Showing posts with label anti-racism. Show all posts

I am so thrilled to share with you one of my favorite online friends, Marcie Walker. She's a blogger, a writer, a poet, an incredible Instagrammer, a teacher, and a peacemaker.  

 Marcie blogs at Black Coffee with White Friends, which she started to share her experience as a Black woman in mostly white spaces (she shared more about this in an interview on the Speaking of Racism podcast). 

 Her newest project is a collection of history lessons for adults on Patreon called Mockingbird History Lessons. 

 I want to introduce you to Marcie so you can have the joy of not only learning from her, but also of being a part of the community she's creating. 

 I asked Marcie a few questions recently about the role of history and race, and about her newest project. Here are those answers:

 1. I’ll never forget an Instagram post of yours where you insisted that everyone needs to be able to say with clarity "Slavery was a very bad idea" without any reservations. That has really stuck with me. In a time where many people just want to "move on," why are you so passionate about researching and teaching people about the past, specifically about our nation's history with race?
I haven’t always been this way about history. In a lot of ways, I felt that our country’s history had very little to do with the world as I see it today. Part of the reason for that is that my grandparents and parents said very little about their experience as black people in this country. All of them lived in Jim Crow south. All of them migrated North. Both my grandfathers and father served in the military. One of my grandfathers grew up on the plantation in which his parents had been slaves and then sharecroppers. He never learned to read or write. Both grandfathers fought in WWII. My grandmother was a laundress and did domestic work. But I knew very little about their stories. I assumed that their not attending college or always struggling financially was because they had just made bad choices. I did not know that black soldiers were mistreated when they returned home. I didn’t know that domestic work was the only work my grandmothers could legally get. Understanding lynchings, The Great Migration, red-lining has just given me a deeper understanding of where I come from and that’s given me a lot more compassion for everyone’s story. I want every person to have that. There are reasons that we understand the world as we do and those reasons are written and shaped by our country’s history. Knowing our history helps us see the humanity of the world around us and call out any instances of inhumanity that we see.

2. What hopes or goals do you have for the future of your Mockingbird history lessons?
My ultimate hope is to create curriculum for kids Pre-K through High School that can be used by parents, teachers, youth group leaders etc… as a supplement to the history curriculum that many schools and homeschool materials miss. My hope is that kids would learn the forgotten and unspoken history of all races, genders, experiences in our country. The idea is there will be a seasonal curriculum—Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer for each learning level, Pre-K, Elementary, Middle School and High School.

The cool thing is that since Mockingbird History Lessons is part of patreon.com, we have quantitive goals! Patreon actually gives creators space to lay out measurable goals. Maybe it’s because I’m an Enneagram 2, but I love a goal—especially a measurable one.

So here are the goals that I’ve set for Mockingbird—
  • When we reach: 750 supporters aka Mockingbirds: Make a promotional video and materials for Mockingbird History Lessons for Kiddos and Launch the first quarter of Mockingbird's curriculum for all ages!
  • 1500 Mockingbirds: Launch the second quarter of Mockingbird's curriculum for all ages!!! Yes!!!
  • 2500 Mockingbirds: Launch the third quarter of Mockingbird's curriculum for all ages!!!
  • 3000 Mockingbirds: Launch the fourth and final quarter of Mockingbird's curriculum for all ages!!!
  • 5000 Mockingbirds: Create more content for the Mockingbird website—I'm talking dreamy content such as master classes with authors, civil rights and social justice leaders. But even more than that, we can partner with non-profits and organizations serving underserved communities and provide curriculums.
  • 10,000 Mockingbirds: Connect with towns around the country!!! We could host Mockingbird events such as Trivia Quiz Bowls, Lectures, and Literally Black Coffee with White Friends Q&As.
I have big, BIG dreams for Mockingbird—books, videos, theatre productions, games—you name it. But my biggest dream is to build a large community of likewise thinkers with many voices from diverse backgrounds creating the materials. I also want money to not be a barrier for people. I want the curriculum to be accessible to everyone. So, I do have $1 a month level because I know how hard it is to budget even $12/year for many families. But, I figure if we do it together as a community, we can help out those who can’t afford to commit at a higher level.

3.   I know that you're a Christian and involved in your local church. A lot of American Christians would like to just "focus on the Gospel," and that somehow that will solve all our nation's issues with race. How does your faith and reading of Scripture inform and energize your work?

I love this question. You know I have always admired the fact that throughout the Bible, there are moments when people mark history. The Israelites literally carried their history with them as they were fleeing Pharaoh. So many prayers and psalms trace the Jewish history! They are always remembering what happened and what was promised.

 And, I love that when Jesus tells a story, he tells one that relates to that history because he knows that his listeners are very familiar with it. I love that. I love that the disciples wrote down what happened. I love that Paul's letters were saved. This is all history. I feel like when Jesus says that he didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, he’s saying, “I’m not here to dismiss or disregard history, I’m here to fill in all its nuances that you’ve missed. I’m here to tell the whole history. The truth that I’m sharing is what’s going to set you free.”

 I believe that Jesus would do the same for us in this country. I don’t think we can bring good news to the poor, proclaim that the captives be set free, help the blind to see or free people from oppression—without acknowledging what has happened in our history to cause poverty, unjust prison sentences, colorblindness or general blind-unawareness, oppressive systems of destruction. Eugene Peterson's paraphrasing of the book of James perfectly describes what a blind-gospel looks like: “Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, 'Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!' and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?”

Racial injustice leads to poverty—physical, spiritual, moral and psychological poverty—for the oppressor and the oppressed. So, until we get to the real root of the problem, giving out cups of soup or gospel tracks won’t cut it.

 4. Do you have some book recommendations that are "must-reads" for my readers?

 This is always a hard question because reading is such a personal thing. What is a “must-read” for one person may not benefit another. And, there’s already so much guilt out there—many white people feel they just can’t do enough or read enough. Because of that, I’d rather give people articles to start with and podcasts to listen to. I think it’s an easier commitment. I know that I have a lot of learning to do myself in regards to Native/Indigenous, Asian American, Hispanic, LatinX histories. But I’m still learning about my own history as well and living my life. I understand that time is a factor. So, here are articles and podcasts that have been helpful:

 Article: The Atlantic, “The Case for Reparations,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Article: The New York Times, “The 1619 Project,” edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones
Podcast: 1619
Podcast: White Lies
Podcast: On Being
Podcast: Presidential
Podcast: Constitutional

 And, if I had to recommend a book: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson— audible.com's version is wonderful!

A HUGE thank you to Marcie for answering these questions for us. I am excited to hear about the big dreams she has for Mockingbird and to be a part of it! I hope you are inspired and encouraged as well.  

 One final and important note! February is Black History Month, so this is a great month to join the Mockingbird Patreon community! Subscribers are getting a daily prompt and specific discussion starters for kids of different ages. Friends, you can subscribe for as little as $1/month, so there are no excuses! I'm getting these in my inbox every day, and they are GOLD.

 You can find Marcie HERE:
Mockingbird History Lessons Patreon 
Instagram @blackcoffeewithwhitefriends | @mockingbirdhistorylessons
Black Coffee with White Friends blog

 Did anything Marcie say jump out at you? Leave us a note in the comments!




               

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Special Guest Feature: Marcie Walker on History, Healing, and Faith

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This post is the third in a series I've been writing about things I never understood about racism. You can read the previous posts here and check out the anti-racism resource page for further learning.

I used to say that the first time I saw racism was when I moved from a diverse community of military families in Okinawa, Japan, to the coastal town of Jacksonville, NC as a Junior in high school. Overt forms of racism were easy to pick out there: the ugly racial epithet flung at my African American police officer neighbor, that racist joke I heard from white girls at a sleepover, the truck flying the confederate flag.

What I didn't understand then is that racism is much more than individual prejudice. Even if we all were kind to each other and worked really hard on resolving our personal prejudices (which we should!), racial inequities would still exist.

Inequities continue to be reproduced in our country because racism is systemic or institutional. Bear with me if this is new to you like it was to me.

Here's an example: A study by EdBuild released earlier this year found that "nonwhite school districts get $23 billion less than white districts despite serving the same number of students." Schools in the U.S. are funded by local property taxes. Think about your neighborhood. How diverse is it? Think about the wealth of the people in your city. How does it break down racially? Think, then, how this affects the funding of your local schools.

In the example of funding for education that I gave above, I doubt if any of us functioning in the educational system are intentionally wanting to disadvantage non-white schools and students. When we (speaking as a white person) buy homes in mostly white neighborhoods and pay taxes our properties, we're not intending that they go only to our white children in their mostly white schools. But, whether we intend it or not, the impact is that inequities will continue to exist and persist because the system is functioning in the way it was set up.

Sobering, right? (Journalist Nicole Hannah Jones has a lot of interesting things to say about racial inequities in education. I'll link to some of her work below in the resources section.*)

Here's a simple challenge. Take any area of interest to you, your family, your community, or the industry you work in and do a Google search for research into racial disparities in that area.

Here are some suggestions of things you can look up:
"disparities in health care." 
"disparities in infant mortality"
"disparities in maternal mortality"
"disparities in school funding"
"disparities in school discipline"
"disparities in life expectancy."
"disparities in arrests at school"
"disparities in hiring practices"
"disparities in military promotions"
"disparities in mortgage lending"
"disparities in sentencing or incarceration"
"disparities in farm loans"
"disparities in public transportation"
"disparities in income or generational wealth"

In all of these searches, I suspect you will find a similar pattern of disadvantage and advantage. Beverly Daniel Tatum writes that "every social indicator, from salary to life expectancy, reveals the advantages of being White" (Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria).

And there's a reason for this. It has nothing to do with anything inherently good or bad about the "races" (we are all equal in our humanity in all its complexity), and everything to do with how race was socially constructed in this country. The racist narrative that shaped the very founding of our country (see Part 1) also shaped the fabric of our society in such a way that it no longer needs active racism to work; it only requires passive cooperation with the status quo. 

Racism and racist ideas became a part of the way every system in our society functions--healthcare, banking, housing, education, law enforcement, incarceration, employment. Daniel Hill, in his book, White Awake,* on white cultural identity (yes, we have a culture), explains this well: 
When left unchallenged, the narrative of racial difference inflicts catastrophic damage on every level of society, starting at an individual level moving into communities of people before infecting the roots of our socials systems . . . A social system is made up of the elements that work together in towns and cities, such as schools, police departments, businesses and manufacturing, hospitals, grocery stores, housing, and other entities. Though these entities provide services or play certain roles, they also form what is often called a social system. Each element within a social system is supposed to serve people of all backgrounds equally, regardless of race or any other social marker. But the narrative of racial difference prevents that because it is built around a calculation of human value based on race, which reproduces inequalities.
Studies show that race alone impacts these disparities regardless of social status or other factors. According to a report called "The Groundwater Approach: building a practical understanding of structural racism" by Bayard Love and Deena Hayes-Greene of the Racial Equity Institute,* "in today's economy (even excluding the impacts of multi-generational wealth), one's racial designation is actually a causative factor in one's socioeconomic status."

For example, according to the Groundwater Approach report, "The most recent CDC data show racial disparity in infant mortality, even when we compare black and white mothers with the same level with the same level of education." Another study shows that "in K-12 education . . . while independent racial and income gaps exist, black and Latino students underperform white students at each income level."

The Groundwater study proposes that these disparities are not a "people problem," as we might be tempted to assume, but a "groundwater" problem, meaning that the underlying systems are functioning in a racist way, without anyone in that system even being intentionally racist.

I'll say it again: because we all function in systems that operate in racist ways, as long as we're cooperating with the status quo, it doesn't matter if we're individually actively racist or not; the results are the same.This idea of infected social systems is called systemic racism or institutional racism. The term white privilege is used to describe the resulting advantages of systemic racism for white people. 

Here are a couple of things that I find helpful in talking about systemic racism and white privilege:

1. This doesn't mean that all people benefit from or are disadvantaged by systemic racism equally. It's just a broad way of understanding the social fabric of our country. You'll find lots of variation in the individual threads (again--because we're human).

2. Generalizing about social-constructed concepts like White and Black are helpful terms for breaking down the system as it was constructed. We first have to acknowledge it and see it to change it. This does not, however, speak to anyone's worth or value. I know that we white people can feel called out when our race is even mentioned. This is not about your individual worth; it's about your social context.

In conclusion, it's complicated. It's weighty, and it's overwhelming to begin seeing something that was actually always right in front of me. These are hard, uncomfortable truths that must be grappled with.

Can I encourage you in this? There is so much grace and mercy for us as we come to God repentant and brokenhearted over these things. There is tremendous freedom for white people when the burden of white supremacy is lifted. There is beauty in understanding our shared humanity. There is much to be learned from those our society called "the least," the "minorities."

Here's something that gives me hope: this system was constructed, so it can also be deconstructed. I like this metaphor from Beverly Tatum, from her book, Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?:


That brings me to my calling as a Christian, a calling to be an ambassador of reconciliation, a royal priest, an image-bearer who reflects the beauty of God and His Kingdom.

I highly recommend Latasha Morrison's new book, Be the Bridge: Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation* if you want to look more into these issues of what racial reconciliation looks like for a believer and a church.

After each chapter of her book, Morrison provides prayers of lament and repentance. Here is one:
"We have not required justice, we have not loved others well, and we have not walked in humility in our brokenness."
Will you join me in lamenting and praying over these things?
"If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2:15-17 ESV)
"Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them." (Ecc 4:1 ESV)
"When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause." (Isa 1:15-17 ESV)
"Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Mat 6:10 ESV) 
I made this screensaver of Isaiah 1:17 for you to use this month to remind you of the actions you can take towards justice. You can download it in English or Spanish by clicking on one of the images below to save to your phone. I'd love for you to share this post if you've found it helpful.

   

*FOR FURTHER READING/LEARNING


NIKOLE HANNAH JONES on racial inequalities in education:
The Problem we all Live with Podcast series
How the Systemic Segregation of Schools is Maintained by 'Individual Choice'
Interview with Nikole on The Next Question Show: "Spoiler Alert--Segregation is Still Here"

 PODCAST | Seeing White. The whole series is really amazing, but this episode on affirmative action is a must-listen.
http://www.sceneonradio.org/episode-44-white-affirmative-action-seeing-white-part-13/

 BOOK | Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum 
VIDEO | Interview with Dr. Beverly Tatum

ARTICLE/REPORT | The Groundwater Approach: building a practical understanding of structural racism by Bayard Love and Deena Hayes-Greene of The Racial Equity Institute

ARTICLE | White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh

BOOK | Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith
VIDEO | Michael Emerson on Race and the Church



               

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Let's talk about anti-racism: four things I never understood about racism (Part 3)

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Today was the last day of school for my girls! They've both grown so much this year, and now I'm excited to spend the summer going to the city pool and being off our routine. I also plan to work on a series of watercolor paintings for a First Friday art show at a local shop downtown in August (The Lady Jane if you're local). If I get really productive, I may offer some paintings in the shop, too!

 Because of all this, I'll be taking the summer off blogging. In the Fall, I plan to continue the series on anti-racism. I have a few posts in the works about how racism works (the systemic aspect) and another about learning to see my white culture.

 In the meantime, I have a little challenge for you, my readers. I'm sensitive to the fact that I'm talking about race as a white woman. I think we all have a place at the table no matter our backgrounds, but I want to take the chance and promote voices of color right now. 

 So here's the summer challenge: 

  1. LISTEN TO or READ people of color.
  2. Comment here on the blog or send me an email about what you read/listened to and what you learned!

Daniel Hill, in his book White Awake, recounts a mentor who challenged him with a simple exercise:
"he organized the exercise around four groups of voices: my closest friends, the mentors I looked to for guidance, the preachers/teachers/theologians I relied on for spiritual guidance, and the authors of the books I was reading. The instructions were simple: comprehensively list them. Take note of the cultural backgrounds they represented."
Hill quickly realized that his biggest influences were all white. The same has been true for me most of my life, and it has shaped my culture and how I see both myself and others. My cultural identity then has profound implications for how I follow Jesus!

So, I challenge you to listen to someone who stretches you. I don't mean abandon your convictions. If you embark on reading after people different than you, you'll find you agree with them on some issues and disagree on others. For me, that's okay. I'm learning to be okay with this discomfort that inevitably comes. Practice godly discernment. Return to Scripture. Talk it over with friends, with your church community, with your pastors. Pray and ask God to show you the truth.

I'm going to list a few books and podcasts if you need suggestions (these are affiliate links**). You can comment below with your own suggestions! Also, you can check out a longer list specifically about racism on the anti-racism page here on the blog.


BOOKS

Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry 





Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Hermanas: Deepening Our Identity and Growing Our Influence by Natalia Kohn Rivera, Noemi Vega Quiñones, Kristy Garza Robinson

PODCASTS

Truth's Table 
Midwives of Culture for Grace and Truth (built by Black women and for Black women)

Pass the Mic by the Witness
Dynamic Voices For a Diverse Church

United? We Pray by Isaac Adams 
taking churches' racial struggles to the throne

 BLOG

Black Coffee with White Friends by Marcie Walker
"I am usually the only black person in the room. That is what this is, what this blog is all about: me being the only one, most days, in most of the places I go."

Trillia Newbell blog


PLAYLIST

And just for fun, here's my summer Spotify playlist.

I want to hear what you learn and what you read/listened to! Comment below or send me an email!

Happy Summer! I made a screensaver for you from a recent painting and a favorite Scripture from this season of life. Download it by clicking on the image below.





*I'm so happy for you to enjoy my coloring pages and printables for your personal (not commercial) use! Use for Bible studies, church groups or events, and Sunday school classes are all fine! If you're in doubt, I'm happy to answer any questions. All artwork and photos are copyright Marydean Draws. If you share this, thank you (!), and as a courtesy,  please link back to this post and not the PDF file. 

**affiliate link. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.


               

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This is part two of my series about things I never understood about racism. You can read part one here or watch the introduction to the whole series here. My anti-racism resource page is also up and under construction.

Today, I'm talking about how I never understood a precise definition of a racist idea. Now, it might seem silly to even have to define a racist idea, but as I read, interact with people on these issues, and examine my own thinking, I find that a common definition is helpful.

Racist ideas are a little like the fast-growing morning glory weeds that threaten to take over the beans I'm trying to grow in my garden (p.s. I'm a terrible gardener). Last year I made the mistake of confusing them with snap beans and let them grow. Because I didn't uproot them, they became intertwined with my good plants, making them hard to separate. Eventually, they choked the life out of my good plants. Before planting my seeds this year, I tried tilling the soil and pulling out the pesky weeds that had already started to root, but the soil is still full of them and they keep sprouting up. This year, though, I'm wise to them and can recognize one plant from another, so every time I check on my garden, I pull up new stalks. If I'm diligent, my little bean plants might have a chance. If I'm not diligent, the deceitful little stalks will come back in full force.

Racist ideas are like these weeds. They grow naturally and quickly from the soil we're in, so they have to be carefully and consistently uprooted. Passivity isn't an option if we want to go against the culture. It's crucial that one learn to recognize the good ideas from the bad. In my last post, I talked about how the narrative of racial difference was fostered in this country and became so common sense to us that it's hard to even imagine life without it. It warped our very understanding of what it means to be human, choking the vitality out of us all.

I want to start with five examples of racist ideas from a variety of sources that we'll revisit at the end of this post:

1. I once overheard an African American Navy chaplain friend say to my dad, "The African American family structure is broken because slave owners broke families apart. They've never recovered from that."

2. I remember speaking with an older woman I worked with about my experience living and teaching in Thailand. She asked, "What were they like? In the pictures, their eyes are always so staring and vacant."

3. I lived in Richmond, Virginia soon after graduate school and was teaching ESL at Virginia Commonwealth University. Like most cities, Richmond is very segregated. I remember telling someone how the middle section of downtown where I lived was okay, but just a few streets over the neighborhood turned "bad and scary" (this was a mostly African American neighborhood).

4. Our Declaration of Independence contains this statement: "He [the kind of England] has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions."

5. In June 2015, then-candidate Donald Trump announced a run for president with a speech. Here is part of that speech: "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

Are these ideas racist? This is where common definitions become important.

I appreciate Ibram Kendi's simple, but precise, definition of a racist idea: "My definition of a racist idea is a simple one: it is any concept that regards one racial group as inferior or superior to another racial group in any way" (from Stamped from the Beginning*). This simple definition has profound implications, ones that I think echo the Biblical vision of human equity given by the Creator.

Kendi points out that while we may believe people of a certain color are not biologically inferior (although this kind of pseudo-science is still widely read and reproduced), we may embrace the idea that they are culturally or behaviorally inferior--as a group. We may believe that if the group improves itself (i.e. adapt to the standards of another group), then they will achieve equality. In reality, this is saying the until that point, the group is inferior.

Marcie Walker, of the blog Black Coffee with White Friends, said recently in an interview on the Speaking of Racism podcast, that when we talk about racism, we need to start by talking about what it means to be human. I really love that concept.

So let's ask the question: What does the Bible have to say about how we define and value humans? 

We know that we are all equally dignified and valued, "crowned with glory and honor," by nature as image-bearers of the Creator (Genesis 1:27). We know that God is "mindful" of us. This Psalm proclaims the dignity and position of men and women in God's created order:
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. (Psalm 8:3-8 ESV)
We know that God has ordained "every nation of mankind" and the places and times in which they live. God has ordained the diversity of his creations. It is in these places and times that we find God, who is near to all:
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us. (Acts 17:26-27 ESV)
 We know that all of us are under sin and fall short of God's glory. Paul, ethnically a Jew, wrote: 
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." (Romans 3:9-12 ESV)
Although all equally under sin, all of us were counted worthy of the sacrifice of Jesus, worthy of his stripes (Isaiah 53:5). The sacrifice required for all of us was the same--the life of Jesus. Thus the cross says to every human: your life matters.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6 ESV)
When we assign value to a group of people, we have ceased to sit under the mercy of the Judge of our souls, and have stolen into His seat. Sitting in the judgment seat is always damaging for others and for our own humanity:
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? James 4:11-12
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:1-2, ESV 
Lastly, we ought to always question the values assigned by our culture and ask if they line up with Kingdom values. Jesus said this about who is valuable:
So the last will be first, and the first last. Matthew 20:16 ESV
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' Mathew 25:35-40 ESV
Jesus says here, "See me in the poor, the hungry, the stranger, the sick, the imprisoned--and help."

I think we can conclude that there is nothing that is beautiful and good and glorious that is not true of us all--whatever culture we've been brought up in, whatever family, whatever country, whatever neighborhood.
As an exercise in application, let's revisit the five ideas I opened up this post with and apply anti-racist ideas (or do a little "weeding," to circle back to my gardening metaphor):

 1. The idea of the missing Black father and the broken Black family. This is actually now considered a myth, although an extremely pervasive one. I'll link a couple or resources* below that speak to this, but let's apply antiracist ideas. There is nothing inherently wrong with the Black family that isn't wrong with families in general. We all deal in brokenness. Slavery didn't irredeemingly mar Black families or Black humanity in general. Black families never lost their human dignity despite their treatment. Black families survived and found a way to flourish, even under slavery, and even if their families looked a little different than the traditional nuclear family. In fact, the first thing freed slaves did was attempt to find children and family sold away from them (see this collection to see the ads put in newspapers). 

 Those things being said, we can't talk about Black families without talking about the impact of the wealth gap and generational poverty. According to the New York Times, "for every $100 in white family wealth, black families hold just $5.04" (from this article). This gap is only increasing. We can't talk about the wealth gap without understanding the history of housing discrimination, redlining, and loan discrimination. We also have to look at the devastating effects of the War on Drugs, the over-policing of Black neighborhoods, harsh sentencing, and the resulting mass incarceration we now have.

(Note: I notice our current culture has a tendency to oversimplify social justice issues in two ways. One one hand, we might say that oppression is the source of all problems, and neglect personal responsibility and sin. On the flip side, we say that it's all about personal responsibility, and that people need to try harder and stop playing the victim, as if our context has no influence. I'm no expert and I'm still learning, but I would argue that the Bible calls for both righteousness and justice. We humans are complex and we should beware of oversimplifying problems or solutions, especially if this leads us to mute either compassion or the Gospel.)

 2. The idea of the vacant-eyed, other-seeming Asians from my friend whose only interactions with Asians was probably limited to pictures flashed on a screen by a visiting missionary. I replied to my friend that day, "Well, they're just like us. They love their families, they have dreams for their future, they play and laugh, they want good things for their lives."

 3. My idea of the "bad" part of town in Richmond. If I say a neighborhood is bad, I'm by implication saying that there is something deficient in the people living there. I would never admit that out loud, but so much of our racist ideas are implied and never said. But the impact is the same. The truth is that there are humans full of variety and complexity living in any neighborhood. Neighborhoods may have higher concentrations of poverty and unemployment, but that doesn't make the people deficient. These conditions speak to available opportunities and systemic injustices, not the character of a racial group as a whole (also see note on #1).

 4. The line about "Indian savages" from the Declaration of Independence. Daniel Hill, in White Awake, writes of this line, "The founders accepted a distorted version of the dominion that God entrusted to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But this form of dominion was especially sinful. Not only did they anoint us with a power that was not ours, they also used it to name other human beings." Naming a whole group of people "merciless" and "savage," was both inaccurate and dehumanizing, but was an effective way to reign in power and control. At the same time, it robbed the dominant group of the ability to see the dehumanized group as equally human and to respond to their needs.

 5. Donald Trump's comments on Mexicans. First I think it's helpful to distinguish between asylum seeker, migrant, and refugee, because these terms tend to get thrown together inaccurately. You can read definitions of those terms here. When Trump states that "they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems," he's placing value on human life. "We" are the best people and "they" are the problem people. An anti-racist view would say that people can be poor, oppressed, desperate. Some can be criminals who do bad things, but that is true of all racial groups. None of these factors affect human worth. How to handle immigration is certainly debatable, but human worth is not.

 Racism causes us to make assumptions like the ones above. We make assumptions about who is dangerous, who is trustworthy, who is worthy of being a citizen, who is worthy of state support, who is moral, who should be policed, who is a problem, who we want to live next to and go to school with, who deserves compassion and care, whose life matters more. We might not ever give voice to these beliefs, but they are there none-the-less, and we act on them.

Racism warps the way we see and then treat both individuals and communities of people. It's one thing to make these assumptions personally; it's another more devastating thing when these assumptions infect our social systems (more on that institutional aspect of racism in Part 3 of this series).

I think the Gospel demands that we examine very carefully how we think about people, how we talk about people, and how we then treat people individually and as a society. This is not about political correctness (our Kingdom values will not always line up with what the culture finds "correct"); this is about theological correctness for those who love and follow Jesus. 

It takes some imagination to imagine a society of equals, but I think it is the beauty of this vision, even more than a conviction of wrongs or injustice or past sins (although important and necessary for reconciliation), that will propel us forward.


If anyone can imagine a society like this, it should be Christians. We have this vision of the heavenly Kingdom:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" Revelation 7:9-10, ESV
It's a heavenly community where the distinctions of tribes and languages are not erased, but where a diverse people stand before the Lamb, adoring and worshipping as equals, not because now they are equals, but because they always were, in all their diversity.

The Lamb always knew for whom he was slain.


I created this Psalm 8:3-6  Bible verse coloring page (with talking points below) for you to share with your own kids or the children you teach. You can download the page in Spanish HERE or in English HERE or by clicking on the images below.**



TALKING POINTS for KIDS

  1. What do these verses say about the "created order" (our position in the world that God made--God, angels, mankind, all things God created)?
  2. How does God feel about humans in these verses?
  3. How does God treat humans in these verses?
  4. What is the job of humans in these verses?
  5. Racism says that one group of humans is higher or lower than the other based a set of physical characteristics (their race). We know that this goes against what God says about humans. God sees us as crowned with glory and majesty. 
  6. Racist ideas are all around us, and we have to work really hard to fight these ideas with the truth about humans (see my garden analogy above). We have to learn to recognize these ideas when we see them--in ourselves and around us. Do you see any of these ideas in the world around you? How might we fight against them when we see them?

*FOR FURTHER READING/LEARNING




PODCAST |  Pass the mic:  The Myth of Absent Black Fathers

WEBSITE | Race: The Power of an Illusion. Companion website to the three-part documentary with excerpts of the series with articles, interviews, classroom guides, and videos.
PDF | Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Race (From Race: The Power of an Illusion)




 *I'm so happy for you to enjoy my coloring pages and printables for your personal (not commercial) use! Use for Bible studies, church groups or events, and Sunday school classes are all fine! If you're in doubt, I'm happy to answer any questions. All artwork and photos are copyright Marydean Draws. If you share this, thank you (!), and as a courtesy,  please link back to this post and not the PDF file. 


               

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Let's talk about anti-racism: four things I never understood about racism (Part 2) + Psalm 8:3-6 Bible Verse Coloring Page

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 I hope you were able to watch the video of my introduction to this new series on anti-racism in my last post.  I've been doing a lot of reading and writing to prepare for these next few posts on the things I never understood about racism. 

At the end of today's post, I'm sharing a coloring page from Acts 17:26 (in English and Spanish), along with some talking points you can use with your kids when starting the conversation about race and racism. I know starting these conversations can feel awkward and produce anxiety, so I hope to help you by providing these resources. Also at the end of this post is a collection of resources for further study and learning. I'll be collecting all these resources together on an anti-racism page soon!

I never understood that our ideas about racial difference were never biological or natural, but were formed and fostered from the very birth of our nation for the purpose of consolidating privilege and power and oppressing people of color.

For most of life I have had an understanding of race that goes something like this: racism was practiced by people who were evil, hateful, and ignorant. But now that we are more progressive, more informed, and don't hate each other anymore, our racism problem is limited to those individuals who are still evil, hateful, or ignorant. 

Isn't that neat and tidy?

The racial hierarchy--whites on top and black on bottom (and everyone else somewhere in the middle)--and where it came from wasn't something I really considered. It seems like something that just developed naturally. At the same I didn't believe any skin color was naturally inferior or superior. These two opposing beliefs existed comfortably in my mind.

Biology, especially modern DNA research, has confirmed what the Bible has always told us about our origins from one family of men. Modern science continues to confirm that skin color means just skin color and that biologically, we are all the same species. In fact, a person of one color can have more DNA in common with a person of a different color than that of a person with the same skin color. There are no set of physical characteristics that are defined and limited to one race of people.
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us. (Acts 17:26-27 ESV)
Yet the hierarchy seems so inevitable. We say things like, "That's just how things were back then." Or, "He/she was just a person of his/her times." 

But the inevitability of racism is far from historically accurate. I just finished reading Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram Kendi.* Kendi painstakingly reconstructs the ideas that shaped our nation and our narrative of racial difference. He writes:
I was taught the popular folktale of racism: that ignorant and hateful people had produced racist ideas, and that these racist people had instituted racist policies. But when I learned the motives behind the production of many of America's most influentially racist ideas, it became quite obvious that this folktale, though sensible, was not based on a firm footing of historical evidence. Ignorance/hate > racist ideas > discrimination; this causal relationship is largely ahistorical. It has actually been the inverse relationship--racial discrimination led to racist ideas which led to ignorance and hate. Racial discrimination > racist ideas > ignorance/hate: this is the causal relationship driving America's history of racial relations. 
Some of our brightest minds--scientists, sociologists, lawmakers, judges, economists, educators, journalists, and even our pastors and theologians, fostered and formulated America's narrative of racial difference (to borrow Bryan Stevenson's term*) until it became simply common sense to many of us.

Motivated by our favorite idols of self-interest: power, money, influence, control, and reputation, white Americans found a way to justify discrimination and quiet their own consciences, and the conscience of the nation. Sadly, much of the church met the evils of racism with either silence or complicity. You can read a survey of the church's complicity with racism in Jamar Tisby's The Color of Compromise.*

The stratification of the races has its roots in the Enlightenment (see this article), but further developed in colonial America as the need to rely on and justify slavery increased. (The episode of Race: The Power of an Illusion called "The Story We Tell"* chronicles this history.)

Race wasn't always such a factor in American life. For example, take this entry from this timeline of the development of race in America:
In early colonial America, social identities are fluid and class distinctions trump physical ones. On Virginia plantations, European indentured servants and African slaves mix freely - they work, play, and make love together. In 1676, Bacon's Rebellion unites poor Africans and Europeans against Indians and wealthy planters. Although the rebellion is short lived, the alliance alarms the colonial elite, who realize the labor system based on indentured servitude is unstable. Coincidentally, captured Africans, perceived as stronger workers by Europeans, become more available at this time. Planters turn increasingly to African slavery for labor, while granting increased freedoms to Europeans.
The planters' bottom line needed cheaper labor, so a stricter racial narrative was developed. The first slave codes were passed in 1705: 
As wealthy planters turn from indentured servitude towards slavery, they begin to write laws making slavery permanent for Africans, and dividing Blacks from whites and slaves from free men. African Americans are punished more harshly for crimes and their rights are increasingly curtailed. Poor whites are given new entitlements and opportunities, including as overseers who police the slave population. Over time, poor whites identify more with wealthy whites and the degradation of slavery is identified with Blackness. (found here)
And so race-based chattel slavery for life took shape at the same time our pursuit of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" was taking shape. (For more information and research into these ideas, check out the documentary Race: the Power of an Illusion and its companion website.* )

The honing of the racial narrative didn't end there, of course. It continued and continues to take shape, changing to suit the needs of the moment.

This leads me to some concluding thoughts and questions:

1. This understanding of the roots of racism seems important for understanding how to reverse or undo it. 

If I assume that racism is based on ignorance, then education and changed hearts should eradicate it. But if I understand that racism is rooted in deeper idols of entitlement, greed, privilege, and power, then education alone won't change the underlying dynamics at work.

If I assume that racism stems from hate, then love will solve it. If I understand that racism is more deeply entrenched in our society than the level of our feelings towards one another, then I understand that something greater than just "good will" must counteract the underlying entrenchment.

Sociologists call race a "social construct" meaning that race took on the meaning that we gave it in our society. It's the house that we built, solid and firm, and it stands until we tear it down. Ignoring it in an attempt at colorblindness doesn't change it.

2. If the church was complicit in justifying the racial narrative, how might we be complicit in allowing it to continue? How might our consciences be numbed still to injustice around us? How might our interpretations of the Bible be influenced by the racist ideas of our times?

Those are the things I'm thinking about as I learn this history and contemplate its consequences.


I created this Acts 17:26a Bible verse coloring page (with talking points below) for you to share with your own kids or the children you teach. You can download the page in Spanish HERE or in English HERE of by clicking on the images below.**

 

TALKING POINTS for KIDS
  1. What does this verse say about where all people came from? 
  2. What does the rest of Acts 17:26-27 say about the people God made and the places he determined they would live?
  3. Racism is the idea that one race of people (a group that looks mostly the same) is either better or worse than other races of people. How does this idea go against what the Bible tells us about humans?
  4. Science tells us that we are actually all the same race--the human race, and that scientists can't tell what race we are by looking at our DNA. In fact, a person of one race can have more DNA in common with a person of another race than a person of the same race. 
  5. It's important for us to talk about race (and what the Bible says about it) because in America, at the same time our country was being formed, people began to tell the story that one race was better than another, that white people were better than people of color. I know that seems like a silly story, but it became really important. Why would they do such a thing? They thought more about what they wanted than what was good for others. They wanted land. They wanted people to work for them cheaply. They wanted to keep their power and control others. They needed a reason to feel like they were doing the right thing, so they created the story that the races are different. As a result, people of color didn't have the same opportunities as white people. Racism was completely legal! Life became very, very difficult for people of color in our country. I wish I could tell you that it's better today, but there are still many ways that races are not treated equally and don't have the same opportunities. It takes a long time to change these things, so that's why we're talking about this--so we can pray and work to make things better for all of us.


*FOR FURTHER READING/LEARNING


WEBSITE | Race: The Power of an Illusion. Companion website to the three-part documentary with excerpts of the series with articles, interviews, classroom guides, and videos.
PDF | Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Race (From Race: The Power of an Illusion)

I'd be happy to engage with you on this topic. If this post spurs questions or thoughts, you can email me or leave a comment below.


**I'm so happy for you to enjoy my coloring pages and printables for your personal (not commercial) use! Use for Bible studies, church groups or events, and Sunday school classes are all fine! If you're in doubt, I'm happy to answer any questions. All artwork and photos are copyright Marydean Draws. If you share this, thank you (!), and as a courtesy,  please link back to this post and not the PDF file. 



               

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Let's talk about anti-racism: things I never understood (Part 1) + Acts 17:26 Bible Verse Coloring Page

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