To My White Friends: Now's Your Time

Hey, friend. I should warn you that the next several paragraphs contain an abundance of honesty.

I recently sat in on a workshop by Christian hip-hop artists and speakers Propaganda and Sho Baraka. I didn't arrive early enough, and each chair was filled with every ethnic group you could imagine. Others stood cramped against the walls, awkwardly cross-legged on the floor, or jumping up and down in the doorway and foyer to see the two men as they spoke on racial reconciliation.

Throughout their talk, I was encouraged by their good-natured yet brutal candor on a sensitive and aged topic. Their points were laced with Biblical truth, compelling testimonies, and helpful advice. I left amazed at how God uses a man—with dreads, married to a Mexican woman—to confound the world. To show them that Christ's reconciliatory power breaks the ancient chains of racism. And to encourage a generation like mine to carry that mission.

A man tweeted in a question during the final moments asking, "Hey, what can a white dude do to help this issue?" This simple yet valid question reminded me of a year prior, when I stood in front of my Ethics class giving a similar talk and a familiar hand rose in the back right of the class. "I do an extension ministry," he said. "And I play soccer with the kids, try to talk to them, and connect with them. But I'm still white, you know? What can I do?"

I don't know if I'd ever been asked that question before, but I know I was encouraged by its asking. Until then, I'd only seen so much of what not to do, but had never seen someone humbly ask how to instill positive change through a white mouth, through white hands, from a white history.

And friend, I think the first place to start is there.

1. Ask.

You will never comprehend the impact it will make on your friends of color knowing that you asked instead of assumed. I've sat in genuine shock before white friends who, when race relations were brought up, asked, "Why are we even talking about this?" I wondered, in how much of an isolated and privileged world would one have to live to conclude that racism is not something to be addressed?

Instead of waiting until you unintentionally offend someone, or until someone approaches you about a recent social media post, take the initiative to seek out a friend you trust, whom you know will answer honestly, and ask them.

2. Listen.

But be aware, friend. If you've asked, then you also must listen. And even if you didn't ask, but find yourself in a situation where a voice is being heard that is not usually heard, sit. Look them in the eyes, and truly strive to understand, while realizing that unless you have the power to erase history, you will never fully understand.

Don't try to assuage your brother or sister's hurt with platitudes, however well-intentioned they may be. Instead, choose to follow Christ's example in John 11 and willingly enter into the sin of the world by grieving with them (John 11:35). Jesus, the Godhead in the flesh, knew He would raise Lazarus from the dead in mere minutes hence, but shed tears of grief for His friends. God cried for His friends. Pray that the Lord would help you do the same with yours.

3. Get educated.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a connection of my family posted a status perhaps intending to be a quip, but altogether showed lack of discernment, as it used a renowned Martin Luther King Jr. quote to rejoice in the end of President Obama's administration. What disturbed me the most about the post was the numerous vindictive comments spouting embarrassingly fallacious history and accusations against Martin Luther King Jr. Some were using West African involvement in the Atlantic Slave Trade to blame centuries of slavery on blacks themselves, others were heralding that MLK was a Muslim, others were using Scripture out of context to exonerate the Founding Fathers. Through it all, I kept thinking, no wonder the world doesn't like Christians. Not only do we tear each other apart, but we also masquerade deplorable ignorance as doctrine.

Go read a book. Lots of books, even, on things you have convinced yourself you already know. Ronald Reagan is your favorite president; do you know what the War on Drugs did to black and brown communities? What is structural or institutional racism? Who was Willie Horton, and why did his face win George H.W. Bush the presidency? Maybe there's a history that precedes the current education, teen pregnancy, drug use, and unemployment rates in black communities. Do you know why? Or do you choose to believe blacks are simply morally inferior? What are the implications of being a minority in a courtroom? What does the 13th amendment actually say?

There's a great book, Being White by Doug Schaupp and Paula Harris, two white Americans who share their experiences learning how the church views them and how they learned to leverage their privilege for the sake of others. Start there, and then reach for an American history book.

4. Stop.

I will never know what it's like to walk this earth with the burden of white history running through my veins. But I do know that that history can never be undone.

Dear friend, stop trying to erase a history the expanse of humanity knows exists by spreading tainted or even false information. The reality is, you will never, never—despite your greatest bias and reposting of biased articles—be able to remove the white hand from the stern of the slave ship. You will never be able to remove the white hand from the crack of a whip. You will never remove the white hand from the rope of a lynching, the spray of a fire hose, the harness of a police dog, the trigger of a gun, the handle of a club, or the pen of a "separate but equal" clause.

You will never be able to erase the white face looking down into a mass grave at Auschwitz, or a field of Native Americans, or a bombed church in Birmingham. You will never be able to retract the white words stating that God made the African, the Asian, the Native American, or the Latino inferior to the white man.

You will never remove enough paintings of a white Jesus and His white disciples. You will never replace 44 white presidents. You will never remove the guns given to West African slave traders. You will never eradicate the centuries of racial profiling in the justice system. You will never wipe away the black paint on the white man in that blurry silent film. You will never truly make "all men equal," despite your incessant repetition of the Declaration of Independence.

You will never burn enough books, destroy enough tapes, rip enough documents, post enough tweets, raise enough flags, ignore enough people, make enough excuses, have enough black friends, make enough jokes, disregard or misuse enough Scripture to remove the white feet from the river of colored blood and tears which has flowed for centuries.

And, friend, I'm so very, deeply sorry.

But take heart. You can choose to build a dam on that river. You can choose to kick and scream and fight to pull those away who are tempted to test its temperature. You can pray to the One who willingly shed His blood to heal His image-bearers—including those who grow up knowing someone who looks like you once owned someone who looks like them.

James Baldwin states in his short book The Fire Next Time: "To accept one's past—one’s history—is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it." You can never remove the history of conquest from the white narrative, which means you, friend, are born to great privilege. And because I believe there is a movie quote for every situation in life, I will remind you what Uncle Ben once told Spider-Man: "With great power comes great responsibility."

5. Be Uncomfortable.

Propaganda answered the young man's tweet with that phrase. You, white friend, know that before the beginning of time God chose to birth you into your specific amount of melanin, which means you've also been born with a legacy. Take time to lament over your history, but do not squander the privilege with which you've been blessed that allows you to relinquish your power for another's sake.

You have that Facebook friend or Twitter follower who continually posts articles on "What Black People Don't Want to Admit," which complain of how blacks sold themselves into slavery and then came to America, only to be saved by valiant white Civil War soldiers. Sometimes it's as simple as calling out your friend lovingly and reminding them that context is key. Encourage them not to use Romans 13 to champion police officers who abuse their authority. Instead, remind them that because God created government, there are officers who truly do their jobs well, but because sin has perverted everything that God made good, there are plenty who don't. Choose not to take sin lightly, especially in areas that make you uncomfortable.

Choose not to laugh at your "Uncle Jack's," as Propaganda said, racist jokes at dinner. Tell Uncle Jack respectfully that his jokes aren't funny. And when you think, "Shoot, that's so awkward." Remind yourself how awkward it's been to be a person of color in this country for the past 300 years.

Choose not to make fun of your black friend's name. Ja'Marcus might not be as eloquent of a name as you would pick, but remember that Ja'Marcus's last name is Jefferson because Ja'Marcus's great-grandfather was owned by a man with that last name.

Choose not to degrade or mock those who "talk black." Did you know that is not speaking poor English? It's actually speaking an entirely different dialect of English, with its own grammar and vernacular called African American Vernacular English (AAVE). They talk differently? So what? So does your friend who says "soda" instead of "pop."

Choose to stand up for those whose voices cannot reach as high and far and wide as yours because they are not white. When we speak up, we're accused of complaining, but you can make people listen. Support programs helping poor school districts; respect culture; reach out to those who have experienced abuse from law enforcement and understand that it is possible to respect the badge while also caring for the oppressed.

Look around this Sunday and ask yourself if what you see is what the biblical church saw. Go talk to your pastor. Encourage him and ask him what your church is doing to reflect God's multiethnic plan (Revelation 7:9-10). Pray that the Lord will bring diversity into your church so you might do this, and therefore minister more effectively to your community.

Remember that you are an ambassador of Christ. If the world thinks, like James Baldwin concluded, that God is white and therefore there is no place for any other in His family, take that as a challenge. Go out and crush their disheartened views with love, humility, and unity, remembering their dignity as image-bearers of God.

Now's Your Time.

If you're reading this, I know that you have Internet access. And if you have access to the Internet, then you have access to the news.

This country is falling apart at the seams. And this is not new. America may have been founded on "Christian-ish" principles, but it has failed miserably at adhering to them. Hear me, friend. Hear me! God's plan is not contingent on the state of America, so don't fool yourself into believing racial reconciliation will come at the hand of a benevolent country or government. This is a job for benevolent people. This is a job for God and His people. So seize the day. Now is the time for the church to STEP UP.

My fear is that you'll walk away from this thinking "I'll step up as soon as those Black Lives Matter activists change," or "As soon as those 'weak' football players stand up," or "As soon as they stop using slavery as a crutch." If you keep waiting for the perfect victim, friend, you'll wait until you die. And you'll find yourself swept up into your broken history.

To my white friend: now is your time to leverage your power for others. To ask, listen, learn, be uncomfortable, and pray.

Go build a dam.

Luke 12: 42-48

Disclaimer: The primary application of these verses is not racial reconciliation, but rather an admonition to the believer's responsibility to do their Master's will. I would contend that it is within God's will to bring all tribes and tongues and nations to Himself (Matthew 28:19, Ephesians 2:11-14).

#racerelations #white #black #bodyofChrist #church #America #reconciliation