One of my "better educated " white friends referred to someone as “white trash” in my presence. I immediately recoiled and responded, “God did not create trash.”
I was offended that my colleague would refer to one of God’s creations as rubbish-someone to be discarded. Indignation rose immediately within me; it was reflexive. Although I am not white, I nonetheless felt the offensiveness of the casual comment. She was shocked by my unequivocal rejection of the concept of “white trash.” After all, she was not referring to me.
My colleague simply did not consider that I have lived a life of negative stereotypes. At that moment it was important for her to feel superior to the person she referred to as rubbish. And rather than perpetuate disdain for those that are different from me, I challenged her. Who was I to rebuke her as she uplifted her sense of self-importance by indulging in hateful labels?
She did not know that as a girl I had been called a nigger and forced to leave public establishments. She did not know that my West Indian friends still refer to me as different than those lazy African Americans. I had never told her of my years of rejection by African Americans because I was “high-yellow” – just not black enough to be accepted.
Where does this preoccupation with stereotyping originate?
Why do we choose to oppress those who are powerless and vulnerable rather than lift them up? And does our own self-esteem suffer without the practice of positioning ourselves as superior to another group?
I see this inclination as simply being one of our many human weaknesses.
Christ, however, showed no such inclination. Christ’s request for water from the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well is a perfect example of his disregard for the Jewish tradition of dismissing groups of people based on what the Jewish leaders found to be disagreeable. Yet Christ, the ultimate destabilizer of Jewish traditions, asked for water to quench his thirst while also offering living water and eternal life to a Samaritan.
Even the Samaritan woman was shocked that Jesus asked her for anything. The Samaritan woman said Him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) (New International Version, John 4:9)
Christ gave no thought to the class, ethnic nor religious distinctions of the Jewish leaders. Likewise, we must shake ourselves free of these useless categories as well.
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