Unrigging the Game: A Journey of Faith, Identity, and Justice
All my life, I was institutionalized to believe that if I received good grades, shook the right hands, and climbed the corporate ladder, I would be guaranteed success. Instead, while I'm working on my Master's degree, have a diverse set of friends, and have over 10 years of real-world work experience, I'm still stuck in the middle class, barely making enough to get by and fighting to be viewed as qualified.
The game of life is rigged, especially for the Black in America.
If the 2024 election has taught me anything, it's that it doesn't really matter who you are or what you accomplish if the powers that be are dead set on misrepresenting you or gatekeeping opportunities based on the superficial. Our structural sins run deep; from misogyny to racism and classism to sexuality. It has been written in the fabric of American society that anything other than rich, white, or male is to be ostracized and demonized.
So, what's a broke Black girl from the Bronx to do?
I have a few options. I could either conform and accept my current position in society, believing that I will probably NEVER get ahead financially, or assume any real position of power. Or I could stand up in the face of discrimination and fight for my right to be treated with the dignity I deserve.
I choose the latter because, despite America's attempts to invalidate people based on their color, class, or gender, I've decided to root myself in my identity as an image-bearer of God. (Genesis 1:27)
Regardless of the manufactured rules in an unfair world that suggest some people are entitled to rights that others are not, I rest in the knowledge that there is no room for partiality on account of power or privilege in the Lord's kingdom. In fact, God blesses those who are poor in spirit and persecuted in the name of righteousness. (Matthew 5)
Therefore, rather than relinquishing our free agency and accepting inevitable defeat, it's time to unrig the game.
How?
By affirming our humanity in Christ and demanding our human rights in the world.
When we read the Bible for ourselves we can develop a healthy view of ourselves and learn more about who God says we are and what we're called to do.
To a society that once claimed Black people as property and currently seeks to condemn us back to the margins, we must stand on the Scriptures like Galatians 3:28-29 that say "there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, but that we are all one in Christ Jesus – grafted in as Abraham's offspring and considered heirs according to promise."
Psalm 72:12-14 states that “God will rescue the poor when they cry to him; will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them. Feels pity for the weak and the needy, and will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their lives are precious to him.”
Therefore, we must live with bold confidence knowing that God hears our cries and cares for the persecuted. This means that as his children, we have the right to hold our heads high and look others in the eye. We can speak up for ourselves and advocate for our neighbors. We can carry ourselves as humans like everyone else, worthy of respect, care, and freedom.
When the odds are stacked against you, holding onto your faith in God is the only way to win. Although we might experience many troubles on this earth at the hands of structural sin, we don’t have to fear. Instead, we can take the next hopeful step toward progress by grounding ourselves in God's promises and standing for the inalienable justices we deserve.
In a cutthroat society, where it's up to those with power and privilege to re-level the playing field, the Bible serves as the oppressed person's manual for survival, reminding us that if we hold fast to its truths and abide by its teachings, we can peacefully sustain in a rigged game – not as doormats or objects of disgrace, but as divine human beings called and qualified by God himself to inherit the earth and the kingdom of heaven.
