Discrimination is NOT a Bad Thing

There is a difference between definition and connotation.
Webster's Dictionary defines "discriminate" this way:
1: to mark or perceive the distinguishing or peculiar features of
2: to distinguish by discerning or exposing differences
3: to make a distinction; to use good judgment
"Discriminate" has gotten a bad reputation. It seems to me that to be discriminatory would be a good thing. It would involve exercising judgment, noticing things and people, seeing differences and features. From kindergarten up, we are taught to "use good judgment." I mean, when I go to the grocery store, I "discriminate" between the firm, ripe apples, against the ones that have sat in the bin past their prime. And when I pick out a new car, I use my good sense and judgment to notice that this one runs smoothly, while the other appears to need some engine work. I picked a college based on qualities of one or another that were better or worse. So, before you all go haywire all me, I will plainly state that I am absolutely NOT a racist. I lived for 10 years in Memphis, the seat of the civil rights movement. And furthermore, I am married to a "minority." (My handsome husband is Spanish.) As a matter of fact, I've been thinking and reading a lot lately about the leader of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Allow me to continue. When I say that "discrimination," in and of itself, is not a bad thing, I am saying that to discriminate is not wrong. It depends on what qualities you are using to discriminate with. Color is not a proper reason to discriminate. This entry is inspired by a book I've been reading (of course) called "Soul Survivor." If you've never read anything by Phillip Yancey, you must, immediately. He is responsible for practically shaping my views on grace full living.
The book is his tribute to thirteen individuals who have shaped his life, and encouraged him, sometimes in unusual ways, to "survive the church." I'd like to focus, however, primarily on Chapter 2: Martin Luther King, Jr. (Other interesting lives include Dr. Paul Brand, Leo Tolstoy, Dr. Robert Coles, Feodor Dostoevsky, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. C. Everett Koop, and Shusaku Endo.)
Mr. Yancey grew up in an incredibly racist environment in Atlanta, Georgia. And he admits to looking down upon blacks as a child mostly just because they "gave [them] someone to look down on." While he stresses repentance and healing from those feelings now, it's rare to read a defense of MLK, Jr. from this perspective, and it started me thinking.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was by no means perfect. In fact, there is a good deal of proof that he participated in sexual dalliances, even up to the night before his death. And however powerful a writer and speaker he was, Dr. King is also accused of plagiarism on certain occasions. But this does not excuse us from looking at the good he did seek to accomplish. Yancey talks about Dr. King's upbringing, conversion, and the message he brought in a socially changing day, ripe for his movement. He even compares Martin Luther King, Jr. with the prophets of the Old Testament. Dr. King went directly against laws and social assumptions of his time, and all doing this nonviolently, forgiving his enemies in love, despite threats to his own body and defamations to his character. He heralded the message that "moral change is not accomplished through immoral means." God has always stood on the side of the oppressed throughout history, and Dr. King was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his efforts.
But it's ironic that having come from such a legalistic, oppressive, and ungrace-filled place, Phillip Yancey has become such a champion for grace. It's because of this I've vowed to read more on Dr. King, starting with a couple of autobiographies by David Garrow and Taylor Branch and "A Testament of Hope" (excerpts of famous speeches and writings from MLK, Jr. himself). While few in this day would ingore Dr. King's message to cease discrimination based on race, I think part of his message has been lost.
I stood in line today behind a man wearing a shirt, sporting the message in bold red letters: "Stop SNITCHING." So I must evaluate not only what Dr. King accomplished, but what his actual desires against "discrimination" were.
I had heard of this "Stop Snitchin'" concept before, but I was not exactly sure as to the meaning of the message this, ahem, gentleman(?) was trying to get across. The color of his skin did not rouse me. His education level, IQ, job history, place of employment, or address were complete mysteries to me. All I know of this young man is what he chose to tell me, and everyone else he came in contact with today, through the wearing of that shirt.
A simple Google search lead me to 62,500 references to the "Stop Snitchin'" campaign. Basically, it started as a tactic from criminals to frighten people with information from going to the police. The campaign gained attention in Baltimore, Maryland and spread across the country through rap, videos, and even professional athletes. Some of the shirts even sport "bullet holes" tearing through the material. While I believe in free speech, and certainly the man that stood in front of me today has the RIGHT to wear whatever shirt he pleases, this is where my right to discriminate comes in. No, I am not judging him based on the pigments in his skin, but given the choice to be friends with/do business with/live near this man with such an evidently pro-criminal attitude, I use my better "judgment" and say, "no, thank you." This is what it means to discriminate properly, and I'll disagree that it's best just to be blind to these types of displays that are so obviously against what the entire message of Dr. King stood for.
This is put best by Martin Luther King, Jr. himself. He give me permission, and encouragement to judge, based on one thing: the content of their character.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
So I will take that admonishment. I will never judge someone by the color of their skin, but I will most certainly use my right to judge you based upon the content of your character.



P.S.-On a side, personal note, I have been offered a job today, so if my full time current job of reading/bloging subsides a TAD, forgive me, please.