“Mommy, what exactly is a white supremacist?”
“Breathe in. Breathe out,” I told myself as my 12-year-old daughter dropped this bomb of a question on me not long ago.
Her big blue eyes were steady on mine as she waited for the direct answer she knew I would give her. We promote open and honest communication in our home, and that was what she was going to get.
Fighting the anger I felt for even having to answer this question in 2017, I opened my mouth and prayed for wisdom.
In an effort to denounce the white supremacist movement before I defined it, I said, “This is an evil, satanic mentality that is totally unbiblical, and one that is based on pride, arrogance and ignorance of what the Bible teaches about the worth of every person.”
And then I followed with the definition that was something like, “White supremacy is the idea that the white race is the supreme race.”
I paused to explain further, but she interrupted me before I could continue.
“You mean, some white people think they are better than other people because they aren’t the same race as them?” she asked.
I knew this question would touch her in a different way, because her two youngest siblings are African American. Immediately, her eyes filled with tears and she said, “I love Haven and Moses’s skin tone, it is beautiful! How could anyone not like them because of it?””
She was offended, angry and confused all at the same time.
My answer was short, but firm. “Satan,” I said.
The Bible calls Satan the Father of Lies. (John 8:44) Somewhere along the way, Satan lied to these people and told them they were superior. Unfortunately, this is a tactic he has used over and over in his battle against the Almighty. We see it in heaven, when Satan, full of pride, believed and that he was greater than God and convinced one-third of the angels to follow him, for which he was cast out of heaven.
He still uses the same lies to tempt us to believe this today. White supremacist have believed these lies and are acting out that evil.
My daughter nodded her head in agreement, “Mom, this is so wrong.”
Fighting back tears, I said, “Yes, baby, it is horrible.”
I took this opportunity to speak life about this situation over my daughter and her bruised, offended heart. I wanted her to know what God said, not what man said. I reminded her about God creating man and woman in the Garden of Eden. They were both created after God’s image. He then praised His work and said it was very good.
I pointed out God saw ALL that He had made and said it was very good. God didn’t single races out, for that matter. He didn’t single man out or woman out. All He made was VERY GOOD.
I also took her to Psalm 139 which is a beautiful depiction of our creation. In Psalm 139:13 and 14 it says, we were woven together in our mother’s womb, and we are made wonderfully.
I told my daughter the bold truth of God’s Word is where we gain fact. I explained with what Heaven is going to look like. All races – beautifully strong, beautifully diverse – will praise the one and only Supreme God together.
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Autumn Miles is the author of “Appointed: Your Future Starts Now” and the founder and CEO of The Blush Network, a conference ministry dedicated to spiritually challenging the way women think. Autumn is an accomplished speaker who leads women’s conferences nationwide through The Blush Network. She is also the host of “The Autumn Miles Show,” a Christian radio show on Salem Radio Network in Dallas, Texas and sits on the advisory council for the women’s ministry department at Liberty University.