During an appearance on ‘The View’ Whoopi Goldberg made the following statement regarding the Holocaust: “If you’re going to do this, then let’s be truthful about it, because the Holocaust isn’t about race, It’s not about race. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man. That’s what it’s about.”
In part, Goldberg’s statement is correct, man was indeed inhumane (cruel and brutal) toward man. However, to declare that it is not about race is simply a lie. Goldberg later apologized and was subsequently suspended from ‘The View’ for two weeks. Whether the above statement was intentional, or a product of a society that speaks without thinking will never be known.
The root issue is how we define race and racism. The American Sociological Association defines race as:
“Race refers to physical differences that groups and cultures consider socially significant.”
Further to this definition McConnell defines Racism in the following manner:
“racism is a learned belief in racial superiority, which includes the belief that race determines intellectual, cultural, and moral capacities.”
It is interesting to note that race is primarily defined by physical appearance, yet racism is defined by how one group is deemed as inferior and therefore treated as so. During the Holocaust, the Nazi’s defined the Jewish people as sub-human, or below human. The Nazi’s lived out their perceived superiority by hunting down Jews and exterminating them in vast numbers. They justified their behavior by continually pointing to the inferiority of the Jews – they spread disease, they cannot learn, they have no intelligence, they are a threat to our way of life etc.
There should be no doubt that the Holocaust was about race! Yes, it was man’s inhumanity to man, but the cruel behavior occurred because of racism! Those who defined themselves as superior were cruel and murderous to those defined as inferior.
Although there is no doubt over the Holocaust, what about each of our lives now? Do we define ourselves as superior to others? Do we treat others as inferior? James 2:8-9 states “If you really fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”, you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” To treat anyone as superior or inferior (rather than equal) is to sin.
Why is it sin? God created everyone in the image of Himself, meaning they have intrinsic value to God. Genesis 1:26-28 says “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them.” To treat someone as inferior is to deny the blessing we find in Genesis 1.
There are two lessons we can learn here:
- Tame your tongue, yet more than that, tame your mind. Goldberg may have apologized, but her words have harmed others, and her reputation will be damaged. Words can never be unsaid. We must remember that our words either build up or take down. Yet our words are born first in the mind, they betray what we truly think. If you find yourself speaking ill of others, you likely think ill of others and are in danger of denying the intrinsic value that God has placed in each person.
- Carefully consider how you view others by making much of Jesus. John 3:30 says “He must increase, but I must decrease.” When we humble ourselves before Christ, we recognize that all sin, that all will bow the knee before Jesus, that all will give an account for their behaviors. Nobody escapes the judgement of God, and everyone has access to the blessing of salvation. Racism (those who feel superior treating others as inferior) has no place in the Kingdom of God.