This is a response  from a 14-year-old girl to race riots in Charlotte NC.

r9  Yesterday, September 22, 2012 there was a lock down at the YMCA near my house. There was a guy with an assault rifle outside walking the perimeter of the gym. I was terrified. A guy? With a gun? Just right outside the gym? I didn’t know what to think. I couldn’t think straight. All I could do is hide behind a wall and pray, “dear God please keep everyone safe. Please keep everyone safe.” He heard my cry of a thousand silent voices and we got out okay. I barely slept that night. No, I wasn’t traumatized, I was furious! What is this world? What is this war of race? That’s what I like to call it, a war of race. My friend is mad at me for standing up for some of my white friends. “Defend your fellow Caucasians and leave behind your own race, including me,”  he yelled for the millionth time. That made me even more angry and a tad r8confused. Is this what everyone   thought of me, that I didn’t love my own race, because I do. I also love the Caucasians, the French, the Asian, and the Hispanics. I love everyone! My friend has to admit he is wrong on leaving anyone behind. He said that he doesn’t like white people, but at the same time he says he is a Christian. Well, can I point out that James 2:8 says,  “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing   right.”  NIV  I love all my neighbors no matter what color they are. If God doesn’t see color, why should we?

r7  Yes all colors have wronged each other one time our another, but most people don’t see it that way. They only see what white has done to black or what black has done to white. In my heart I feel we have done an equal amount of wrongs to each other as a human race. We just can’t sit back and make a victim out of our race. We have to do something constructive, not war or riots, that is not the answer. Revenge is never the answer because Romans 12:17 says, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone,” and verse Romans 12:9-10 says,  “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” The Lord sees all! He knows what needs to be done and I believe we should place this in His hands. Let Him take the wheel. The only way we can be free from the chains of racism is by believing in Him with all our hearts and having faith in Him as our Lord and Savior. No issues can be solved by hurting and killing one another. This is not a time for war, but a time for spreading love and forgiveness. In Ephesians 4:32 NIV it says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Let’s spread love and make a difference!