Hope for a Racially Divided Nation

Hey, this is Tim Pratt Jr. and I want to welcome you to the Student of Life podcast. Listen, we're going to get into so many transferable truths throughout the content of these episodes that I believe God is going to use to help you apply, because he's going to reveal what's already been there the entire time. Enjoy. Yo, what's up? This Tim Pratt Jr. and, uh, listen, I I just wanted to share some things on my heart. This is a bonus episode, and I just want to kind of talk about hope for a racially divided nation, given recent events. And I'm recording this, you know, at 7:10 this morning, April 21st. And like I said, this is just strictly freestyle. But just yesterday, with the, you know, conviction of the cop Uh, they murdered George Floyd, you know, with the knee on the neck, uh, for over 9 minutes. And then I would believe it's 9 minutes and 28 seconds if I'm not mistaken, and you can correct me if I'm wrong. And then, you know, it's like 30 minutes before the verdict was read, uh, I believe they said 15 but now 16, you know, year-old girl, Black girl, was, uh, killed when some grown women or something, as of right now according to the stories I'm seeing, came over to jump her and she was defending herself, so she called the police, but she ended up being the one gunned down. And, you know, of course we can, you know, name numerous others. And I don't want to race bait or anything like that because I feel like it's enough of that going on. And I do believe there's some truth in it. You know, I was talking that being a Black man, I'm 31 years old, I have had my days where I was harassed by the police. Some of that was welcoming by my behavior and things I was doing, and some of it was just out of context, you know. And what I mean by that is that I wasn't doing anything, I was minding my own business, but I was racially profiled. And so kind of as I worked hard, you know, to get away from certain environments and things like that, I lost that connection. I didn't, you know, I can't never say I can't relate because I have been there, but I guess I fought so hard to not see, to not see the injustice that was going on, to not see the racial profiling, to not see the harassment by the police officers and things like that. And, you know, I come from both sides. I have family, you know, Black people in law enforcement. I have a brother that's Arkansas State Police, and I have white friends that are cops, you know, and work in law enforcement, things like that. And I've talked to them, and, you know, we've shared our concerns. I won't say their names or anything like that, but, um, I have had some very good dialogue, um, with them. And so with that, you know, when you see, um, just everything that's going on, man, and with me being a person of faith, just a believer in the gospel, believing in Christ, uh, and he came to unify, you know, not look at our skin color, but what makes the gospel so beautiful is that no matter what, you know, ethnicity we are, uh, we're covered with— we are bought by the blood, the blood of the Lamb, the blood of the ultimate sacrifice, the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And with me, uh, it's just, um, and I apologize for the background noise. Like I said, I didn't even set up, try to even— I just want to get on here and talk and share what's on my heart. But, uh, we were bought with a price, man, and we should see the blood. You know, when I, when I look at a white man, Asian, whatever, you know, like I said, whatever ethnicity I see the blood, I see their uniqueness. It's not that I'm not looking at their skin color, but at the end of the day, I see the blood of Jesus Christ and that we are one body, that we have been engrafted into that. And so I attempt every single time to preach the kingdom, to preach the gospel. And recently, you know, I was very anti-Black Lives Matter. I was, you know, all with All Lives Matter, and which is true, you know, Jesus died for humanity. However, you know, just through education and close friends, you know, that just basically like, man, this is what it means, and people, you know, taking the time to educate me, and most importantly, me taking the time to listen, like listen and not being defensive, I started to see the uniqueness in Black Lives Matter and certain other things saying that we're not, you know, just examples will come out and saying we're not anti-white people, anti-police, it's just saying, hey, Black Lives Matter. And based on what we're seeing, they don't seem like they matter. Or all lives can't matter until Black Lives Matter, you know. And so on and on and on, I, you know, hear this and I, the, you just do the Holy Spirit and just through wisdom, man, you start just looking at things different and deciphering like, okay, that's cool You know, there's nothing wrong with saying that in proper context. But you also, just like anything, you have your extremists in anything you do. Just like with the police, every police is not bad. But when now when people talk, they're generalizing it, and now, you know, it's putting police officers on edge, and they're like denouncing them, saying, hey, don't put me in that boat. But then Black people are saying the same thing and saying, hey, well, don't generalize me and put me in. So it's just chaos, man, and it's a mess, and is so racially divided. Then you have politics, you know, um, pumping, you know, the media. Everybody's participating in it, man, for ratings and for, you know, power and gain. And it's just manipulation. And I want to say everybody, but a lot of people, you know, the masses. And you just see this divide growing and growing and growing. And I just believe in my heart that God is like, man, like, this is This is not what I intended. This is not what my desire was for humanity. And then, like I say, you know, you're pushed to pick a side. You can't— like, now with things taken out of context, 30-second clips and sound bites and stuff like that, you can't make a comment without just basically having to pick a side. So if I say one thing, it's like, oh, there he goes, you know, or someone else. And it's just like, we don't take the time to listen and listen to things in, in its full context. And so we extract content out of that, and like I say, we just go on and push this agenda. And so before any people dive in and do the— do their due diligence, now it's like you have this person that's standing on this side and this person, and it, and it just causes more and more division because of this social media, you know, this technology age that we live in. And so the culture plays a major role in it, you know. Culture pushes, well, you need to stand with this side, you need to stand with this. Uh, depending on what you support. And I know I'm jumping over because I said this is just— I didn't, I didn't prep for this anything. I just want to share what's on my heart. And so it's like, what about God? You know, what about laying down culture in proper context, not forgetting where you come from, but saying even in this is still another option, and I'm going to preach the kingdom, I'm going to preach the gospel? Uh, yes, I understand what's going on. I'm not ignorant. I'm not saying turn a deaf ear to that or anything, but at the same time, I can't let anything supersede the kingdom of And so with me now, you know, I'm just questioning that a lot of people that preach the kingdom, a lot of people that say they believe in, um, but are at the same time, you know, hate a black man because he's black, or just hate any other type of ethnicity because they're not white. Or, you know, me as a black man, or any other type of ethnicity, like we, like hating white people because of everything that a lot of white people connected to them have done. And so we just generalize and lump everybody. Can I still say that I'm a kingdom-minded citizen? Can I still say that I, I'm preaching the kingdom? Can I still say I love God? Because what, what is happening is that hate, you know, if we're not careful, if we're not on guard, the enemy is very subtle. And before you know it, you know, hate will slip in. And God knows the heart. And so with me, you know, I'm finding myself more and more and more Uh, because this stuff is starting to take a toll on me, man. Like, it's certain things hitting close to home. And you know, when I'm riding with my kids and, you know, I have my nephew and my oldest son as well as my youngest one, um, and we pass a police officer and they're saying things like, hey, you got your license and registration, and you know, make sure you, uh, you don't do anything to get killed. You know, when I'm jogging through a neighborhood with us living kind of in the suburbs and like, it's like, hey, don't, don't wear the hoodie and just go in the daytime. Don't jog. And if you know, like, these things are like— they're— I can't turn a blind ear to them. Like, I mean, I can't turn a blind eye to them. I can't turn a deaf ear to them. And so it's just, man, my heart, like, it's torn. It's torn. And you know, and I used to be the one to be like, man, it's a little bit extreme. You know, the media, uh, when you see it over and over and over, it amplifies. It amplifies things that are not as bad as it may seem. But no, They are, they are. Everything just doesn't make the camera, you know. What about the people to get harassed that, um, don't necessarily get killed but they're continually harassed, or things that just don't make the news? I mean, we're seeing now that some stuff happened. You've seen certain stories that had happened back in December and November of last year and they're just now getting national attention. So what's going on? Like, what's going on? So, uh, but like I said, this is not an attempt to divide, man. This is just an attempt to just keep digging in, man, digging in the word of God. Pray, pray for wisdom, God-led wisdom, not the wisdom of the world, but spiritual wisdom, man, to help you decipher. Uh, be intentional about just proactive with talking to people, um, and just combating these things. You know, if you're a white person man, talk to other white people and just see what they mind. Like, hey man, how do you really feel about these events? And plant those seeds. If they— if you feel like, man, you might be contributing to the very thing that they're saying, and then if you're not, you know, man, get with black people and encourage them. I'm not saying you gotta, you know, do whatever God leads you to do. I don't— that's a gray area. I'm not saying it has to be financial commitment or you have to go take pit or nothing, but just talk, man. Encourage and just be the hands and feet of Jesus, be the kingdom, you know, be the body of Christ. Have you ever just really thought about that, you know, the true being the body of Christ and having an ear to listen as he would, having the hands to help, you know, just nurture and cultivate as he would, the feet to go travel and walk as he would to places that you might have not went, you know. Be safe, use wisdom, like I say, spiritual wisdom, but just take the time, man, to talk off the record. If you, you know, if you work with somebody, say, I like to have an off-the-record conversation, not during work hours, but just off the record, man. We can catch up after hours or whatever, you know. That's not company time. That's not, um, you know, unprofessional. Like, say, this was totally personal. So, uh, man, just however God leads you, just keep preaching the kingdom of God, man, because that's the only thing that's going to fix it, fix this, you know, systematic racism for years and years and years. And I get it where I understand the quote like, oh man, I wish they'd get over it. But man, it's rough, it's rough, traumatizing. I mean, yeah, people have been traumatized for years. And you know, with the verdict of, like I said, the cop that killed George Floyd, it's a step in the right direction, but it is so much more to do, so much more to do. So I had to get over here and just, man, like I say, talk from the heart. I really wasn't prepared for anything. I just— when I just seen the recent video of that, of that, uh, girl, I believe 16 years old, get gunned down, man, where, like I said, I'm not a cop. I, I don't try to even pretend that I would know. It's easy to say what you would do when the situation, uh, when you're watching and observing, but at the same time, dude, just talking to friends that are, uh, some of them say, no, man, no, it's not about that. Like, certain things are just how you're wired and how you're trained. And he said, man, a lot of us, like, we are trained to de-escalate, especially community policing, to try to use non-lethal if we can, so on and so on. It's not always not about pulling a gun and shooting somebody, uh, you know, just like with the boy that was killed and the officer said it was by mistake, she meant to reach for her taser. And you can't, you know, I cannot— I don't even want to speak it. I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine going through anything like that, you know, especially years from now as my kids get older. Um, so man, just take some time to seek the wisdom of God, man. Uh, you don't have to apologize for being white. You don't have to apologize for being black, man. We have to learn how to engage each other and stop demonizing each other and just tap into the cultural differences that we have and just see one another through the eyes of the Lord, but at the same time respecting the uniqueness and authenticity. So, man, be blessed. This is just bonus content and I had to jump on here and share that. Love you all. Hey, what's up? I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to this Student Life Podcast today. If this content has impacted you in any kind of way, please take some time to share it on your social media feeds. And also, if you want to connect with me or just learn more about me, go over to www. Www.timothyprattjr.org. Once again, thanks.