A Christian commentator claimed, “I am a racist.” How so? He
admitted that he struggled against racist thoughts because he is a sinner, as
are all of us. He also claimed that he benefits from a racist system.
I wish he hadn’t called himself a racist simply because he
struggled against racist thoughts. Well, that’s to his credit, right? But
perhaps instead he was feigning humility or was he virtue-signaling? I don’t
think it’s right to impugn his motives. Yes, I too struggle against sinful
thoughts.
However, there is nothing wrong in experiencing these
temptations. It’s human. The Bible teaches us that even Jesus had been tempted
in every way that we are, except without sin:
·
For we do not have a high priest who is unable
to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been
tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
If Jesus had been tempted and didn’t sin, it means that
temptation itself isn’t a sin until we embrace it and say “okay” to it. I think
the more important issue the commentator raised was the charge that there is
systemic racism, and whites are benefitting from it.
Let’s first say what systemic racism is not. It is not the
fact that many are racist. We find racism among all skin colors and
ethnicities.
Nor is it a matter of unintended affects. For example, blacks
and the poor are more likely to be going to failed schools. They are also
largely deprived of the opportunity to leave them through voucher systems
because of political, not racist, considerations.
What then do we mean by the charge of “systemic racism?”
Many take it to mean that there is a systemic plot to keep blacks down.
Although the media continues to make this charge, is there evidence for it?
Certainly, there had been. However, every law that had been designed to
discriminate against blacks has been struck down. I had worked for the NYC Department
of Probation for 15 years. Although it was clear that people of color were disproportionately
represented in the system, I didn’t see any evidence of racism.
If anything, whites and Asians are being systematically
excluded by policies of diversity and affirmative action. Blacks can say racist
things against whites, things that whites cannot say without losing their job.
Recently, CNN’s Van Jones claimed that whites have a mental disease – no
outrage at all against his racist remark. One university just granted blacks
their request to have an all-black dorm. It is unthinkable that such a request would
be granted to whites.
Dr. James Cone had taught at Union Theological Seminary for
46 years until his death. During this time, he had spewed all sorts of racist
statements against whites in his classes. I had gone to a dinner honoring Cone
about three years ago and heard some of his racist statements firsthand along
with his approving seminary. He had even been granted 13 honorary PHDs. Where
is the systemic racism?
Before you conclude that I must be a racist for denying systemic
racism in the USA, I’d like you to consider who is really your friend – the one
who validates and encourages your anger or the one who encourages you to see
your situation as one without systemic impediments; the one who tells you that
you cannot make it, or the one who encourages you to take responsibility for
your lives and to stop blaming the system; the one who inflames you with counter-productive
rage, or the one who preaches the Biblical message of peace, love, and
forgiveness to assist your adjustment and progress.
I am not alone in preaching this message. Many thoughtful black
conservative scholars are saying the same things. Shelby Steele is a research
fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. In his book, White
Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights
Era, Steele argues that the black community now suffers more through
paternalistic programs and the victimization narrative than they do from their Jim
Crow legacy. However, black leaders have invested in this destructive
narrative:
·
Blacks, on the other hand, are very quick to see
racism in situations, even many where it's not there, because racism is our
power over whites. And so we tend to embrace it and see it. And if you want to
make many of our black leaders angry, just tell them that racism is not the
number problem that black Americans face.
According to Steele, times have changed. It is not racism
that is holding blacks back but the victimization narrative:
·
I absolutely, 100 percent believe that if you
want to do something in American society, whatever it may be--I'm not saying
you will not encounter any racism, but racism will not stop you. When I grew up
in segregation, racism cruelly constricted our lives and our opportunities, and
you could not do things that might want to do. Today, that's over. One of the
most remarkable things is how little we've appreciated the degree of freedom we
have as blacks.
If there is systemic racism, Steele would be campaigning
against it, and so would I. Even though people like Nat Turner had been
Steele’s role models, he applauds this nation for the profound changes he has
experienced:
·
What I've encountered in my life, most often in
the white world, is good will, is people have who have wanted to help me. When
I was younger and starting a career, people who mentored me, who really felt it
was important to give me the best opportunity to pursue my dreams. And my sense
is that that's really been an experience for most blacks who have tried to venture
out and develop themselves.
·
One of the most remarkable things in all of
human history is the degree of moral evolution, that white Americans have made
from the mid-60s to this day. No group of people in history have morally
evolved away from a social evil that quickly and to that degree in this sort of
short span of time. And very often, in our calculations in thinking about race,
we don't give whites credit for that.
I think that it would bless both whites and blacks to become
aware of this. It would do wonders to improve race relations. However, there
are strong political motivations for not giving any credit to this nation:
·
We keep wanting to sort of keep them on the hook
as racist. But the fact is that whites see racism as a disgrace and something
that they would do almost anything not to be identified with.
Steele argues that there has been an unhealthy partnership
“between white guilt and the black power”:
·
…we have looked to whites so much in the last 40
years, in terms of doing things to help us advance in American life, that we
inadvertently put ourselves back in the position of being dependent on the very
people who oppressed us in the first place. One of my arguments in the book is
that's the dependency that we need to try very hard to break and, again, rely
much more on our own abilities and talents, which I think are considerable. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5385701
This had also been the message of the famous abolitionist Frederick
Douglass:
·
Everybody has asked the question. . ."What
shall we do with the Negro?" I have had but one answer from the beginning.
Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us.
Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own
strength, if they are worm-eaten at the core, if they are early ripe and
disposed to fall, let them fall! I am not for tying or fastening them on the
tree in any way, except by nature's plan, and if they will not stay there, let
them fall. And if the Negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also.
All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone!
Our nation is still suffering because we have failed to heed
his advice. There is nothing I want to see more than the Church united in love,
as our Lord had commanded:
·
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love
one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By
this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another.” (John 13:34–35)
Love must start with genuine forgiveness and with a heart
that wants nothing more than faithfulness to our Savior – The greatest of joys.
No comments:
Post a Comment