Jesse Owens seemed sure to win the long jump at the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, Germany. Just the year before, he had set three world records in one day. He was the record holder for the running broad jump with 26 feet 8 1/4 inches—a record that would stand for 25 years.
As he walked to the long
jump pit, however, Owens saw a tall, blue-eyed, blond German taking practice
jumps in the 26 foot range. Owens was nervous. He was aware of the tension
created with his presence. He knew the Nazis' desire was to prove Aryan “superiority,”
especially over the blacks.
The pressure was
overwhelming, and on his first jump Owens inadvertently leaped from several
inches beyond the takeoff board. Rattled, he fouled on the second attempt, too.
He was only one foul away from being eliminated.
At this point, the tall
German approached Owens and introduced himself as Luz Long. Then an amazing
event took place. The black son of a sharecropper and the white model of Nazi
manhood chatted in view of the entire stadium. What were they talking about?
Since the qualifying
distance was only 23 feet 5 1/2 inches, Long suggested making a mark several
inches before the takeoff board and jumping from there, just to play it safe. It
worked!
Owens qualified easily. In
the finals, he set an Olympic record and earned the second of four gold medals
during the 1936 Olympics. The first person to congratulate Owens was Luz
Long—in full view of Adolf Hitler.
Owens never saw Long
again, for Long was killed in World War II. “You could melt down all the medals
and cups I have,” Owens later wrote, “and they wouldn't be plating on the
24-carat friendship I felt for Luz Long.” A final letter Long wrote to Jesse
Owens reads, in part, “Someday find my son . . . tell him about how things can
be between men on this Earth.”[1]
Stories like that remind
us that battle against racism is fought with courage and a willingness to see
all people as created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26). The Gospel is the ultimate
antidote to racism—because racism at its core is a spiritual issue. In
Ephesians 2:14 Paul writes about the unifying effect of the Cross, “For
[Christ] himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has
destroyed the barrier the dividing wall of hostility.” The two groups in the
passage are the Jews and the Gentiles. Paul explains that Jesus has brought
peace between these two (often-opposed) groups by making them one people—the church
unified by one Savior and one Spirit. Also in Galatians 3:28 we read, “There is
neither Jew nor Gentiles, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Jesus’ solution to racism
is not to have each ethnic group politely stay in their own space. His solution
is to bring us together and overcome our differences by the love of Christ as
expressed in the Cross of Calvary (John 15:12). Billy Graham once said, “The
closer the people of all races get to Christ and His cross, the closer they
will get to one another.” -DM
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