Thoughts on racism (part 10)

[To read the entire series, click on "racism" on the sidebar under "POSTS BY CATEGORIES".]

One of the arguments for kinism goes somewhat like this: "But we're just trying to pass on our European culture to our children and grandchildren!"

I'm not buying that argument. If that's all the kinists were concerned about, instead of trying to convince people of their segregationist arguments, they would be doing what my parents did to pass on their culture:

1. My mother taught us to speak her native language.

2. My mother taught us to read her native language.

3. My parents taught us a number of the traditional children's stories of their cultures.

4. My mother cooked "traditional" foods from both cultures, and both parents introduced us to music, art, architecture, history, legends, folk tales, and more.

5. My parents included their own cultural elements in our celebrations of holidays and birthdays.

6. Most importantly, my parents taught us to examine our two cultures critically, from a Biblical perspective, and to accept the good while rejecting the bad. They taught us to be nonconformists and to stand by principle, rather than by culture or by popularity.

They felt no need to segregate us from other ethnic groups or cultures in order to teach us about either of their cultural heritages.

I don't think kinism is about preserving and passing on a culture. I think it's about prejudice.

Edited to add:

The best cultural heritage my parents passed on to us, and continue to pass on, is our family culture. This culture is interwoven with our faith, and includes such things as prayer, Bible study, ministry, hospitality, "house music", strong marriages, lots of love, good food, laughter, hard work, an appreciation for art and beauty, and a lot of other things that permeate our lives and homes. Again, we didn't practice these things in isolation. In fact, we practiced them within the culture of the Body of Christ --- and that enriched us far more than avoiding other family and ethnic cultures ever would have.

The most important culture to preserve is one based on the truth of God's Word. Your family culture may look different --- your food and music may be different, for example --- but what binds us together is that we are all part of His Body.