cross state lines to incite or participate in violence. I would be interested to know how many of the actual rioters are from that area and how many traveled there just to participate in the mayhem. I’m saddened and shocked by the death of Mr. Floyd, but I am more shocked and saddened by the response.

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      2. I find your last sentence shocking indeed. And also it isn’t christians that are being knocked down. It is BLACK people that are being knocked down. Your response seems to focus more on the symptoms than the problem. But I am exhausted from everything that has been happening. God bless you sis

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  6. “Silence is a response. Your silence is deafening! It isn’t enough to be non-racist. What brings about change is when you are anti-racism. Your people hear you better when you speak! Speak up! Speak up!!”

    “Holodomor consisted of the genocide of millions of Ukrainians, who were victimized by hunger, due to Stalin’s economic policy between 1931 and 1933.

    Holodomor is a Ukrainian word that means “to leave to die of hunger”, “to die of starvation”. This word came to be used in the context of Ukrainian history to define the events that led to the starvation of millions of Ukrainians between the years 1931 and 1933. Roughly speaking, the holodomor, like the Nazi holocaust against Jews, consisted of a genocide against the population of Ukraine undertaken by Soviet communism, which was led by Stalin. ”
    By Me. Cláudio Fernandes

    Napoleon’s and Hitler’s biggest mistake were invading Russia. Both defeated.
    Close to Stalin, the corporal, speaker, aspiring global leader and Kaiser, Hitler, was just a trainee.

    Reports say that in the Soviet Union more than 100 million people died during the 70 years that the communist regime was in force. NOTICE, of his own people, the Russians, and neighbors.
    Which grants Stalin, and the Communist regime of the former Soviet Union, the title of one of the greatest KILLERS in human history.

    EVERYONE, WHITES.

    In Africa, blacks hate blacks.
    In Asia, Easterners, hate Easterners.
    In the Americas, whites, browns, blacks, and indigenous hate each other.

    “Consider my enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.”
    Psamls 25:19

    “And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”
    Psamls 109:5

    “For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knows either love or hatred by all that is before them.”
    Ecclesiastes 9:1

    SHELTER YOURSELF INTO CHRIST!

    “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
    Matthew 11:30

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    1. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness.
      And we know that the Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
      Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
      1 John 5:19,21

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      1. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
        1 Corinthians 12:13

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  8. Wow…thanks so much for sharing your story, Efua. I thought of Jesus and the Samaritan woman, how he looked beyond her race and simply saw her need, despite the hatred between Jews and Samaritans. I wish we could all be as Christ, but even many believers are not. In any case, keep on being the beautiful, wise, strong woman you are! I always enjoy your straightforward posts and learn something new. God bless!

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  9. Psalm 9

    1 I will praise you, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will show forth all your marvelous works.

    2 I will be glad and rejoice in you: I will sing praise to your name, O you most High.

    3 When my enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at your presence.

    4 For you have maintained my right and my cause; you sat in the throne judging right.

    5 You have rebuked the heathen, you have destroyed the wicked, you have put out their name for ever and ever.

    6 O you enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and you have destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.

    7 But the LORD shall endure for ever: he has prepared his throne for judgment.

    8 And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.

    9 The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

    10 And they that know your name will put their trust in you: for you, LORD, have not forsaken them that seek you.

    11 Sing praises to the LORD, which dwells in Zion: declare among the people his doings.

    12 When he makes inquisition for blood, he remembers them: he forgets not the cry of the humble.

    13 Have mercy on me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, you that lift me up from the gates of death:

    14 That I may show forth all your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in your salvation.

    15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

    16 The LORD is known by the judgment which he executes: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

    17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

    18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.

    19 Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in your sight.

    20 Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.

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  11. You are so beautiful and I am so sad that happened to you. It’s not right! My heart is just breaking! This evil has to end! I’m sickened by the injustice! I pray that the Lord will give you peace and will turn your saddened heart into a joyful heart. I’m waiting in expectancy for the Lord to turn this around to good.

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  13. Oh Efy,

    Thank you for speaking out!

    The tears are just falling as I read. So often people try to whitewash the matter and accuse one of having “a chip on your shoulder” and although I have gone through similar nasty encounters as a black woman born in the UK, I am shocked about your call centre experience and the fact that someone could address you in those terms. Shocked, yet not shocked!

    It is an unpleasant, wearisome and odious burden that we black people have to bear and until someone wears our skin, they can never really understand or appreciate what it is like to live in a society and be treated as an underclass citizen. And even though there may be some people who will not want to hear it, or even perhaps believe it, racial prejudice exists even in the church. It is a crying shame!

    The late deceased motivational speaker, Dr Myles Munro, always used to say that “we cannot legislate love”. So true!

    Only when all peoples (black, white, Christian or whoever) expresses agape love, will there be racial harmony, acceptance and equality. I fear I will never experience this here on earth and will have to wait until God calls me home.

    Very sad indeed!

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  15. Sister thank you for sharing your story. This is so sad to read but its needed. I know enough of your heart that you are a believer who loves Jesus and you’re not trying to bash on others, etc. Praying for you to have a sense of peace…and yes even safety.

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    1. Jim, thank you for your kind words. I am currently studying 1 Peter 3:8-12. Verse 11 caught my attention and I am meditating on it. The past couple of days has been tough. Very tough. They’ve been filled with a lot of tears and heartache. I am trying to journal more and it has helped a bit. I feel physically and emotionally tired. Your prayers are helping.

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  16. It’s high time we loved ourselves as Africans.The Glory is no more in America or Europe.The culture there has deteriorated so much.Though our people are still being pushed to go abroad for a better life, I have come to learn I better hustle but live in Africa.

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  18. Thanks for sharing, Efua. We need to hear about and believe the experiences of black people, then stand up for justice! God speaks again and again of justice throughout scripture, especially in books like Isaiah and Jeremiah.

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  19. *Sighs* It breaks my heart that you and your family went through this. Thank you for sharing a powerful written post, silence is indeed a response. There’s loud voices when it comes to abortion and pride month and even with the Me-too movement, but when people of color are unjustly murdered people want just to talk about God being God of love and peace. And, yes He is but He’s also a God of justice. So, in other words they’re saying, “stop your whining bend over and use Vaseline.” I don’t condone rioting, but when people are more outraged about the lotting than they are about the murder of people of color, that shows exactly who they are and how they think.

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  21. Maurice

    I am shock by this posting. Efua if I can read this and feel this way I can’t even imagine how you were feeling at the moment worst the manager was showing her true colors. Efua your smiling picture on the Blog radiates like the perfect needed sunshine. Things like these I say for sure there must be a heaven and a hell. Look at the vile injustice that seems to go unnoticed, but god will bring all works into judgement. I can’t even write more on this you don’t deserve this and all this racism must stop too long and too much of madness going on. I pray God trouble the conscience of those in authority so that they will rise up bring swift and strong justice to racism. It create poverty, pain, destruction, hate and setbacks to civilization.

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      1. Maurice

        May the Lord protect you and your family with His hedge of fire. My cousin had to move his family from UK because of the same. His daughter was being bullied at school which was affecting her a whole lot.

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      3. Maurice

        Remember the Bible tells us that in the last day there will be those without natural affection. They are lovers of their own self more than lover of God. No matter what it is very sad

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    1. I have looked through your post and I can see that despite the analogies people have given you still insist on views. So I don’t think there is any need for me to comment on the “all lives matter” phrase. I do agree that all murderers should be held accountable.

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  25. Wow! I am so saddened by this!
    Many Christians want to sweep this under the carpet and say love wins.
    But we won’t be here if some people had not stood up and fought for our freedom.
    How can we turn a blind eye when a brother or sister is unjustly treated yet raise out voices on abortion?

    I read a couple of blog posts from some Christians who said what is so special about the trend that we should focus on Jesus.
    I was flabbergasted. If we are on earth to focus on Jesus so why go to work or get an education or even live in houses? Why not live in the bush and focus on Jesus?

    I am also glad some white Pastors are now speaking up.
    It had been forbidden topic in churches for a long time. As if God didn’t hate injustice.

    More so am I shocked some persons are more concerned about the looting than the life that was taken. They clearly have no value for the life and are more interested in going back to business. If you have never gone through a person’s pain, you can not tell them how to react to it.

    I condemn the violence on the innocent cops as I know not all cops are bad and innocent lives are affected.
    But it is just a chain reaction from years of silence. I sincerely hope violence ends. And things get sorted out calmly.

    I just pray people do something like sign petitions or donate rather than sing kumbaya.

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    1. I agree. I think this time, for once conversations are being made and the impact is being seen. Let’s continue to pray for a better tomorrow🙏🏾

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  26. I was heartbroken too. When a dying man calls out for his mother, just about every mother’s heart breaks. I am from the UK. One of my best friends is half Jamaican. She told me a few years ago that for the first time in her parents forty year marriage, they had been having racial issues in the UK. I had picked up a change of tone, even within my own relatives. This division between people has been stirred up deliberately. I am so sorry for what you have been experiencing. I often miss London. I used to love the diverse cultures. I am sad that you have been experiencing this.

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    1. Thanks for your comment. I think speaking out is very important if we are serious about fighting racism and injustice. What we cover up, incubates. I’m praying and hoping that the current climate leads to a shift positively in this fight.

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  28. Efua, I do feel your pain. No, as you know, I don’t have black skin, but I know what it is like to be abused, to be mistreated, to be called names, to be rejected, to be mocked, etc. because I am a follower of Jesus Christ and/or because I am a woman, or because I was poor, or because I was from the north living in the south, or because I wasn’t like other people around me. I was different. They didn’t like different. They still don’t. I get rejected a lot!

    But, you mentioned Jesus. How did Jesus respond to such treatment against himself? How did he teach us to respond to such treatment against ourselves? Did he speak out against injustice? Sure he did. Did he teach us to minister to the needs of the poor? Yes. Did he teach us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves? Yes. Did he teach us to expose evil and cling to the good? Yes. Did he say that if we hate other humans that we don’t love God? Yes.

    I am working these things through in my own mind as I am writing this. I haven’t always responded rightly to being mistreated, rejected and persecuted. But I want the Lord to lead me in how to respond to mistreatment, and so I want to follow Jesus’ example. So, I guess what I am trying to throw out here, and I have not read any of the other responses, is that when we are mistreated just for being who we are, or for our faith, or for our race, or because of where we come from, etc. that we need to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and do what he did. So, those are just my thoughts here. Love you bunches!! And, I would love to talk with you on the phone anytime!!

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    1. Thanks for your comment sis. Sorry you have felt that way and I agree with what you said about Jesus’ response. God is a loving God of justice. We can’t separate love and justice. So as we are loving people, I also believe that we need to call evil out whenever we see it and ask for justice where necessary.

      I do believe that there is a shift this time around positively because I have never in my life seen the body of Christ speak on racism the way I have seen this time. And that in itself is a step forward because what we cover up, incubates. I have had people reach out. People are studying and reading and learning and being open to understand. These are steps to healing as we continue to pray💕

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  29. P.S. I lived in at least two cities where I was definitely not welcome. In one, at one church, we were talking in the Sunday school class about the Good Samaritan. I was new there, and I was very lonely, and no one was welcoming me or reaching out to me, so I just shared a parallel story that made the injured person on the side of the road someone who is injured, not physically, but emotionally, and how we need to reach out to people who are new and to welcome them.

    After the class was over, one woman approached me. She said, “You are not one of us. If you were one of us, then we would listen to you. But, you are not one of us.”

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    1. That is sad and of course that hurts. Sorry you experienced that. This same feeling is the feeling most blacks feel when we see silence when voices needs to speak up. It is a subtle way of saying “you are not one of us”. But like I said in my previous comment, this is changing and it is a good thing to finally see.

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      1. Efua, I am glad that good is coming out of this. I am glad that people are being made aware of the sin of prejudice – all prejudice – and that it is making a difference in their lives in how they treat others. We do need to make people aware of all sin and how it impacts the lives of others, which includes all forms of prejudice and abuse of others, and we need to share with them God’s solution for sin so that their hearts can be changed and so that they will love others as God loves us. For, this is a heart issue, and only Jesus/God can change human hearts.

        And, too, we need to help those who are being abused or who have been abused to heal from those wounds, and to accept God’s sovereignty over their lives, and to trust the Lord, and to let God use these abuses in our lives to teach us to love others, and to grow us in our walks of faith with our Lord, and to be passionate about calling out sin and calling people to repentance and to faith in Jesus Christ, which is their only hope. And, we need to learn forgiveness, and to rejoice in our suffering, and to love our enemies and to do good to them, not harm.

        And, all of this is preparation for the persecution of Christians that is upon us and that is going to get much worse. In a way, because of what we have had to suffer in this life, we are better prepared to face severe Christian persecution than those who have never had to suffer prejudice and abuse at the hands of others. So, we are blessed! (Matt 5)

        But, may I ask of you to pray about something? May I ask you to, for a moment, separate yourself from the emotion of the present situation and to ask the Lord to show you what else is going on here? Ask him to show you if this whole thing is being driven, not by love and concern for the black community, but by a political and nefarious agenda meant for our harm, not for our good. Ask him if what you are seeing has a hidden agenda behind it to bring in the rule of the beast/antichrist. For, this is their playbook.

        They create chaos and unrest so that they can come in as the “saviors” with a preconceived “solution” to our “problem,” which is going to involve severe persecution of Christians. For, they are proving that we are a broken people and that we need “fixed,” and there has already been a call to the UN, evidently, asking for the intervention of the “international community,” which is the modus operandi of this beast.

        So, in order to solve our “problem” they will provide a solution that will bring the whole world into unity with one another, and we will have to break down all that divides us as a people so that we can live at peace with one another, but at the sacrifice of our faith in Jesus Christ, because that divides people – saved and unsaved – and because it says Jesus is the ONLY way to God. So, this is a set up, I believe, for bringing the antichrist into rule. So, just pray about this, ok? Not everything is as it appears.

        Love you much! Sue

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      2. Thanks for your comment but I strongly disagree with many of your statements. I do not want to start pointing them out one after the other. I am continuously praying that God will bring about justice and peace.

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      5. Efua, one more thing here, and this is deeply concerning me. The thing with the protests is that it is getting the world to unite together as one voice, with one objective, which leads to one solution, but it is not Jesus Christ. What they are presenting are worldly solutions, not godly solutions. They are not leading people to faith in Jesus Christ, but to empathy with the black community, and in some or many cases, to lawlessness.

        Jesus would not go about this this way. Yes, he exposed the fruitless deeds of darkness, but for what they are – sin – but never without the solution – Jesus Christ. His focus was on saving people from sin and leading them to righteousness. BLM is not doing that! It is focusing on black, on the color of one’s skin, rather than on Jesus Christ. And, the solution that they are coming up with and are going to come up with is not of God, but of man.

        I believe this is a trap from the enemy to get us all to become one with the beast – one voice, one mind and one heart. Solidarity is being taught, but not with Jesus Christ, but with people of color. That is not of God.

        Yes, love one another, show empathy, speak out on injustice, but as God leads, under his direction, in solidarity with him and with his solution, and use this as a platform to present the gospel of Jesus Christ, for a time is coming soon, I believe, when we will no longer be able to openly do that.

        So, yes, expose the fruitless deeds of darkness for what it is – sin – and the solution as Jesus and salvation from sin and then sharing that solution with others, for only Jesus can change human hearts. No earthly solution is going to change men’s hearts. Only God can do that.

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  32. What a testimony! I couldn’t believe what I was reading, but remember, it is their ignorance and their problem. NOT your problem, Efua, and imagine carrying so much hate inside. I am so sorry that you, your daughter, and your husband have all encountered this. Please, please, take some time and read Dr. Maya Angelou’s poem “And Still I Rise.” It will lift you up, I promise.
    Again, I am so sorry that you went through this.

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