With the second night of protest with the Ferguson decision, there is a lot of heated rhetoric about race and injustice in America.
I think one thing missing in many of the mainstream discussion about race and victims surrounding Ferguson is another minority group that often gets overlooked if you want to look at it through the lens of racial paradigm: Asians. And this is not the first time this has occurred.
You might have remembered the security camera footage months ago that recorded Michael Brown stealing some box of cigarettes at a Liquor store.
That store was called Ferguson Market and Liquor. According to CNN the store has been looted.
I think there is something sad with this ordeal.
Here is an Asian man who is probably like many other Asian small business owner: he probably works incredible hours to run the place and invest much of his money, resource and life to keep the convenience store going all the while having a small profit margin.
Then you have Michael Brown step in one day who decides to shoplift at his store. He tries to stop Michael Brown but was physically intimidated by the bigger man.
The store owner did not call the cops for fear of being a “rat” since being a snitch will bring more problem for his business (it was a bystander that called the Police).
Then Brown was killed by a police officer away from the store. The police officer was acquitted of any wrongdoing, people got angry and they decide to protest. When one thinks about it, all of this is really out of his control. Then people decided to loot his store.
All the while the Asian store owner didn’t do anything against Michael Brown.
He is a victim. And a victim of a racial conflict between two other races that’s not his own.
I stumbled upon a webpage that had some derogatory remarks against the man and his store; I am going to post only the last paragraph of the ignorant article:
Poor store owner? Sure. It sucks to have your place ransacked, and getting paid out on the insurance claim will probably take him a while. But at least he’s not dead.
I can’t believe that a website that report on things “hip” and “emerging” would post something like that. There’s nothing cool or hip about it. Especially when you logically dissect it.
First off, I think one can see from the article that the writer is taking out his frustration with the supporter of the police officer onto the store owner. That’s not right. That’s the same logic that is driving the rioting and looting. It perpetuate more victims and create more racial problems.
Second, the writer’s perspective against this store owner is from the angle that if you support the police you will be for this store owner and if you are for Michael Brown you will be against him (or find that its acceptable to make fun of the store owner’s plight). I think that’s logically fallacious and the writer commits an either/or fallacy. It is logically possible to think Michael Brown has been unjustly killed and still say that what has happened to this man with his store being looted is wrong and wicked. If one is campaigning against violence en toto, why not be consistent and be against both scenario?
Third, just because insurance covers the property (that’s a big assumption given how Asian small business owners often are trying to lessen overhead costs), that still doesn’t make it right. Insurance, like insurance for many things in life, never cover the full cost of the actual damage. With this twisted logic should we then say that it’s okay for people to destroy someone’s house, commit grand theft auto and beat someone senseless just because they have insurance to cover for those damages?
Fourth, I think the line “But at least he’s not dead” is really twisted. Sure the store owner is not dead but that still doesn’t make what has happened to him as “right.”
Fifth, the line “But at least he’s not dead” cuts both ways: it is a dangerous line of thinking that goes against the very position of Michael Brown’s supporters. If one wants to use the thinking of “but at least he’s not dead” to justify an evil done to a person short of death, our ignorant writer would have to ask why didn’t Michael Brown not beat the officer in the first place and just comply with the officer just to be alive? Again, this is not my position but I am merely taking this ignorant writer’s twisted thinking to it’s logical conclusion with the writer’s own beliefs and position: “Sure, it sucks to undergo racial profiling and cops cussing you out but at least you are not dead if you comply.” Again, what sick line of reasoning with the statement “But at least he’s not dead.”
I am not against Blacks. I am not against Whites. I am not against Asians. I think racism is a sin including reverse discirmination. I have seen racism among my own kind and also racism among other groups. All of us are sinners who need to repent. I think it is good for all of us to search our hearts, repent of our sins and trust in Jesus Christ as one’s Savior from one’s sins. God is merciful and only through Christ can there be unity with the plurality of various ethnicity because Christ is the greatest motivation for us to love others even when it is difficult and humanly impossible.
That was very nice. About time somebody said something calm and reasoned in all of this. Thank you.
You are welcome Wally; I hope that those who don’t know Him may read this and have the Gospel presented in the end of my post
Very well said SJ. I agree fully. I really can add nothing more. Thanks for your take on all of this.
You are welcome Rob, I hope the post would not add unnecessary heat but make some think more clearly; hope the Gospel also get shared with a post on current events
A good summary, Jim. Thanks for your thoughtfulness. Sadly, those who need to read this will not.
So true, that those who need to read probably will never get to this; hoping in God’s providence that God can use this!
Reblogged this on Christian Heritage News.
Thanks for sharing this Angela
Thanks Slimjim. This is one of the more thoughtful, well reasoned articles I’ve read on the tragedy in Ferguson. My heart breaks for everyone: the Browns, Officer Wilson, and the small business owners and their employees who are now out of work. But there’s also something else about the St. Louis area that should be mentioned – it’s populated with loving, generous people who will band together and help each other through this tragedy.
I too think it is a tragedy for all those involved. I hope that local churches in the area will be used by The Lord during this trying time.
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Thank you for sharing this post Vincent
My pleasure Jim!
Reblogged this on My Delight and My Counsellors.
Thank you for sharing this; I hope this current event post will be an opportunity for the Gospel to be shared in the end of my essay,
Reblogged this on Narrow is the way.
Thank you for sharing this post!
My pleasure!
This is a great post on this issue, SJ. Injustice is everywhere and on both sides I’m sure. And it’s incredible that so many outsiders have come in to fuel these atrocities. Good work!
Levi I agree with you; there’s so much tragedy even for the Brown family.
I hope that the Gospel would be able to be shared during this tragic current crisis.
Me too!!!
This is an excellent piece of article. Truly exceptional! It does show mainstream media’s bias.
Thanks Joe Hendricks for reading this and letting us know your thoughts!
Excellent posts. So many flaming rhetoric from Facebook that has no biblical logic behind them. This post and the one from Voddie has been helpful.
Thank you EvangelZ; I hope the conclusion would be read here by those who don’t know the Lord and perhaps plant a seed of the Gospel
As a Puerto Rican who grew up in a mixed neighborhood in the Bronx, NY, I appreciate this post. The Ferguson debates all over the internet brought back memories of how poorly blacks and hispanics in my neighborhood, and in most minority neighborhoods in NYC, treat(ed) Asians.
Where I grew up, the Chinese food guys were constantly being beaten up and robbed for fun. Why? Because they were “chinks.” And they were outnumbered by blacks and hispanics.
Where I went to school, Indians were made fun of for “smelling like curry.” And, you guessed it, they were chased and beaten up for the same reason.
I had to watch my back walking through my own neighborhood because I would be racially profiled as a white boy by blacks. [I’m not white.] When I dated a Jamaican girl who lived out in a predominantly Jamaican neighborhood, I was often preyed upon by blacks in the area. “I’m gona f___ you up, whiteboy! Whachu doin with a sister?”
Among my Puerto Rican peers I was called a white boy. Why? Because I was lighter than them. I was ostricized for not looking like those with whom I shared a common cultural and ethnic origin.
If “leaders” like Sharpton and Jackson are really familiar with the race problems in our country, they would address the kinds of racism I’ve just described. And if they do know about the problems I’ve mentioned and yet refuse to address them, they are hypocrites whom no rational person should take seriously.
-h.
Brother thanks for sharing this; it really does show that all ethnicity are capable of being racist and hurt others whom they think are different. I never knew your ethnicity before until this comment! Seriously thank you for sharing these accounts brother.
Thanks for sharing this Hiram. I hope facts that you have shared will be more exposed.
What a great reminder of just how sinful our thinking and actions can be when we function on a mindset purely consisting of emotions and devoid of Biblical Truth.
This exposes the gross hypocrisy of those who call for injustice in this incident while overlooking what our actions can do (and say) in other incidents.
If we are going to call out injustice, we must do so consistently across the spectrum (regardless of race).
Sadly, things like these will continue to happen in this world. By God’s grace, only when we realize the great hypocrisy in our hearts, can we then cling to the cross to The Only Lord and Savior and find true Forgiveness for our greatest offense to a Holy God, sin. (Psalm 51:4)
And by God’s grace, when we are transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:1-2), can we then understand what God says when He calls us to Love our neighbor as yourself (John 13:34-35; Galatians 4:13-14).
May we ever keep the Gospel in the center, and may the people of God (from every Tribe, Tongue, People and Nation; Rev. 5:9-10) then reflect to a dying world what it means to His Holy Possession, All for His Sovereign Glory Alone.
Hey brother! It’s good to see your comments again! I hope you are well and doing good!
It is definitely only by the power of God (specifically through the Gospel) that we can overcome our sinful biases, our inconsistencies and hypocrisy on the whole issue of race, self-righteous blindspots and injustice.
I whole heartedly say Amen to your comment: “May we ever keep the Gospel in the center, and may the people of God (from every Tribe, Tongue, People and Nation; Rev. 5:9-10) then reflect to a dying world what it means to His Holy Possession, All for His Sovereign Glory Alone.”
I appreciate seeing you living this out.
Thanks for sharing this article slimjim! : )
You’re welcome Nina!