I read this blog last night, and it brought up a LOT of feelings for me. At first, there was this inner dialogue of, “yeah, go get ‘em!” There was this rush of righteous indignation…and then I had a realization…of just how dehumanizing this rhetoric was. Do we solve dehumanization by dehumanizing the dehumanizers? (Yes, I recognize that is a terrible sentence). But no…we don’t stop the cycle of dehumanization by playing right into it. My mind started spinning through the rolodex of those who I thought would consider themselves evangelical. I saw the faces of family and friends – of people who really are trying to be loving and kind and decent. They play with my children, they show up for us when we need support…they are, in every way, my village. There are certainly areas in which we disagree, and even may think that the opinion of the other is harmful in some way, but when the rubber meets the road, they are there. We have to start seeing each-other again, and stop only looking through the lenses of political rhetoric and identity politics.
What I am not saying…
I am not saying the church doesn’t have a racism problem. Believe me. I do, however, believe that this extends well beyond the church. I think that white people (including myself) have a racism problem. It is deeply entrenched, systemic, and oftentimes so unconsciously embedded that we only start to see it slowly and over time – and usually it is through getting to know people of color. Usually it is through personal relationship and personal narratives colliding.
For many of us, it is becoming clear that scapegoating and sweeping generalizations are not working – they may make us feel better temporarily, or at least provide some sense of catharsis – but they don’t lead us towards the kinds of change and progress that ANY of us hope to see. We want to see justice and love – and that involves us linking arms and remembering that none of us are free until all of us are free.
So what do we do? What do we do with all of these strong feelings of injustice? What do we do with this inner need to speak up when we see racism, sexism, and hatred (especially when it is from people who publicly profess love…and who claim to follow Christ).
Instead of scapegoating…and grouping people into these wide, negative, categories…
We can call out our friends…
When our friends and family expose their racism, or other biases in conversation, we can ask them why they feel that way and lean into understanding. We can point out the way those words and ideas make other people feel. We can share our own stories of how our perspectives and understandings have changed. We can, with love and grace, enter into really hard conversations with our friends and family.
We can call out institutions…
Let me say…it is those within those institutions who can be most influential when it comes to calling out leaders. To those of you in “evangelical” churches, but who don’t identify with all of these negative connotations, let’s think about our own church. In what ways could your church do a better job of leaning into difficult conversations around race and privilege? What about immigrants and refugees? Are these very important conversations being had corporately? Are they being had in small groups? Set a meeting with your pastor, and ask these questions. But don’t stop there. As a former pastor myself, I can tell you that you have a lot more ability to influence change if you also come with ideas and solutions. The church, in fact, does not belong to your pastor – but to you. If you want to see change, you may need to do more than just point it out (though that is important) – you may also have to be willing to help in some way with facilitating a solution.
We can call out specific leaders…
We can publicly point to the Franklin Graham’s and Tony Perkins’s of the world and tell them they don’t speak for us. We can call out their hypocrisy. We can stop supporting their companies and organizations with our dollars. We can publicly post our disapproval of them. We can have difficult conversations with our friends who have been deeply hurt by these men (and plenty of others like them) and grow in our understanding. Our silence speaks loudly here…both at a church (institutional) and individual level.
We have to stop cutting people off and cutting people out. We need to keep eating together, working together, worshipping together, and leaning in.
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