"You grew up in a good family; hardworking dad and a mom who was there when you needed her. They taught you and your little brother to share and showed you how to pray every night before bed. In Sunday school you learned about Jesus and sang all the songs with the rest of the kids. There was Noah and his ark, Moses and the Ten Commandments, and a little baby Jesus asleep on the hay. You learned about the blessing that was America and were grateful to live in a country led by good Christian leaders. With a hand over your heart or above your brow you pledged allegiance to God and Country, for the Lord was at work in this holy nation. But lately you are beginning to wonder if this is really how God intended things to be. And you question if God is really working through places of power. Maybe, you wonder, God had a totally different idea in mind…" -Chris Haw, "Jesus for President" (Haw & Claiborne, 2001).

I can't stop thinking about this. My mind has been racing. My heart is broken. There is a genocide going on in this "Holy" nation. There is a systematic mistreatment of my black brothers sisters going on in America.

The land of the free: the land where a black man can't leave his home after 9 p.m. without the thought "Can this wait until the morning?" running through his head. The land where children are fearing for their future because of the color of their skin. The land where a white person can worry about racism freely but when a black person does, it is considered self-seeking. This doesn't sound very free to me.

The home of the brave: The home of the people who have given into "color blindness" (if I don't address the fact that we are different, then maybe we can just avoid it), the home of the people who now scream "All Lives Matter" in the faces of the mourning mothers who have lost their black children over and over again. The home of the people who claim to be followers of Jesus but insist on ignoring what is going on around them for the sake of "peace keeping". This doesn't sound very brave to me.

I want to address the idea of "keeping the peace." I need to tell you something, Jesus did not "keep the peace" -- He made peace. But sometimes you have to shake things up to make peace. Let's look at Mark 11; you probably remember this passage. Jesus walks into the temple (His Father's house) to find tax collectors, buyers and sellers using this place for profit. Do you remember what happens next? He starts giggling and says, "You guys are funny, but do you think you could find somewhere else to do this?"

He flips the tables and calls everyone out for turning his Fathers house into a "robbers den." My man is not trying to keep any peace here; he's literally flipping tables.

Let's look at Matthew 10 next. I love this scripture. It reminds me that following Christ is so freaking radical. Jesus says, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (vs. 34). He goes on to say he has come to turn a man against his father and a daughter against his mother. Do you realize what this means? It means that standing up for what Jesus Christ stood up for will most likely piss some people off.

I say all of this to fight for #BlackLivesMatter. I think it's pretty clear that not everyone sees the importance in this campaign. Out of the battle cry #BlackLIvesMatter, a new campaign was born — #AllLivesMatter. Although I myself and the Bible cannot deny the truth behind this statement, it is a "peace keeping" statement. We don't want to offend and, even more, we don't want to feel guilty. So instead we say to our black family, "Can you please stop crying about this? All lives matter, OK? This isn't worth all the fuss you are making," or, "Can you please be a little quieter about the tragedy you're facing? It's getting everyone all riled up."

Friends, do you not see the pain in their eyes? Does your heart not break over the injustice going on? Do you really think Jesus is up there saying "Guys, all lives matter, okay, so just relax"?

I have a different idea. From what I read in scripture, Jesus cares so much about the oppressed that the New Testament is constantly talking about those who are hurting. I think it's time that you face the truth, whoever you are: Jesus wants us to love and fight for all of his children. And today, in America, his children that truly need people to fight for them are his black children. I refuse to try and evade my responsibility as a Christ follower by saying "All Lives Matter." The truth is, all lives cannot matter until black lives matter, and today we need to fight for that.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left, Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46

We live in a fallen world, and unfortunately "the least of these" is constantly changing. With the violence that is going on against the black community, I think it's safe to say they are being treated like "the least of these". Stand with me as I stand with Christ in fighting for them.