Why Are They So Angry?

Add another to the list. The list of racially charged riots grows longer and longer, to the shame of those who prematurely announced the end of racism. The latest entry is my city, Baltimore, MD. The nation watched in horror as residents looted stores, attacked the police, and burned cars and buildings, including a church senior center, to ashes. The carnage left many around the country asking, “Why are they so angry?”

The answer, as you might expect, is complicated, but I’ll attempt to simplify it. Simply put, sinful people sin against other sinners. At the heart of sinning against others is dehumanization. In order to violate another person, we first tend to convince ourselves that that person is not worthy of better treatment. We can do this on an individual level, and we can do this on a systemic or structural level. Racism and classism are forms of dehumanization. Racism is the dehumanization of another on the basis of skin tone. Classism is the dehumanization of another on the basis of wealth.

Baltimore has harbored race and class-based dehumanization for generations. When whole neighborhoods are not afforded the necessary schools and job opportunities to generate and sustain wealth, and when residents are not taught that they can be more than the status quo, how will they escape poverty? When men (particularly black) are prejudged as dangerous and are jailed for walking down the street, what does that say about the value of the residents in that neighborhood? How will that affect the residents’ view of justice and law enforcement? How will families rebound while Dad is in prison, or when he returns and can’t find a job because of his prison record? When help is needed, yet the police are slow to respond, what does that say about the value of the residents of that neighborhood?

It should not surprise Christians that man-made structures for justice and order can be used for evil means. Christians live with the tension that all people are created in the image of God and are thus, by God’s grace, able to do great things; but all people are also riddled with sin and are thus capable of great evil. So what could be intended for justice could have unjust consequences.

This by no means suggests that the authorities are categorically wrong and the residents are categorically right, as liberation theology suggests. Indeed, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Sinful people tend to fight sin with sin. Gang violence, drug dealing and abusing, premarital sex, prostitution, and yes, rioting are all sinful choices made in a context of disorder.

How can we help? One might suggest that we should encourage people to start over in the promised land of suburbia, but this would not help to restore the neighborhoods left behind. What we need is for people not to leave but to come. We need men and women, singles and families, to answer the call to the Great Commission. Jesus’ call is to make disciples of all nations, and that must include the people in my city and others who live on the wrong side of the tracks.

We need people who will plant churches and people who will help existing churches. Jesus already resolved the ethnic and economic tensions of our society by building a people who love one another and their city because they have been loved greatly by their Lord. We need new and renewed churches who will embody the love of Christ in our inner cities.

I would love for you to consider coming to Baltimore. If you are not able to come, I urge you to join us from your home. How can you support inner-city churches like the ones in Baltimore? You can adopt a church to support and perhaps implant them with mature members who are ready to join in the gospel work. Above all, you can diligently pray for God’s Spirit to move mightily in the churches and neighborhoods.

In doing so, perhaps along with asking why they’re so angry, we will also ask, “How could we help transform their lives with the gospel?”