I’m digressing a bit with this week’s post because, well, I think it’s necessary. For me.

I have prayed over posting this, but I believe I need to do this.

Please understand a few things as you continue to read this particular post:

1. I am not writing this in order to win an argument.
2. I am not writing this because I am angry at any individual person or any group of people.
3. I am genuinely seeking answers and solutions.
4. I have many friends and acquaintances that span the spectrum of opinion as well as ethnic background and race.
5. I, however, am a white male, and therefore acknowledge that I speak out of a relative ignorance of what some of my friends and siblings in Christ have endured in their respective lifetimes.

Okay, so I hope you can better see my heart in this post. Now onto the issue…

You would have to have been off the grid—or maybe just getting back from Mars—not to have heard or read the latest incidents that have further inflamed emotions and tensions in our country with regard to race relations. From the Colin Kaepernick issue of sitting, then kneeling, during the playing of the national anthem prior to the games featuring the San Francisco 49ers in protest of the condition of race relations in the United States—an action that has made Kaepernick the most disliked player in the NFL—to the recent deaths involving police and African-American men in Tulsa and in Charlotte, emotions are running high on both sides of this issue. Then last week, it happened again—this time, in El Cajon…my own back yard.

I believe I understand the point being made: that racial inequality in the United States continues to exist.

I have read about these incidents. I have read what others have opined about these incidents. I have formulated some opinions on these incidents, but I am willing to lay them aside and defer, since I am a I white male and would be speaking out of ignorance. I think I know a lot about this issue; but I don’t think I know what I need to know.

I believe I understand the point being made: that racial inequality in the United States continues to exist.

To those who believe this to be the case, I would like to hear your thoughts to these questions I have:

• How do you propose we fix this?
• How do we establish trust between local police departments and local African-American communities?
• I agree with my friend and my brother Rolland Slade: we need to learn how to listen to one another. But after we have talked and listen…what do we do then?

Help me understand this.