racism
- #WakingUpWhite, American Civil War, American Exceptionalism, faith, history, racism, Southern California
#WakingUpWhite Chapter 6: From Confusion to Shock
“Racism wasn’t about this person or that, this upset or that, this community or that; racism is, and always has been, the way America has sorted and ranked its people in a bitterly divisive, humanity-robbing system.” I suppose everyone needs a hero, and I suspect everyone wants to be a hero. This chapter explores the idea that we can want to resolve terrible issues in our culture and in our world, and we can even attempt to do so—all while being completely unware of what we’re doing and why. There’s an impulse to do good when we think we see a problem and we think we see the solution. “I…
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It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way
You know, as we get older our sleep cycles shift. Used to be that I could sleep straight through, night after night, for six hours. In bed by 11pm, up at 5am, without an alarm clock. Fairly predictable. Things have changed—without my desire!—so that my sleeping patterns are irregular. I am desperate to get to bed before 9pm, I sleep until 1 am, and then I’m wide awake until 5am, where I sleep another hour then I’m up for the day. I don’t spend my time in bed tossing and turning. That does no good. I’m up. I’m thinking. I’m woke. I read, and sometimes I write. But recently I…
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#WakingUpWhite Chapter 5: Within the Walls
“For me, part of the waking-up-white process is acknowledging that I’m a recovering lemming*…I never considered that the space I was taking, or the resources I was using, might be being withheld from another to make it all possible.” I found this chapter to be provoking and troubling, and I lead off with this twinned set of quotes. So much of my experience is similar author, not in fulfillment but in similar design. The creation of whiteness, and its enveloping me with its cocoon, led me to believe that this is just how things were as a child and even as an adult, that it was reasonable to expect others…
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Are #BlackLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter Opposite Sides? A Conversation
An interesting conversation in church this morning, Our pastor, after reading a few books about race and conciliation (Including Jemar Tisby’s “The Color of Compromise”) talked about this issue of conciliation, and as part of the message brought up two parishioners. One, an African American member of the congregation, and one a police officer, also a member of the congregation. He had them sit next to him and answer questions, and I found a few things useful: The men were able to explain the meaning of the hashtags – BkLM is about saying “black lives matter, too” and BuLM is about acknowledging the risky nature of policing. The hashtags do…
- #WakingUpWhite, American Exceptionalism, faith, family, history, justice, racism, Southern California
#WakingUpWhite Chapter 4: Optimism
“By pretending the world was virtually problem-free, my family culture left me grossly underprepared to solve problems.” The 50s and 60s were a time in America unlike any before or after. We had won a war (with the uncredited assistance of Russia who lost 10 million men and 14 million civilians to our 410 thousand men and some civilians), there were no real economic challenges (Soviet Russia was a political challenge, but who knows how much of it was hyped up to win votes?), we were prosperous and confident and expanding. Scouts and YMCA and camping and museums were all out there for our entertainment and enrichment, and we simply…
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Believe
Something I think about every so often is how we are sometimes two people. We are people who think we are driven by facts and logic. And we are the people who are driven by our fears and our hopes. I think about this today, during Black History Month. We are driven to think that we celebrate all people, that our country is a land of opportunity, that anyone can succeed. Black History Month celebrates the success of black Americans. Anyone can succeed if they just try. And we shy away from an uncomfortable truth that such a belief is not based upon facts. It’s based upon naïveté. Some people…
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#WakingUpWhite Chapter 3: Race Versus Class
“Which one is the real issue?” The temptation when confronting a difficult issue is to find a subsidiary issue, make that primary, resolve it, and be done. So it is with race and class. These two issues can be conflated but they are different, and the easiest way to show this is that we can move up and down class hierarchies, but we cannot move out of our race. “Race” is used as a distinguishing and exclusionary element in every class. There are a few interesting stories to illustrate this point—perhaps the most disconcerting is the one where Dr. John H. Franklin, honored by President Clinton with the Presidential Medal…
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#WakingUpWhite Chapter 1: What Wasn’t Said
This chapter* opens with a provocative quote by the author: “‘WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ALL THE INDIANS?’ I asked my mother on a Friday morning ride home from the library.” Gotta tell you, this not a question I had growing up in the 50s in the middle-class white suburbs of Los Angeles and Orange County. “Where are all the people of color?” I did not ask because for me the world was white. I cannot remember a single person I met before the mid 70s who was black except for our neighbor’s maid, and I tell you this with a sense of shame and embarrassment that I never knew her name,…
- #WakingUpWhite, Books, Celebrate Recovery, challenges, history, justice, Life Recovery Skills, racism
If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see
James Baldwin* said this, I’m told: “If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.” I can’t find the source of this quote, but it is widely attributed to him, and as I see no one protesting that these are not his words, I’m gonna go with it. Which leads me to the main purpose of this post: to introduce you to a new project I’ll be undertaking with a few friends, a journey to read the book “Waking Up White: and Finding Myself in the Story of Race,” by Debby Irving. I’ve not read this before, so the plan is for each…
- American Exceptionalism, Celebrate Recovery, faith, family, history, justice, Life Recovery Skills, questions, racism
What Would You Do If You Could Bring Conciliation?
This is a review of the book “The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism” The key issue that continues to break America’s soul is racism. Full stop. One hundred fifty years before Yorktown there was Jamestown. 1619 was the arrival of captive slaves of African descent, sold to English settlers and colonists looking for cheap labor that could be used for profit and personal success. By 1667 Virginia had passed a law perpetuating the eternal status of chattel slaves; in the last half of the 18th century the same people who held self-evident truths of liberty also held black humans as property to be…
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The Barley Soup Recipe
So this was a tasty dinner tonight: barley soup, from a recipe a friend gave our family for Christmas (along with a few of the ingredients: barley, broth, basil, thyme, canned chopped tomatoes). Add to this a pound of ground or diced beef, carrots, celery, and spinach, then do some magic. Only as we were making the soup we were reluctant to follow the recipe. “That’s a lot of carrots! Let’s use half.” and “I don’t think we want that much celery. Let’s use half.” And finally “Way too much spinach!…” We thought that the proportions were wrong, and we were being directed to put too much into the soup—we…
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New Year, New Labels
In thinking about the last year, I’ve struggled to place myself theologically. I am raised Protestant, became a Christian through the efforts of evangelistic movements like Campus Crusade for Christ and InterVarsity, have learned much from my experiences in Calvary Chapel (at the “Mothership” in Costa Mesa), and have bounced around in churches for a bit, but essentially staying always in churches that feel theologically comfortable. (I don’t expect any church’s doctrine to be a complete parallel to my own; I just like the essentials to be in alignment with me: who is God, who is Jesus, who is Holy Spirit, what is the nature of humanity, what is the…
- American Exceptionalism, Celebrate Recovery, essays, faith, history, justice, Life Recovery Skills, racism
Feats of Clay
Our heroes are flawed. Our villains have moments of redemptive grace. We live in a complex world, where we cannot depend upon someone being just someone, but instead they are always many things. I bring this up because Christmas 2018 is half-way over. (You do celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas from Dec 25 Christmas Day through January 6, Epiphany of the Gentiles, of course?) And in Christmastime one of the more popular carols (“Christmas hymns”) is the fantastic, overwhelming, joyful “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” It’s one of my favorites, both in the tune and in the words. Charles Wesley wanted a song that was solemn and majestic, befitting…
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Does History Matter?
I’m involved in life, like many people, and one thing that fascinates me is how we forget our past when it’s inconvenient but trot out certain myths and memes because they are “real” and important. For example, George Washington is the father of our country (and of little else because he was physically sterile). We have the Washington Monument, Mt. Rushmore, his face on our currency, and even a state named after him (no, not Georgia). We celebrate his birthday along with Abraham Lincoln’s in “Presidents Day,” and we revere his memory. Yet Washington was a white slaver. He held humans as property in his labor camps, and pursued them…
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What Is the Place of Jonathan Edwards As an Example to the Church?
I’m in an interesting discussion in a book group, in which we’re reading Jemar Tisby’s book “The Color of Compromise” (https://amzn.to/2UrMEOm). We’re looking at two men who tower above others in the early Colonial days: Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. These men are well-known in Evangelical circles. They preached a redeeming Gospel, they brought many into contact with God, and they helped define American Protestantism as a faith of the individual. And yet both supported slavery. George Whitefield so much that he helped convince the state of George to convert from being a slave-free state to becoming a white-slaver state—he needed the money from his enslaved Africans in order to…
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For I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel—Except the Hard Parts
I saw this on the NPR website this morning, and it sparked a reaction in me. https://www.npr.org/2018/12/09/674995075/slave-bible-from-the-1800s-omitted-key-passages-that-could-incite-rebellion On display now at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., is a special exhibit centered on a rare Bible from the 1800s that was used by British missionaries to convert and educate slaves. What’s notable about this Bible is not just its rarity, but its content, or rather the lack of content. It excludes any portion of text that might inspire rebellion or liberation. There’s a great verse in the Bible about the value of the Word. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of…
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Who Then Is My Neighbor?
(ETA: A much better response can be found here: https://mereorthodoxy.com/and-who-is-my-neighbor/) If you’ve been around the New Testament to any great length, you are probably familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan. Luke 10:25-37 is brief. A man tried to challenge Jesus about what it mean to love God and love your neighbor by trying to get an exemption upon “neighbor.” Jesus flatly smacked him down. “The people you encounter are your neighbors. Help those people.” That is, the neighbor is the proximate. But some foolish men have now taken up the question again, to narrow what Jesus expanded here. “Is my neighbor someone on the next block? The next…
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The Color of Compromise—A Review
This is perhaps one of the most accessible, clear, and gentle book you might read about the history of, and acceptance of, white supremacy and black abasement of the American nation and in the American church. Tisby is an historian and does not shave meaning or impact by using soft words. When you read this, you understand what he is saying, directly: racism in the American church was, and is, a deliberate choice. Nothing that has happened so far had to happen. But the good news is that our American nation and our American church can be changed by the actions of interested and committed people. I would expect that…
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Thus Far Has the LORD Helped Us: A Retrospective of a Decade
Think of a moment in time, a dot, a pivot. You put a stake in the ground, marking the place you have come to thus far. You look back and you see all the rocks and pits and even chasms you crossed. And here you are, now, at the end of the journey, a period at the end of the long, long sentence you have been speaking. It was hard, and hazardous, and you think that now, NOW, you can catch your breath before you set your tent, you make the tabernacle where the Lord will dwell with you forever. But it is not a period and not an end…
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Why It Matters: For you I was born, for you I live, and for you I give my last breath
I am involved in two streams right now that are greatly affecting me on how I see myself and what I consider my values. And in one of those streams the topic came up about why people do what they do. For me, the question is really “Why pursue racial conciliation?”, which was prompted by a statement from Jemar Tisby in his podcast “Color of Compromise Pre-Launch Interview” (appx 11/28/2018): “The more you pursue justice, the more of Jesus you get.” Why this matters to me is something I’ll explain. First, a brief immediate background. I’ve been working on my “stuff” for about ten years now. I have a lot…
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Goodreads Review: The Color of Compromise, by Jemar Tisby
From The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is perhaps one of the most accessible, clear, and gentle book you might read about the history of, and acceptance of, white supremacy and black abasement of the American nation and in the American church. Tisby is an historian and does not shave meaning or impact by using soft words. When you read this, you understand what he is saying, directly: racism in the American church was, and is, a deliberate choice. Nothing that has happened so far had to happen. But the good news is that our American…
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I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living
The prophet Amos cried out (in 5:24) the desire of God for righteousness to be the ocean we swim in, a sea of support and sustaining, a place of healing and recovery. But this is America 2018, and in America justice is far off. In this America of 2018, we have Jemel Roberson. A father, brother, son. Working extra hours to pay for Christmas for his son. A church member and talented musician. The friend of many people. He was doing his job as a security guard, holding a suspect in the ground, when the police shot him in spite of his uniform and the cries of the crowd that…
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Unwanted Subject: When You Have No Space in America
This came across my newsfeed this morning, and it involves a somewhat-local yogurt shop calling the police on a black man in their store where he was not wanted: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/unwanted-subject-what-led-a-kirkland-yogurt-shop-to-call-police-on-a-black-man/ The gist is that Byron Ragland, a court-appointed special advocate and visitation supervisor, was overseeing an outing between a mother and her son. The family wanted to get yogurt, so Ragland drove them to a nearby shop. For whatever reason, Ragland didn’t buy any yogurt, but the family did, and under his supervision the mother and son…visited. Two employees were nervous about Ragland being there, and they got the store owner involved. The cops were called on this man, “African…
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Chief of Sinners
Recently I joined a group of people who are working diligently to expose, root out, combat, and overturn racism in America, most specifically in the American church. As a member of this group, I am asked to listen and to learn before I speak, and to contribute seldom, whether it is words or in reactions. (“Love your emotional breakdown! So honest!”) I’ll confess it’s hard to handle, because I mean so well! I’m one of the people who’s working for healing; how could you not want my participation and my insight and my support? How could you not want my contributions and my energy and my outside-the-group-but-inside-as-an-ally enthusiasm? How indeed?…
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#TheHateUGive – A Review
I saw The Hate U Give tonight, and I have thoughts… But first, let get some of the mechanicals out of the way. First of all, the casting was stellar. I would especially commend Yesi Ramirez for the work to find this team of players that blended in so effortlessly in their roles. In nearly every scene and interaction they were superb. I do not know enough of what the director George Tillman Jr. or the writer Angie Thomas (novel) and Audrey Wells (screenplay) were looking for exactly with the white actors for “Hailey” and “Chris,” but I winced at their portrayals. They felt accurate and yet–oh my god. The…
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Ruminations on Acts 4–Do Before You Speak
I don’t often write up my thoughts as I read the Christian scriptures. Though I’m a white Evangelical of long practice, I’ve found recently that listening is far more important than speaking. Today, however, was interesting, as I got a chance to tune in to one of my favorite long-distance churches and pastors, Pastor Andre Mitchell of Deliverance Temple, in Muncie, Indiana, and was able to listen to much of his preaching just before my own church services. There was a powerful synchronicity in the two experiences—Pastor Mitchell spoke on a theme of “Stand Your Ground,” and in my own church we had a lectio divina on Acts 4. Now…
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Does White Privilege Exist?
Recently a sincere white American Christian male asserted that there is no such thing as white privilege, that white Christians have no obligation to inquire as to whether there is any such thing as white privilege, that people of color, sexual minorities, and others (including, I’d hazard, women) have nothing to complain about in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, and…well, it just went on and on and on. He was angry, too, at being told that perhaps his views were not the only views that mattered. As a sincere white American Christian male, he had done all the work already, and as he was comfortable,…
