Love each other as brother and sister…

In last week’s article, we found out that ethnicity and race have nothing to do with biology. In fact, the division of official ethnic groupings stems from systemic racism. However, just because ethnic groups are not based on DNA, does not mean to say that we do not need them in society. Ethnically dividing up society helps us reveal some important things we have in common, including historical background, biological make-up, social problems, living circumstances etc. However, whether you are black or white, tall or short, Chinese or American, everyone’s DNA is 99.9 per cent the same as each other’s. Therefore, the distinctions between ethnic groups do not separate us biologically, only psychologically. I believe that the reason we have fabricated all this terminology around race and ethnicity is because our brains have difficulty understanding that, just because we look different, does not we are different. As a result, people over the centuries have found it hard to see both the similarities and differences in one person at the same time – a mentality that has, unfortunately, managed to psychologically seep its way through our generations, though perhaps in a diluted form.

All you have to do is look at any official government questionnaire in any country to see the discrepancies between official ethnic groups. For example, in the UK, there is never a box for ‘Hispanic’ or ‘British-Hispanic’ among the officially recognised ethnic groups listed. Therefore, I have always ticked the ‘Mixed’ box to categorise my ethnicity. However, in the US, there is a box for those of Hispanic backgrounds. Equally, you may have noticed that, while a black person in the US is normally referred to as ‘African-American’, here in the UK, my partner is classed as ‘Black-British’. One term references the origins of this ethnic group’s ancestors; the other references skin colour. These discrepancies come to light even more so when discussing those of mixed ethnic backgrounds.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary definition, the word ‘ethnic’ is defined as: ‘Relating to or characteristics of a large group or people who have the same national, racial or cultural origins and who usually speak the same language.’ Simply put, ethnicity refers to the collectivisation of a large group of people based on similarities relating to language and characteristics. The interesting aspect to note is that the definition only said a ‘large’ group of people, not a certain number or a specific selection. The definition stated above does not give us any clear markers or determining factors that make up an ethnic group, apart from it being, essentially, a large group with similarities. There is also something I like to call the ‘invisible sliding ethnic scale’. Unfortunately, those of mixed ethnic backgrounds experience this predominantly, though sometimes those of single ethnic backgrounds do, too. It is the idea that you are constantly being analysed by people to determine which ethnic group they think you look like more. You may not have used the scale or even known it existed, but I can certainly say that, from experience, people have constantly analysed and made their own decisions as to which ethnicity I most resemble, both in my physical features and in my characteristics. What is more, this scale is different according to the perspective of the person using it.

I read an article in National Geographic about a pair of twins who have an English mother and a Jamaican father. Both girls were born with the same features; however, one girl was blonde-haired, blue-eyed and a fair-complexioned, while the other had thick, frizzy, brown hair, brown eyes and a darker, tanned complexion. How does one go about describing these girls and putting them in a category? They are both as Jamaican and as English as each other and, according to UK forms, they would both technically be categorised as ‘Black-British’. However, for the blonde-haired twin, this label is not reflective of her skin colour, just of her parents’ ethnic background. In a Netflix documentary featuring British-Nigerian actress Eku Edewor – a woman of very light skin complexion with the hair and facial features of a Nigeran woman – Eku commented on the unforeseen challenges she faced when she reached the entertainment industry, where everyone seemed to have an opinion on her skin colour. Eku would sometimes get rejected for parts because she was not ‘black’ enough. So my question is: how dark would she have to be to get the part? I know a Nigerian couple who have a four-year-old toddler. Her skin complexion is only a couple of shades darker than my own; her mum has a very light complexion and her father has a darker complexion. Would we say that this child is not ‘black’ enough to be Nigerian, even though she clearly is by heritage?

The Bible says on the very first page of the book of Genesis (1:21): ‘So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water and every sort of bird – each producing offspring of the same kind.’ And then: ‘God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind.’ (Genesis, 1:25) God is really giving us a biology lesson here about animal species and natural selection. God said that these animals would reproduce after their own kind and that’s why He took two of each species of animal and only one pair of humans – because we are the same species so can reproduce with each other. This explains why dogs are descended from wolves, cats are descended from lions, birds from dinosaurs, frogs from other amphibians, and so forth. Over time, we know that natural selection has given us many different types of animals. Hence why there is such an animal called a ‘liger’ – a lion crossed with a tiger. Strange, but it works, because they are the same kind. However, try mixing a lion and a crocodile – it is impossible. This is precisely what pro-slavery institutions, racist scientists like Samuel Morton and eugenicists like Hitler were all trying to prove – that we are different races – when, in fact, the truth is that we are all distant relatives of each other.

In Hebrews 13:1, God tells us that we must ‘keep on loving each other as brothers and sister’. I believe that God said this very deliberately, as we must stop seeing other people through the lens of ‘stranger’. Apostle Paul, when writing his letters to the churches, constantly referred to his followers and church members as his ‘brothers and sisters’, because he saw the human race through a very different lens. He acknowledged ethnic differences many times in his letters, but then highlighted the unity that should be evident in the body of Christ and throughout the whole world. I believe that this is why we use such terminology in church: not just because it sounds nice, but because it fosters the love and unity that God wanted in His church, causing us to treat each other as brothers and sisters would, not like strangers. No one is really a stranger; they are simply a distant relative.

Watch out next week for the final part of ‘Related from Genesis: Kingdom Culture’, looking at the concept of ‘one race, one ethnicity’.

Author: Laura McBride Galarza

Editor: Melissa Bond