One80 Podcast Episode 95
No Longer Racist, Edmee Chavannes
This transcript may have errors that veer from the original audio, found here:
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Intro:
Welcome to One80, transforming testimonies from next door to across the globe. Be amazed at how God works to bring people to himself. Share today’s One80 with a friend. It might be the best news they hear today.
Edmee Chavannes:
How dare you insult my God? My God is playful, my God is colorful, my God is not boring. Flavorful, my God is colorful, my God is not boring. And I do recall I think it was the moment where whatever lingering ties I had with that life of racism, it might have been the day that it got shut down.
Margaret Ereneta:
The story of Edmee Chavannes’ life changed so abruptly when she said yes to Jesus, literally going from seeing white people as devils to seeing God as a lover of all peoples of all colors. I’m Margaret Ereneta, your host for Season 4. Welcome to Edmée’s One80.
Edmee Chavannes:
So what was it like growing up? I grew up in Paris, france, in Europe. I was born and raised there. Initially, my parents my father actually migrated to France from Haiti in the late 70s and my mom followed him and they got married in there. I’m the first child and growing up actually, initially, my mom would take us to church as a young kid. She would take us to church. Her and my dad divorced and after that she strayed away from the Lord. So as a young teenager, I grew up secular. I thank God, though, for those seeds that were planted in me early on. I do believe that they played a part in my coming to the Lord.
Edmee Chavannes:
But I have to say that growing up in France is not like America, especially if you live in the South. In America, culturally speaking, people keep things very private. I’d, culturally speaking, people keep things very private. I’d say most people keep things very private. So, growing up as a young teenager, secularism was the religion. Really, that’s what you were shown in school. Watching TV is what you see. That’s what was accepted, celebrated If you happen to be maybe a Catholic or a Jewish person, or things were kept very private, or even a Muslim when I was growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, things were kept pretty private, and so in the midst of that I stumbled across a movie directed by Spike Lee Malcolm X. Denzel Washington actually plays the main character there, and for me it was the biggest introduction to, I would say, a portion of the history in America.
Edmee Chavannes:
Again, growing up in France, I was exposed to American culture, but I did not know the extent to which color played a part in that culture, and besides movies like Roots that I had seen as well, for some reason Malcolm X got me. It made me upset. I just took it on. I don’t know what got into me. Sometimes I think back. I’m like I don’t know if it was a demon, but it was bad. So how did it look like?
Edmee Chavannes:
Well, first off, my mom actually had friends that were white, and actually she had good friends that loved us as kids and they would visit my mom, and I do recall a specific lady, corrine. Her name was Corrine and she used to visit maybe once a month and would always have fun with her. And she showed up as usual and we started to talk and I couldn’t wait to find an inroad to let her know that she was the devil, that she was evil, and I did. I looked at her at some point and I said white people are the devil. She never came back. I alienated her. It came out of nowhere as far as she was concerned, but I had it in me to tell her that in her face, to her face. And so what happened? As far as I was concerned, everything that had to do with white people was inferior. It was boring, detestable, detestable, seriously detestable. And as far as Black people were concerned, we were superior. We were victimized and we had a right to stand and fight. And as far as Black people were concerned, we were superior. We were victimized and we had a right to stand and fight.
Edmee Chavannes:
I got out of that movie, but that was the start. That was the trigger that got me to read. I went and read the whole biography, my first English book, english speaking book. I think I was maybe 13. It’s a huge, thick book, alex Ailey’s Malcolm X biography. That inspired the movie. I read the whole thing in English.
Edmee Chavannes:
I read, I studied to everything that were anything and everything that was black, I would consume, I would purchase, I would acknowledge, I would think better than anything else. Um, yeah, it really was. It was the soundtrack of the 90s. For me, my teenage years, it was. It was the soundtrack. So someone like a celine deon that I mean exploded in the 90s, uh, I could not bring myself to say you know what? She’s very talented. I couldn’t do that because she was white. No way With me. Yes, not Celine, never. It was terrible. I had posters of Malcolm and Dr King in my bedroom. Man, if BLM was around in those days, I would have been the first militant Might have found it. It was terrible. It was terrible, and it shows the power of culture Christ is supposed to be in the midst of that. You remove Christ, man, you lose culture, you lose the stream.
Edmee Chavannes:
So one of the things, though, that I believe got me to embrace this whole struggle, this whole Black plight, was actually my love for the US. I think that somehow, my interest in the US is what the downstream of that was my attachment to this Black Plague, and I knew somewhere, one day I will live there, and so, at the time, I was not a Christian at all. I actually took another six years for me to finally migrate, and actually it was an advice from my mother, was in the heels of my being depressed. I had lost my best friend at the time and I was in the process of trying to come to the U? S, but it was a very difficult thing to do, especially if you want to do it legally. So you got to find a way to do it, and so one of the things I had heard was to be hired was one way, and going to school was another.
Edmee Chavannes:
And so a set of miracles actually transpired for me to even know that I would live in the US, and at the time I remember thanking God and knowing there must be a God, because I kept hearing no, no, no, no, no. And all of a sudden things turned around, because I had actually had plans to go back to France and wanting to give up because, as I was looking for a job, I was looking for opportunities in the US, they were not coming to fruition, and so I started to see how okay, the door got open. And I know I didn’t do that, and so I would just I mean literally look up and say God, thank you. But again, I’m not a Christian. I had a degree in international trade, and so a trade company import, export company actually hired me. But the way that it happened, I knew God did that, this was yeah, I knew it was a miracle, and so that started to show me, or at least confirm, what I’ve always thought of the US this is the land of opportunity.
Margaret Ereneta:
So now we’re about to embark on Edmee’s turning point. She’s just coming to the US and finds herself surrounded by Christians, and see how her story starts to unfold.
Edmee Chavannes:
And so, as I now was venturing into okay, how am I going to stay in this country? Where am I going to live? I don’t have that much money. Again, the Lord started to open doors and in doing that, for some reason, the people that I would mingle with would be Christians. For some reason, they’re the ones that are extending a hand, they’re the ones that are giving you information, they’re the ones that are welcoming you, they’re the ones Christians. Now, they’re living their lives, they’re busy working, they’re doing what they’re doing. They’re going to Bible studies, which was a new thing for me. Wow, people really do take the time to go to a midweek Bible study. This, wow, these people are serious Christians. That’s what I thought to myself, not knowing that this is, yeah, a lot of people do that in the US, you know.
Edmee Chavannes:
But I did see how God was putting me in the midst of Christians and at that point in my life I did not have a problem with Christian. I always respected Jesus. I always knew Jesus was a good one. I never had a problem with God in the sense that I don’t believe there is a God. No, even as a kid, when they would tell me in school you know you came out of a monkey. No, I did not come from a monkey. No, thank you very much. I always knew to reject that nonsense, even if I was not a Christian.
Edmee Chavannes:
To me it didn’t, no, I don’t know where I came from, but I did not come from a monkey. I know I was made, I was created. I knew that Just being in an environment where you had Christians, god-fearing people, living their day-to-day life started to do something to me. I wanted to be there. I actually wanted to improve on some things in my life, you know. At the same time, though, I was still the secular teenager that was raised in France, and now, actually, at that time, I was 21, 22, 21. And I had never really dated a guy, and I started to date and it didn’t work, you know, and at the time I did not understand that it was God protecting me from myself. I thought that, well, what’s the point? You live your life, and, again, at the time I was not a Christian, so I did not understand fully the value of staying to yourself, in the sense of not being in a relationship with someone if you’re not married, and so when I was rejected, or when I saw that things didn’t work out with a specific guy, it put me in a position where I was very depressed and I started to question a lot of things. And when you don’t know who you are and you get your cues from the world and society and what TV has to say, then you get depressed really fast, and so that’s what happened to me, and that’s where I think God had my ear, and that’s where things started to change in terms of my getting saved. It took for me to realize that just having a decent lifestyle, which I thought I had, you know, I didn’t do drugs, I didn’t do alcohol, I drink alcohol, I didn’t do the things I was very responsible as a teenager, but that did not protect me from insecurity, that did not protect me from the things that are necessary to have a good esteem of self. It did not protect me at all. So at some point, it got to a place where, yeah, I was depressed and I didn’t know it. I was depressed and I didn’t know it. I was depressed and I didn’t know it.
Edmee Chavannes:
And so, at the time, though, thank God, because he had placed me in this environment with people that were full of the joy of the Lord, it kept me going for a while, and actually, one day, one particular person, young guy, was very different from a lot of people, very different. He walked with assurance, he had a lot of peace about him. Just if you’re around him. You would know, somehow everything’s going to be okay. He had that with him to where he goes places and he talks to people Everybody that I saw around him. For some reason, they were okay.
Edmee Chavannes:
And I asked him at some point what is it with you? Because, again, I was dealing with Christians. So something, though, was specific with that one young man. So something, though, was specific with that one young man, and he said I’m a Christian, and initially I didn’t believe him. I did not believe him because, again, I had encountered Christians. I had met Christians that were nice people. However, something was different with that young man and I said but what kind of Christian? And he said I just follow Jesus. And I was so intrigued that I asked him I don’t know again, what is it with you? Because I’ve met Christians before, but I want what you have. And so he proceeded to invite me to church, and I recall the first time I went, I was very edified, and I think, maybe on the third or fourth time I cannot remember what was preached, but I went down to get saved.
Edmee Chavannes:
I came down the stairs and I said I want this. I don’t know what it is that I want, but what I saw in this man. I want it. And maybe my hesitation in asking him what is it? But I heard Christians. It’s because I was trying to avoid false religion. I was trying to avoid what I’ve always known of Christians or Muslims or whoever. I did not want to belong to a club. I did not want to belong to a community and do things or wearing this brand or that brand. I really saw something real and authentic and I wanted that.
Edmee Chavannes:
And I recall when I left the altar I started to speak different. My words were positive. I was beaming that depression that I didn’t know I had left. I didn’t know I had that. I figured, wait a minute, I’m happy now. That meant I was not happy before. Wait, I had a depression Like I didn’t even know per se. I just thought this is how life was until God really touched me and I just remember it’s. It felt like I was becoming a little girl all over again. It felt like I was becoming a little girl all over again, and now a whole world of opportunity was set before me. And now I had the opportunity to have a father, heavenly father, and I had the opportunity to have a big brother, jesus. And that’s my best friend because, being here in this country living friends, I had left a lot of friends and family and I thank God that coming here I was able to get to know people and whatnot. But it was a new land.
Edmee Chavannes:
That was a year after I moved, but, yeah, I remember being different, that the joy of the Lord. I really believe that’s what I encountered that day. What I encountered that day, and it was glorious. It was glorious. I knew I was in, I knew now I want a Bible. And I recall when I was given a Bible for the first time, I remember pausing and saying Lord, I want to get this, I don’t want to waste your time, I don’t want to waste my time, I want to understand what this says. And I started to go to a Bible study and things started to happen.
Margaret Ereneta:
Hey friends, make sure to share One80 with your people. It might be the best news they hear today. Now back to the show.
Edmee Chavannes:
Things started to happen. This whole realm of the supernatural was amazing to me, and it’s not necessarily in signs and wonders and miracles per se, it’s just the fact that this is even a possibility. I felt like it was me going to. When a kid hears they’re going to Disney most kids they’re happy about it. This is like a whole new world outside of the world that they’re in For some reason getting into Christ. It felt like that. It felt like that because things did not have to be mundane anymore and then they have to be secular anymore. Do you mean there’s meaning to my life? Do you mean to tell me I’m not just erring and just being someone that just exists for the sake of existing? And then you have your family, the meaning, significance. Wait, we’re going somewhere. You mean I came from somewhere, but it didn’t feel the same as things being tough in the old, things being tough in this whole new world. It’s going to be okay, I’m armed. My father is with me In the other world. He was still there trying to appeal to me and get to me, but I did not know I was lost. It’s better when you’re not lost, and so that’s what happened that day.
Edmee Chavannes:
It was actually early September, late August, early September of 2003. And from there, oh man, oh man, I would hear things like yeah, the Lord told me. It’s like what do you mean? The Lord told you. Do you mean God speaks? I had no idea God speaks. I know we can pray to God, but I don’t know what you mean. God do you speak? If that’s true, I want to hear, I want to hear what you’re saying. And then, lo and behold, starting to hear certain things, and this leads to this and this leads to this move of God in my life and certain things that I also noticed on the heels of being saved. For some reason, I started to want certain things, such as wanting to forgive my father. It came to me you need to forgive your father. Okay, call my father and tell him listen, I forgive you. He did not understand exactly what this was about, but, fine, I needed to do it.
Margaret Ereneta:
See what happens right after Edmee says yes to Jesus. Friends God’s at work even on a New York City subway so cool.
Edmee Chavannes:
I remember one time commuting and there were some Hebrew Israelites. It’s a group of people, most of them are Black, and they push the narrative that the true Israelites are different Black people and at the time I still remember being pro-Black to a certain degree. But the way that they were talking I was offended. How dare you limit God to a color? How dare you put it out there that God only prizes and values a specific color? And out of nowhere. I remember arguing with these guys and you should, I don’t know if you publicly, on the bus, publicly and I’m baby christian. And how dare you? My god isn’t any. They’re reading some fake scripture. And that’s when I realized they got fake bible and fake everything. I didn’t know. How dare you insult my god? My god is flavorful, my God is colorful, my God is not boring. But I was never taught. I don’t know where, I don’t know.
Edmee Chavannes:
I started to notice that and I do recall I think it was the moment where, whatever lingering ties I had with that life of racism, it might have been the day that it got shut down. Because now I’m offended and now I’m not even talking. Now I’m realizing how offensive it is to limit God to an ethnicity or a color. It’s offensive, god, it’s offensive. And I remember being righteously angered that day. And out of that, another thing I found out I’m not scared. I’m not scared of people or what they think about me in society the way that I used to, because now I’m publicly sitting and standing and telling them to their faces and it’s not a quiet conversation on that bus. And so I figured, oh no, we’re not doing that. And now I believe a love is, the love of God, shed abroad on our heart. I didn’t know the scriptures, I didn’t know what it was, but I knew you are in Christ, you are my brother, you are my sister.
Edmee Chavannes:
This color, this brown, black color, my color, is not something that I’m proud of. It’s not something that I’m ashamed of. I’m thankful for it. I believe it’s nice, it’s pretty, but that’s about it. And I implore anyone and everyone to think the same way of how God made them to be. Vanilla is no better than chocolate and chocolate is no better than vanilla. And God set me free from all of that. He really did.
Edmee Chavannes:
And now it put me in a position where I realized that it is the people of God that are my family. It’s not blood, it’s not color, it’s not even a nation per se. Now, do I love my earthly family? Of course? Do I love my fellow Americans? Of course, but my fathers, my brothers and sisters are those who do the will of God. This is my family, and so that is something that I’ve endeavored to share, because you have a lot of people who have fallen into what I fell into as a teenager, and that is this whole colorism, racism, a lot of people, which is idolatry, really, it’s idolatry, it’s idolatry.
Edmee Chavannes:
I always thought you read the scripture and you think of idolatry. Okay, I’m, I don’t know, crafting a fatted calf or no. Idolatry is idolizing flesh, idolizing anything before God, and that a lot of black people have idolized their color. If someone insults God, jesus, they might be offended, but if someone insults their color or they think that someone don’t like their color, they will raise hell, and that is not right. And so I was one of them, and I thank God that God set me free from that. This, I guess, newfound pride that I have in the Lord, it translated into my wanting to go out there and bring about His name in however ways. He would have me do it, and bring about his name in however ways he would have me do it.
Margaret Ereneta:
You’ll find out how true that statement is. Edmee’s after deliverance is so amazing. She goes from growing up hating white people to finding out about a pro-life ministry because of President Trump, who actually ends up pardoning Edmee’s ministry partner, who went to prison for their involvement in the pro-life movement, Just being a vessel of God wherever he puts them. It’s so inspiring.
Edmee Chavannes:
So initially I said to myself maybe I should share or give some tracks, and it started with that. And then it started with that, and then it continued with wanting to just engage with people and talk to people on the streets as I would go about doing what I was doing. And in the midst of that I met my best friend today, beverly, and we started a ministry 10 years ago that had to do with the same thing, which is going about and around and allowing people or facilitating the at the well experience that the woman in John, chapter five, had, which is to meet Jesus and from there to encounter the Lord, and wanting to go out there and tell other people what the Lord had done. And so we wanted to do that as a ministry. And it got to a place where I personally at the time I would say about six years ago I was working for a friend who had a couple of organizations and one actually was a feminist organization had a couple of organizations and one actually was a feminist organization and she wanted me to do a piece, but that piece was promoting abortion rights and I was not okay with that, and so I told my friend, who happened to be a Christian. Listen, I can’t do that. You might have to find someone else to do that piece Long of a story short. It was the first time that it hit me. Oh my God, I’m taking a stand on this pro-life subject. I mean, I’ve always been pro-life, even when I was not a Christian. I knew getting an abortion is murder. No one can explain that away. I’ve always known that, but I’ve never really taken any stance.
Edmee Chavannes:
And so that, happening in January 2017, within that same week that I took that stand I heard that there was a pro-life march in DC, and out of all people that I heard it from, it was President Trump, who had just become president and was getting inaugurated that same week DC. And out of all people that I heard it from, it was President Trump, who had just become president and was getting inaugurated that same week. And so people asked him you know, what do you think of all the women that are going to come and protest against you? And I remember President Trump saying well, we have a right in this country to do that, but are you going to cover the March for Life? And it was a March for Life. And that’s when I found out that, for years, pro-lifers were gathering in DC to protest Roe v Wade and protest abortion in the nation. So I went that year.
Edmee Chavannes:
That same week I said I need to find out what this is about, and once I got there, I realized there was a whole world of people that made it their life goal and mission to fight for the unborn, to fight for life, to fight for the soul of this nation. In that context, of course, the gospel is what saves okay, not the pro-life movement. Aware of that. However, pro-life movement is very key To me. It is as crucial and even more crucial than slavery was an issue in this country, because both whether it’s slavery or abortion both say the person is not a human being. Abortion says that person in you is not a human being. Slavery says that person is not a human being.
Edmee Chavannes:
So to me, this was something that we needed to. I needed to be involved in, and so, as we were planning to continue to minister, as a organization, we started to get involved in protesting abortion. We did it initially here and there in different states, but it got really serious when, in New York, the governor at the time, governor Cuomo, went along and said okay, we’re going to allow for abortion to be performed up until birth, and this was in 2019, late 2018, turning into 2019, 2019, late 2018, turning into 2019, we’re all we need to do something about this, and so we got heavily involved in the pro-life movement.
Margaret Ereneta:
Thanks for listening today. Edmee is now a Christian activist with At the Well Ministries. You can find out about them in our show notes. God wrote your story, so it’s already awesome. Why not share it?
Intro:
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