Okay, I feel like another twitter thread. So here goes. I am still thinking about the article in the @nytimes on Black people leaving white churches as I prepare for a keynote address at the conference on Communication ethics. nytimes.com/2018/03/09/us/…
While the story centers on Black people trying to find a home in largely white congregations and eventually leaving, @JLWeisenfeld noted that this is also a story about racial reconciliation.
Anybody who has read any of my work or followed me on Twitter know that I am HIGHLY skeptical of the term "racial reconciliation." here me though; I have no problem with reconciliation. I do believe people can be reconciled.
However, reconciliation can truly happen only if the people had a relationship together in the first place. What I mean by this is that reconciliation is about two parties coming BACK together and restoring their relationship.
In short, if there was never a relationship in the first place, reconciliation cannot happen. Thus, when we speak of racial reconciliation, we ASSUME that the "races" had a relationship that was healthy and wholesome at one time.
As we continue to commemorate #MLK50, we are going to hear more calls to racial reconciliation. The argument is that if both white Christians and Christian of color could sit down and hash out differences; if they could just come together; be honest with each other...
then the ministry of reconciliation can happen. But in the spirit of speaking the truth in love, I must ask “be reconciled back to what? Back to the time when there was a debate that people who looked like me did not have souls?
Back to the time when slavery was blessed by God? Back to the time when separate but equal was the law of the land? Back to the time when Jim and Jane Crow ruled not only the law but the hearts of white people?
And besides, how can we be reconciled, when 70% of my Christian white sisters and brothers do not believe there is a problem with policing in communities of color? How can we be reconciled, when the very mention of the phrase #BlackLivesMatter Matter frustrates people....
without ever thinking about the reason why I have to say, #BlackLivesMatter Matter? How can we be reconciled, when studies show that even in multiracial and multi-ethnic churches, as the article showed that whiteness is still the norm?
How can we be reconciled when Black Truth and Black Testimony is not believed? How can we be reconciled when there was never a time that we were on the same page together? Still #WhiteChurchQuiet #EmptyThePews
