Words Do Hurt

Recently, I came across an article about my father and his journey to become a teacher. My father, Elias Chapa, is Mexican-American. He was born in Texas and grew up in Pontiac, Michigan. The article describes that my father wanted to become a teacher ever since third grade, when he was inspired by his teacher, Mrs. Pond. However, when he told his high-school counselor about his dream, he wasn’t met with encouraging feedback. The counselor told him, “Why don’t you go to work in the factory making cars like the rest of your kind.” This makes me very sad to hear that my father faced this kind of discrimination, but today, my family and I are facing this kind of discrimination. My husband, Jorge Luna-Cruz who is Mexican, and indigenous, faces more discrimination sadly then I do because he is an immigrant, has an accent, and has darker colored skin. I am hurt when I go to a store and he is immediately approached to see if he “needs anything”.  I am hurt when he is not always welcomed at churches.

 

My husband, my son, and my father.

I tell you all of this because I am hurt by the discrimination that is being promoted by the current rhetoric coming from the political scene lately. This hurts me, my family, immigrants, and the world. Sadly, I don’t just see this kind of discrimination just in the political scene, but in the church as well. I hear about people being discriminated because of their accent or because they are an immigrant and come from a different culture. I see discrimination against women and young people in the church. This hurts me as well and it hurts the church.   

The scripture reading Isaiah 55 was shared with me today as part of a devotion. One verse in the chapter that stood out to me was verse 11, “In the same way, my words leave my mouth, and they don’t come back without results. My words make the things happen that I want to happen. They succeed in doing what I send them to do (ERV).” The verse is describing how positive results will come from positive, fruitful, loving, encouraging words. But it could also mean that hurt could come from hateful and destructive discriminatory words. That is what the current rhetoric is doing. It is hurting people. Not just Mexicans, not just immigrants, but all of us, because it is spreading and fostering hate. We need to watch the words we say, what we say about people, what we spread and foster.

So, through our words let us foster love. For lent, I am sharing a podcast each week from the  Latino NPR USA and then posing questions at the end of the week for people to ponder after listening to the podcast. This week’s podcast is called Sticks and Stones. The link is, http://www.npr.org/programs/latino-usa/467370741/sticks-stones. I haven’t listened to it yet. But I will be listening to it with the mindset that words do hurt and they hurt us all. How can we foster love and relationship building, instead of hate and discrimination?  How can we change what we say? Let us all ponder this together.