The RAVYN Blog

While scrolling through Facebook, I saw this ad asking for donations to help a refugee mother and her new-born, but the comment section was truly horrifying.

People took it upon themselves to complain about how dare ‘these people’ keep having children. They suggested that the mothers get on birth control, and one commenter even screamed, “We need to sterilize them.”

Insensitive. Just plain insensitive.

There were commenters who talked about the poor third-world country women who were raped and forced to get pregnant, so birth control wouldn’t help. And, you know what? Neither group is right.

This is where insensitivity and entitlement begin.

The Entitled Mindset

To even suggest that Black/Brown women get birth control because ‘they keep breeding like cats’ is utterly disrespectful. But suggesting that these women are poor, uneducated, and held as slaves by men isn’t the right way either.

These women are refugees, placed in a situation they have no control over. Regardless of their circumstances, religion, or background, one thing remains clear: they are human; they are mothers.

So, what is a refugee?

According to Google, a refugee is a ‘person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster’.

These women had lives before they were suddenly displaced and forced to live in a country where everything and everyone is unknown. They may have been educated, well-off, and in loving marriages, with plans to add a young one to their family, until disaster struck.

We can agree that this might not be true for every refugee. Most refugees come from places filled with political corruption, war, and traitorous governments.

Some refugees may very well be carrying a child they cannot take care of, forcibly made pregnant by controlling men. However, even in the midst of that, life is present. A mother carrying a life, regardless of how that life was brought here, is precious in God’s sight.

For most people, whenever they see a Black/Brown woman, they automatically assume they’re poor and uneducated. They assume that they’re just breeding like animals, whether by choice or force, and thus, they must be sterilized (yes, one commenter actually used the word ‘sterilize’).

The West participates in a mindset that anyone who isn’t White needs to be on some form of birth control or contraceptive. Unfortunately, such thinking has been made so mainstream that the thought of a Black woman wanting children solicits a response of disgust among her peers.

When did that become the norm? “There are already too many children,” they claim. “The world is already ‘overpopulated’ as it is.”

The Truth About the West

The world isn’t overpopulated. The West is just greedy. The countries that we now call ‘third world’ were well off before European colonizers entered their countries and raided them for their resources.

Take West Africa, for example. The Kingdom of Mali and Ghana were known to be wealthy, both in natural resources and in education. Their king, Mansa Musa, even set up universities in Middle Eastern countries during his trip to Mecca.

Ghana already had trade agreements with countries as far as China and even traded with Europe, but European greed caused it to fall apart. They raided these territories, enslaved their peoples, and now are calling them ‘third world countries filled with savages’.

In many of the countries where these women are displaced, there is war over politics and resources. Wars that the United States of America started, all for oil. All for greed.

America introduced foreign policies, installed dictators in the countries, and encouraged problematic and destructive governments that gradually destroyed these countries.

These women aren’t victims of their religious background or lack of education. These women aren’t victims of misogyny and sexism. These women are victims of the terrible policies and governments many Western countries implemented all because of greed.

These women aren’t victims of ‘too many children’ and ‘lack of birth control’. These women are victims of the West’s need to limit and continually oppress marginalized communities.

There are countless more of these comments from all the like-minded people who just can’t see beyond the tip of their noses. We need to remember that other people live differently from us, experience joy differently from us, and deserve the same compassion we want extended to us.

So, how do we address this?

The Biblical Mindset

The Bible teaches us how to deal with strangers and foreigners who seek refuge with us.

‘And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:33-34

What I find surprising is that most of the commenters probably claim to be ‘Christian’. If they were, they weren’t being very good ones if this is what they believe about refugee women who need help after being displaced from their homes.

We deceive our own heart if we think we’re religious. God tells us that pure and undefiled religion is to visit and help the fatherless and the widows in their trouble.

If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit fatherless and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

James 1:26-27

God does not condone a dismissive attitude toward those who need help. By saying things like ‘they’re breeding like animals’ and ‘they need birth control’, we’re being vindictive, hateful, and making a mockery of what God considers to be ‘true religion’.

“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.

Isaiah 1:16-17

As Christians, we must extend our support to those who are poor, oppressed, and marginalized. We are to defend the fatherless and do justice to the afflicted and needy.

“You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.”

Exodus 22:21-24

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For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 10:17-19

We should be the reason why many people turn to God as their ultimate Refuge.

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.

Hebrews 13:2

Previously published on ‘The Pink Ravyn’