The Wall and the Minority-Majority Relation problem: A Christian Perspective
I moved to the United States in 2004 from Mexico. It was a time where I had to let go of all I knew and loved, and move to a country that was totally different. My family had a good life in Mexico, but we were called to move to the United States to start a church within the Hispanic community at a high populated Hispanic city in Pennsylvania. Mexico is a beautiful country, but a place where one can have a hard life. Life in the United States has brought a lot of minorities great economic gain, and a lot of freedom. However, this is not always the case for minorities. Relationships between minority and majority groups, especially because of race, has always been a problem in this Country. Christians need to be alert of this situation, and learn how to react in a Biblical way.
Has Donald Trump’s border wall idea brought major separation between people? Perhaps. Illegal immigration has started to become a bigger deal here in the United States. In 2016, Donald Trump became the President of the United States with the goal of having a border wall built between the Mexico and the United States border. There was a mix of reactions to this proposition of Donald Trump. As a Mexican, living in a city where the majority of people are the minority of the Country, there has been an outspoken controversy to Donald Trump’s immigration issue. There is a Mexican restaurant in the city that has a poster that say, “All are welcomed except Donald Trump.” While this is a funny post, you can see the tension that has come to the Hispanic community. However, as Christians we need to remember that the Bible says that we are to respect others, even when it is really hard (Matthew 7:12).
We know that in the 1960s, the Civil Rights movement by Martin King Luther, Jr. broke the segregation problem in the United States. However, this does not mean that the conflict between the minorities and majorities has been eliminated [1]. It may have gotten calm, but this problem has brought a lot of attention with the Trump administration. This has brought a war between the Republican and Democratic party. The Republican party is known to be made up by mostly white and older religious people, while the Democratic party is mostly made up by minorities and younger generations. These political parties have not just become a problem within the White House, but it has become a minority-majority relations problem in the whole Country.
2019 has been a year full of racial tension between the majority and minority population. Donald Trump and his idea for the wall has not only brought racial tension between the Hispanic and white community, but other minorities as well. According to Pews Research Center, in 2019, people say that it is Trumps fault that race relations in the United States have gotten worse. Minorities have spoken out on how things have been worse for them since Trump went into office. In particular, about 52% of blacks say that being black has hurt their ability to get ahead in the country. Also, about 76% of blacks, 76% Asians and 58% of Hispanics have said that they have experienced discrimination or have been treated poorly because of their race or ethnicity from time to time [2][3]. People are truly struggling in this country. Inequality has been an issue for quite some time now, but people are being more vocal about it. Scripture teaches us that we are to love one another. Jesus never discriminated. He always loved others. Christ commands us to do the same. In Romans 12:10, we are commanded to love and honor one another. This must play into the role of minority-majority relations. Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic, Black, no matter what race or ethnicity, we are to love and honor one another.
Many people of the United States have not been silent on their view of the wall. Both, the Left and Right, have their opinions on it. As I was scanning through articles about the border wall, different headlines of both opinionated sides were on my screen. Some say that the border is a white supremacy monument. That really caught my attention. It seems as if the view about the border being a white supremacy monument has brought more racial tension [4]. Is it true that the wall is a white supremacy monument? Well that depends on who you ask right? People have different views on this issue, and that is ok. However, Christians are to look at this problem and evaluate it through a Christian perspective.
As a Mexican Christian, I have found it difficult to have a set view on Trump and the border. Half of me wants to be mad at the idea of the border because it has brought so much racial tension between the minority and majority groups. However, the other half of me understands the view of why the border should be there. I believe that Christians need to look at this problem in a couple ways. First, we need to understand that there is evil in this world. Since there is evil, all that has to do with minority-majority relations cannot be taken lightly. Second, we need to understand that there is a role that the Christian church needs to have in regards to this problem. The church has the ability to bring a Christ-like perspective to this situation.
We see in Genesis 1 that God created this world to be perfect. He created it to show off His glory. However, we see in Genesis 3 how man broke the perfection of this world, and brought evil into it. This evil not only brought destruction to the first people, Adam and Eve, but to everyone after them as well. Evil is on the move in this Country. Satan loves to see the racial tension between the minority and majority groups. He loves how the border wall crisis has become a big part of that separation. It is true that minority-majority relations have not only been around in the last century. Scripture shows many instances where there were minority and majority groups having problems. We see in Exodus how the Israelites are considered to be the minority group, while the Egyptians are the majority group. We also see the minority group of lepers in a city where they are mistreated. We see prostitutes, poor people, handicap people, and many more minority groups mentioned in the Bible. These were people who received less-than-proportionate share of the goods [1]. All this is the result of evil entering this world. As a Christian, I have the advantage of understanding why there is evil into this world. This gives me the ability to see a problem of the border wall through a different light.
As Christians, we know that there is this tension between minority and majority groups because of evil. However, we are commanded to love others and promote that which is good. We cannot hide the fact that illegal immigration is a problem because immigrants are breaking the law. Minority-Majority relation tension is a result of breaking the law. Christians, know first-hand that when we break God’s law there are consequences. We also cannot forget the history of this country, and how it has affected many people. Evil reminds me of a snowball. When we pack snow together, we can put it on the ground and just keep adding to it. This is how evil works, evil brings more evil, and that is a fact.
Christians living in this day and age facing the issue of minority-majority relations are advocates of Biblical truth. No matter the circumstances, we are to be advocates for that which is good. We are to learn to do good, seek justice, and correct oppression (Isaiah 1:17). Christians cannot act like the rest of the world when it comes to racial issues because we would then be contradicting God’s Word. That is why we need to take everything to Christ, in order to understand how we can face this issue through a Christ-like mindset.
As a Mexican, I understand the frustration that the minority groups are facing. I also understand the democratic party’s way of looking at the problem. However, I have been taught to look at both sides of the problem, and evaluate the best way to approach it. It is not the majority group, nor the minority group, nor the republican party, nor the democratic party problem. It is an equal problem that needs to be addressed by each individual person. However, people cannot change by themselves. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has the power to heal broken people and restore relationships. There is no other way for this healing.
1 Peter 4:8 says, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins (NIV).”
[1] Perkins, Richard. “Minority-Majority Relations.” Christian Perspectives on Sociology, edited by Stephen A. Grunlan and Milton Reimer, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001, pp. 290–310.
[2] Horowitz, Juliana Menasce, et al. “Views on Race in America 2019.” Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project, 23 Aug. 2019, www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/04/09/race-in-america-2019/.
[3] Ward, Dawn M. “Social Stratification: Social Class and Social Mobility.” Christian Perspectives on Sociology, edited by Stephen A. Grunlan and Milton Reimer, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001, pp. 109–124.
[4] Jr, Bryan Lee. “This Isn’t a Border Wall: It’s a Monument to White Supremacy.” CityLab, 17 Jan. 2019, www.citylab.com/perspective/2019/01/trump-border-wall-confederate-monuments-white-supremacy/580513/.
