Last month I decided that I wanted to share my space and my readers with a few gifted African American thought leaders. All of them have so much to say regarding race, our conflicted history, justice (or the lack thereof), faith, and contemporary culture. I had two hopes: to introduce some of these men and women to my writers and to help whites understand a bit more of why there is so much anger and disillusionment in the African American community today.
If you are a person of faith, I hope you take seriously Jesus’ call to fight for justice and bring reconciliation to all people. I am convinced that the only way this will happen is if we allow the gospel to transform us from the inside out. If that sounds over-simplified or overly spiritual, I assure you, it’s not. Confessing sin humiliates us. Acknowledging our biases forces us off our ideological pedestals. Dropping our defensiveness to listen well requires more self-control and intentionality than practically anything else. And then comes the work of actually fighting for reconciliation, fighting for true equality, fighting for our brother and sisters around the globe who have been (and in many cases continue to be) victims of injustice, hatred, and violence.
I encourage you to not only read a few of these article but also to habitually seek out writers who are not the same as you—even if you don’t agree with all of their beliefs. Allow their experiences of racism, betrayal, and loss to move your hearts.
I opened the series with an article by Kyle Canty titled Elbow Room—Another Look at American Colonialism. “History is also romanticized from the vantage point of the powerful…. The nation’s glory and its atrocities are inseparably woven together and cannot and should not be undone.”
Austin Brown was up next with her fabulous article titled Top Ten Conversation Deflectors. Our inability to listen is one of the main reasons why we have so much animosity and racism. here’s my favorite beat from her article: “Resist the desire to control. A conversation is going to be the easiest form of releasing power; if you can’t do that, you will have little success doing so in systems, structures and interpersonal relationships.”
In An Invitation to the Table, Gail Dudley wrote poignantly about what it’s like to be invited to the table but then to feel that her hosts expect her to leave her ethnicity outside with the boots and umbrellas.
I had two beats in this movement. The first was an encouragement to go see Selma with a listing of some of the pithier reviews. It’s painful to watch but so important for us (especially whites) to understand some of the brokenness of our legal and political system.
And the second, was an article addressing how defensiveness shuts down dialogue, whether it’s in marriage or in race conversations. The piece ran at Sojourners. (I had to ask for some of the comments to be removed. No kidding. They were that awful.)
Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil made a wonderful short YouTube video in response to the question, “Is it ever OK to use the word racist?” She’s wise, she’s nuanced, and she’s on the money here.
I gave the next slot to an article written by Grace Sandra titled, Has MLK’s Dream Turned into a Nightmare? She writes unapologetically with jaw dropping clarity. “Has the American Church progressed in learning to deal with our history in a way that honors God?”
Christena Cleveland weighed in with her essay Liberating the Incarnation. “Powerful Christians have held captive the truth of the incarnation rather than releasing it in order to dismantle society’s inequitable power structures. This continues today. The liberating truth of the incarnation forever says no to racism, racialized police brutality, racialized incarceration rates and economic inequality.”
I next provided an introduction and link to Natasha Robinson’s article that ran at Amy Julia Becker’s Thin Places, over at Christianity Today. Natasha helps us to understand why choosing to be color blind is another form of racism and actually disrespects the uniqueness of God’s creation. “Ignoring color will not solve the race issues in America, nor will it enable the racial reconciliation that is needed in the American Church.”
My final post included excerpts and video link to Timothy Russell‘s sermon titled Bent, Broken, but Blessed. Tim’s voice is important. He speaks with conviction, passion, and a hunger to see all of us move into our prophetic calling as followers of Christ. “We are a victim of bent, busted, broken, bleeding relationships friends, and the church so often did not assume its prophetic place in calling the church to repentance, calling the valley of constitutional racism for what it was.”
I sincerely hope that you have been encouraged, challenged, and convicted by hearing the voices of these eight African Americans. I am deeply grateful to each of them for their willingness to let me post their work on my site. May we all continue to use our voices and our lives to bring God’s kingdom to the earth. Shalom.