Vern Hunter is not just one of my brothers in a Christian men’s group that meets weekly, I consider him to be the spiritual leader of our group.
Vern was raised by a white mother and black father so when he speaks of how he sees an end to racism, he knows what he’s talking about!
From describing how, as a young man on the streets, he would bring home his free school lunch to his pregnant sister to our conversation where he talks about his rise from drug dealer in the ‘hood to one of the top car salesman in Northern California.
He’s quick to point out that this wasn’t because of his efforts but because of how God has influenced his life.
He talks about how it’s impossible to fight hate with hate and how important it is to be respectful and honoring even if other people aren’t honorable. An example of this was how a detective who came into the dealership to buy a car initially looked down on him but as Vern began “to love on him” the detective opened up by sharing his opinion of what was wrong with the new crop of cops these days.
The detective said that too many of them have a “game boy” mentality that leads them to draw their weapon before using the kind of “street smarts” that cops of old seemed to have naturally..
Oh yeah, the detective ended up buying a new car from Vern!