The narrative of ‘the other’: Black Lives Matter

"It is an age-old narrative,” Fitzgerald said. “When someone is considered ‘the other,’ naturally we do not see them as one of us or carrying the same morals and values,” he said. “We see them as less than and below us on this imaginary apex and this hierarchy of supremacy. We treat them worse, and not as someone valuable and not a reflection of ‘me.’ ”

I see a pattern of "us" versus "the other" throughout history.

"Us", as a collective, is seen as the default group who are entitled to enjoy respect and privileges in the societal system.

"The other", as a collective, is seen as the outsiders whose lives don’t really matter as much as ours.

I would ask, "who is the oppressor and who is the oppressed in each scenario?"

I believe that it is the same question that Jesus would ask whenever he was confronted by the rulers of the age to choose sides.

For example, when the Pharisees presented a woman caught in adultery before Jesus and asked whether he would uphold Moses' law of the death penalty, Jesus assessed the power dynamics.

He knew that the Pharisees were using the law to oppress the woman, in the context of a patriarchal society where women were demeaned and subjugated by men.

His reply was: "He who is without sin throw the first stone."

By one statement, Jesus convicted all the accusers of having fallen short of the perfect demands of the law and freed the woman from condemnation of the law.

Jesus has skilfully reversed the unjust power dynamics in favour of the oppressed woman.

Similarly, for too long, the Black communities have been systemically oppressed in white America.

Instead of acknowledging the injustice of white police brutality that has murdered not only George Floyd but also numerous other unarmed Black men and women in history, some people, such as critics of Black Lives Matter, have tried to deflect the conversations by dragging up past misdeeds done by George years ago.

George Floyd isn't a saint (and neither is any one of us), but his past mistakes do not justify his being killed in cold blood by the police last month, as he wasn't causing harm or resisting the arrest.

What happened in Jesus' days is happening again today: the accusers are still using the law to oppress "the other", instead of making efforts to acknowledge and dismantle the system that perpetuates violence, injustice and inequality.