I hate to admit this, but the truth is…
For most of my life, I never participated in anything to celebrate Black History Month. Now don’t get me wrong, I always thought it was nice to have a month that honored Black history, but I just didn’t really understand why it was important for white people to participate in honoring/celebrating it. I just thought it was a time for Black people to celebrate their heritage and culture together. Now I feel so silly thinking that! Silly and… well… ignorant. I hate using the term “ignorant” because it sounds so harsh, but that is the correct term. I was un-educated about it all, and only in recent years have I started understanding how important it is to educate myself. Important for me as a white person and even more importantly, as a Christian person.
Let me first address my sentence above where I said I thought black people could use black history month as a way to “celebrate their heritage and culture together.” Oh my goodness. What a ridiculous and un-educated idea that was! The truth is when black people were brought over to America in chains they were forced out of their original countries, including but not limited to Nigeria, Ghana, The Congo, and The Ivory Coast, and were deprived of their original diverse identities. Celebrating their original cultures and heritages wasn’t an option. They had no choice now but to forge a new ethnic identity as a single group: Black Americans. And yes, they can be proud of that. “Black pride” is important because it celebrates the accomplishments and resilience of a marginalized group who has constantly survived in the face of continual suppression and oppression. “White pride” seems ridiculous when you try to compare the two, as some white people do. We can be proud of our heritages - Italian, Irish, German, French, Spanish, Mexican etc.. (and yes, latinos are white - something I only really understood myself) - but being proud of being white? What even IS “white”? Are we just talking skin color? Why would you be proud that you were born with low levels of pigmentation in your skin? Seems silly, right? (EDIT NOTE: After writing this original post, my friend, Torrie Sorge helped clarify something I did not know about latinos and race. While some latinos consider themselves white, not all do. Here is Torrie’s note: “Many Latinos do consider themselves as Black. Slave ships stopped in the Caribbean before coming to the US. Slaves were sold to those on the islands. So today many Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, ect consider themselves Afro-Latinos.” — Torrie is a wonderful source for information on mixed-race encouragement and information. I listed her in my “instagrams to follow” at the bottom of this post, but you can also follow her writings here on Substack. Her page is: —Thank you, Torrie!)
If you would like to take a little deeper dive into this, please watch this very well-done short video by Dara Tucker that I saw the other day on Marcie Alvis Walker’s popular instagram account @blackcoffeewithwhitefriends. If you are on Instagram and don’t follow Marcie, I would encourage you to check out her work. For anyone doing the work of antiracism, it is very eye-opening and educational. *Click on pick below.
My desire to learn more about black history came after two realizations in my life converged around the same time. The first was how truly white-washed the history I was taught in my history classes and my religious communities had been. I had not been taught the whole truth. As most children do, I didn’t question what I was reading in my history books or being taught in my churches. I am embarrassed to admit how old I was before I realized that the blonde, blue-eyed Jesus that hung in the sanctuary of my church was a wildly inaccurate depiction of our Lord. I never questioned that translations in my bible might be skewed by patriarchal and racial bias. I never understood how much “the evangelical church participated in supporting the status quo. It supported slavery; it supported segregation”* - and how it had preached a gospel that only liberated those it deemed worthy. I am equally horrified to say I had never even heard of Juneteeth or the Tulsa Race Massacre until just a few years ago as well. I didn’t know about the Selma march and Bloody Sunday. I didn’t know the stories of John Lewis, Harriet Tubman, Ruby Bridges or many others who fought for civil rights. I’m not saying these stories weren’t ever taught to me in school. Maybe they were - I honestly just don’t remember them. Again, not proud of my ignorance, but I’m acknowledging this because I want anyone else who might be reading this to understand that my desire to learn about black history and the importance of it all only happened to me later in my life. It’s never too late to educate yourself about matters of significance and if I can be of any encouragement to someone reading this right now, please don’t think it won’t matter learning now because it definitely DOES - no matter how old you are.
The second realization came as I started gathering black friends in my close friendship circles. I hadn’t really heard their stories. About 12 years ago, the good Lord saw fit to bless me by bringing a number of black friends into my life. No, I didn’t intentionally seek them out. I didn’t just wake up one day and say to myself, “I want some black friends!”. I’m not saying that doesn’t work at all, but my guess is it rarely is the way to make friends of different races, cultures or backgrounds. However, through several different connections I have met and made friends with many BIPOC over the last few years and I’m ever so grateful for their presence in my life. When I started “doing life” alongside them, that is when I started hearing and seeing all the nuances in their stories. That’s when I realized how un-educated I was about their lives in our current America and how very different their daily lives, choices, and experiences were in contrast to mine. There is definitely a “white bubble” in America and I had been living inside it for most of my life. After listening to the stories and experiences of my black friends, I started seeing things a little clearer and on May 25th, 2020, the bubble officially popped. That was the day George Floyd died. It was the first time I sobbed and grieved with my black friends because I finally SAW it. Everything they had been trying to tell me for so long finally hit me like a ton of bricks. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe them before then - it’s just that the Lord used that moment to rip off the last bit of blinders so that I could FEEL some of their pain as they saw one more of their brothers tragically and horrifically murdered - right in front of by-standers who did nothing, and by people who had sworn to protect. Obviously, I’ll never be black, so I’ll always have a limited understanding of what it’s like to be black, however, the more I learn, the more I feel connected and empathetic to their experiences here in America.
The bottom line is, I do the work of antiracism because I love black people. I love white people too, but I already know the white narrative. I was raised in it. Now I’m learning the black narrative and finding truth in that education.
One of the things I have come to understand is that it’s not up to our black friends to educate us. I am grateful for BIPOC friends who are willing to educate me when I ask, and who gently guide me towards new understandings when I need it. But, my goodness, asking our BIPOC friends to shoulder the responsibility of educating all the white people in their lives??? Uhhhhh… nope! We, as white people who want to learn and be good allies to our black friends must do the work on our own. Thankfully there are books, blogs, articles, podcasts and when all else fails, Mr. Google to help answer any questions we might have! See, white friends… we can do this!
In case you would like some sources that I have found to be helpful I’ll list them at the bottom of this blog. And this is probably obvious but I’ll just say it: We don’t just do this work during Black History month. This is work we should be doing every month of every year. It should be an ongoing education because quite frankly - there is a LOT to learn and it takes times to process it all.
One of the things I’m doing this month is participating in a book study at my church on How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. It has been so very informative and eye-opening. In the very beginning of the book, Kendi explains that there is no such thing as being “not racist”. You are either racist or antiracist, but there really is no in-between. If you don’t speak out against racism and racist ideas (which he explains are two very different things as well), then you are silently allowing racism and racist ideas to continue to thrive. While I don’t have all the answers and never will, I refuse to stay silent about this any longer. I may not speak out perfectly, but I will speak.
“Ok, Marcia… we understand that you want to be an antiracist, but what does that have to do with the Christian narrative?” Great question, I’d love to tell you! ( I just channeled Elyse Myers right there…lol) Like I mentioned earlier, the white Christian narrative about race has been at best selective and at worst deeply harmful. We Christians have gotten the narrative very wrong about our BIPOC brothers and sisters. We have at times used the Bible to marginalize them, oppress them and suppress them. We not only white-washed Jesus to make him more like “us”, but we then kidnapped him to make him think and believe like “us”. White = good. Everyone else is questionable until proven otherwise. One of my favorite Anne Lamott quotes is:
“You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
I can honestly say I’ve seen hatred towards BIPOC in some churches I have attended. Oh, it was veiled - but it was there. I’ve heard lies told from the pulpit in order to rile up their white congregations into thinking that BIPOC are a threat to “our” way of life. All churches are not safe and welcoming for the black community and it makes me sad to say - but it’s true.
Christianity should ultimately be about liberation for all. Jesus was all about making sure everyone had equal access to life, love, freedom, peace, joy and God. Everyone should be able to thrive! And everyone had equal access to the gospel. No man left behind. Jesus taught that we should love our neighbors, no matter what their gender, ethnicity, skin-tone or social status is. We should be looking out for others… ALL others… especially those being oppressed. So it should matter to Christians that we learn how to love and support BIPOC so that they too are thriving equally in our society. Not in a “White Savior” kind of way - but in a Christian friend way. Whatever we do to help our white friends feel loved, supported and seen - we give that equally to our BIPOC friends.
There is no room for racism or racist ideas in the church. But in order to achieve that, we Christians must change our narrative towards antiracism in all things. We cannot simply say that we “aren’t racist”. We must speak out against racism in truth and in love. To clarify, this post is not to make Christians feel demonized, out-of-touch, or stupid. We don’t know what we don’t know — but we shouldn’t stay there. This post is to encourage and challenge my Christian brothers and sisters to do more to make sure racism and racist ideas have no place in the church.
As promised, below are some books, social media accounts and podcasts that I have personally learned from that you might find helpful on your journey towards antiracism. Be gentle with yourself as your learn. It has been hard for me to not be angry with myself for coming to this truth so late in life. Because of that I tend to try and cram in ALL the information that I can as quickly as I can. However, I’m learning that this journey isn’t a quick one and will probably be a continuing education for me the rest of my life. If you are learning too, I’d love to know what has helped you along the way. Please share any resources you have. Let’s all learn together.
Love, Marcia
Books:
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism by Dr. Robin DiAngelo
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
Instagrams:
@blackcoffeewithwhitefriends @lisasharonharper @torriesorge @whitehomework @bethebridge @oshetamoore @loswhit @richvillodas @revjacquilewis @thetylermerrittproject @carloshappynpo @jspark3000 @austinchanning
Podcasts:
Reclaiming My Theology with Brandi Miller
Brené Brown’s Unlocking Us w/guest Ibram X. Kendi
Articles:
What it means to be Anti-racist
White Jesus: The Downfall of the Christian Faith
White Christian America Needs A Moral Awakening
Is God Racist? Or is it my church?
Credits:
*quote from How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. pg. 15, quoting a speech by Tom Skinner
**image borrowed from: https://www.coe.int/en/web/tbilisi/-/discrimination-against-religious-minorities-and-lgbt-on-the-rise-law-enforcement-deficient-in-georgia-says-the-council-of-europe-anti-racism-commission
Love this! It so important for White individuals who are doing the work to share their journey with others...to help guide the way. And I LOVE that your church is willing to host a book club where they can opening have conversations around racism & antiracism work. The big C church can not stay silent anymore. Thank you for including me in accts to follow. It’s an honor to be in such incredible company.