The Invisible Line

I see it every day on the bus on my way to work, and tonight it was even clearer.

Little did I know that I would be the cause of a verbal brawl tonight as I sat at Fred's birthday party in the grass with three or four little girls running their fingers through my hair, pulling it this way and that, and making comments like "your hair is so smooth" or "look how it flops" then one of them said "I like white people's hair".... that comment was like a bomb that went off. All of the adults who were sitting around, probably not knowing what to do with these two 'white girls', turned their heads and started yelling at the poor girl. One lady said "honey, she is no different than you! Don't be talking about the skin, that doesn't make any difference about who a person is!" Another little girls yells, "she ain't white, she black!" At that I thought, what makes me black in her mind? She must see something that some people miss, is that the way I look at people too?

When it came time to leave, Shan & I had a ride from one of the uncles, his son and step grandson were with us all too. I have no clue what my family and some friends would think if they knew we were riding with people we had never met before and then proceeded to go to the most dangerous neighborhood of Chicago. Apparently we were in the heart of Englewood, the neighborhood everyone hears about on the news. I couldn't help but wonder what people must have thought as they saw us two white girls in the back seat.

And then I thought of it again, that invisible line, no white people go down that way. Which isn't terrible, but it is clear that there is still a deep rooted hate on both sides and people on each side don't know what to do because they don't know where each individual person is at. It is a risk everyone takes to step out and look beyond that color. I'm willing to step over the line and treat everyone I come in contact with no different than anyone else. Even as I say that though, I think of the times I don't, and Lord forgive me for those times because I know You love us all the same. Thank You Father for Your Love that does not have lines defined by colors, but reaches all.