on changing our culture of white centrality

The primary block to justice is not intentional corruption or overt racists. The primary blocks to justice are white folks consumed with themselves, habituated to ignore or diminish the lives of others. Economic, legal and racial inequities continue to define our country because they are the foundation upon which our country was first established. Our American founders gave rights to people based on their wealth, race and gender. This became the status quo, and every study of history and culture reveals that status quos are powerfully resistant to change.

Video recordings seen across America in recent weeks have alerted many to the long-standing, violent mistreatment of people of color. Many are shocked, appalled, confused, and outraged; they continue to lean in to ask what can be done, even though they might be overwhelmed or scared. I am grateful for these people. They have decided that the status quo is not okay. That what is normal is not acceptable.

These sentiments offer a wonderful chance to start again, but norms will not change unless systems change. Deciding “in my heart” that I am sad for victims and suspicious of unjust authority will not change the nature of the power that erases hope in communities of color. If we want our society to disavow racism, we can’t simply understand our history or label overt evil, we have to each actively become antiracist in our thoughts, speech and actions. If we want to create a just society, we have to actively change the one we have been creating for 250 years.

To that end, here are a few suggestions for how we in the white community might begin:

First, make is personal. Don’t start with ‘them’, start with yourself. Take inventory of your life, relationships and investments. Do you regularly share experiences or routines with anyone outside your tax bracket, religion or race? Do you seek advice from or lean on a person whose life experience is different from yours? Do you read, watch, follow or listen to podcasts made by people of color? The purpose of such inventory taking is not to shame, but to help you see who you trust in your life, whose experiences you value, and what you think is normal based on that information. If you don’t spend meaningful time with people whose reality differs from yours, you should not be surprised when a viral video reveals that different realities exist.

Educate yourself, seeking to learn with humility. I have been flooded with messages from folks who are discovering for the first time that our country’s status quo undervalues, restricts and violates the dignity of people of color. I am thrilled people are engaging with such desperate passion, and thankful I can share my own experience on this journey. Unfortunately, many black friends have also been bombarded. Nearly all of them are thankful to know their white friends care, but most are also exhausted by the idea that they are asked to comment on, explain, defend or teach a well meaning but uninformed person about what it is like to be black in America, this week, or today in Nashville.  

(PSA: if you want to reach out to a black friend, colleague, student or mentor, but feel frozen about what to say, I gently urge you to get over yourself and reach out! When you reach out, even if you feel awkward, you remove the need for them to wonder whose side you are on. Simply say something like: “I have been thinking about you this week, and want you to know I am thankful to know you. I value you and I am learning how to be a better ally to help change our city/workplace/church/school/country. I hope you feel safe. You aren’t alone, and I’m here if you want to talk. No need to respond.” Your words will not rescue them, and you need not ask anything of them either.)

As you educate yourself, notice who you ask to pay for your education. You must actively engage in your own journey rather than climbing on the back of a generous black friend willing to carry you from first to second base as she teaches you what is yours to discover. Even more costly, when African Americans do the heavy lifting for you, they usually do so in a way that privileges your feelings and comfort, rather than allowing you to discover that our status quo began and continues based on the comfort and feelings of white people. Don’t ask someone else to do what is yours to do. (I’ll provide a reading list to help you get started at the end of this essay).

 As you become educated about our racialized society, I hope you will take time to lament all we have lost by only privileging one type of life. We are all victims of the racialized hierarchy that determines our status quo. I am furious that my city’s segregation makes it difficult for us to live in multicultural neighborhoods. I am sad that my moving to a diverse neighborhood often means I will accelerate gentrification that displaces impoverished people. I am shamed when I realize that my white culture makes it bad manners to challenge a comment reflecting racial bias, or that I participate in a culture that normalizes only white wealth, while ignoring or actively avoiding an experience with a person from a different perspective in the name of safety or comfort. If we don’t take time to grieve these failures, we are more likely to abandon our efforts to change because facing our habits makes us feel terrible. You are not alone! We have much to face, and need honest courage to do so. Don’t stew in despair; instead, admit the failings you see and commit to live and speak differently.

It is easy to point a finger at an actively racist person; it is much harder to begin to notice and correct small, racialized biases, and stereotypes or fears that shape my behavior. Not many of us are overt racists, but most of us take actions to avoid certain areas, keep distance from certain people or vote against certain policies—all along racial lines. These implicitly racist habits explicitly impact the lives of others in devastating ways. Acknowledge the subtly racist thoughts that occupy you, and confess your sadness and frustration. Share your lament, your broken heart, with others in your circle. Doing so invites them to join the journey you are on and is much more hospitable than shouting them down once you “get woke.”

Moreover, sitting with your sadness will likely spur you to action. It might lead you to change your routine so that you begin to spend time in places where you are not in the racial, religious or socioeconomic majority. You can be kind and good as you go about your day, but you will never understand the reality of our unjust status quo if you only spend time with people whose lives mirror your own. If you want to challenge the norms that lead to black necks being knelt on and crushed while silent others watch, you have to share your grief with those in your circles, and you have to disrupt your own comfortable path.

Finally, as you walk along this journey, be aware that your life will change. You will become comfortable with difference, and will likely develop sincere gratitude for how much strength you derive when you learn from other people as they share their lives with you. As you do this, you will begin to de-center yourself. As you recognize the wildly different realities Americans live, you will soon begin to know and articulate your perspective, while simultaneously hungering for someone’s take that differs from yours. You will want to vote in local elections and pay attention to policies, housing, education, policing, oversight and power in your town. You will be less consumed with finding folks to affirm and agree with you, and more interested in listening to the different perspectives others might bring. You will be reluctant to share an opinion, a policy, or a voting position without seeking to understand how someone different from you approaches a similar issue.

Celebrate this fact, because when this is true of your life, you will have expanded your us. Your sense of community, of belonging, of “your people,” will have grown. You will find yourself going to bat for people in a way that offers you no direct benefit. You will create a more just and equitable society because you will use your intellect and voice and power and money and influence and vote to elevate people other than you. When wealthy white people do this (because our power is unparalleled in America), our status quo will change, our society will become more just, and we will all breathe. Every person has a role to play, and it will take all of us to create a status quo where black lives obviously matter.

If you are looking for a place to start, educate yourself by reading these (mostly) recent books. For a white person, this is the order I suggest (many of these reference or mention Christian outlooks):

On Race:

Waking up White, Irving

How to be an Antiracist, Kendi

I’m Still Here, Channing Brown

White Fragility, D’Angelo

Between the World and Me, Coates

The Color of Compromise, Tisby

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race, Eddo-Lodge

Podcasts:

Code Switch

Truth’s Table

1619

Still Processing

Other helpful texts

On Christian Engagement with Social Justice:

White Awake, Hill

Generous Justice, Keller

Disunity in Christ, Cleveland

Seek the Peace of the City, Banister

Knowing Christ Crucified, Copeland

Dream with Me, Perkins

On Education, Criminal Justice and the Law:

13th, film, DuVernay

Just Mercy, Stevenson

New Intro to Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria, Tatum

The Color of Law, Rothstein

Democracy in Chains, MacLean

The Sun Does Shine, Hinton

On Economics and History:

1619 Project, New York Times (Hannah-Jones)

Toxic Charity, Lupton

Stamped from the Beginning, Kendi

The New Jim Crow, Alexander

The Economics of Neighborly Love, Nelson

Stony the Road, Gates, Jr

12 Million Black Voices, Wright