Personal reflections on racism and becoming
I woke up the other day with the story of Nathan and David on my mind. You might remember this story from 2 Samuel 12 in which the prophet Nathan comes to David after David has used his privilege to send Uriah the Hittite to die on the front lines of battle so that David could claim for himself Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. As Nathan engages David, he describes how a rich man, owner of many flocks, has taken the only lamb of a poor man to prepare a meal for his guest, rather than using his own resources. David is outraged at this injustice and angrily responds that this rich man without pity deserves to die, while the poor man should be restored fourfold what he lost.
That is when Nathan utters the words that change everything for David: You are the one!
You are the one!
These prophetic words confront David with the truth of his complicity in the death of Uriah.
You are the one!
These prophetic words expose how David’s failure to recognize his privilege has served as a tool of injustice.
You are the one!
These prophetic words jar David from his denial and lead to his repentance: I have sinned against the Lord!
These prophetic words confront David with the truth of his complicity in the death of Uriah.
You are the one!
These prophetic words expose how David’s failure to recognize his privilege has served as a tool of injustice.
You are the one!
These prophetic words jar David from his denial and lead to his repentance: I have sinned against the Lord!
In these days of grief, outrage, and protest following the murder of George Floyd, I hear these same prophetic words rising to meet me:
You are the one!
You are the one!
I am the one – who does not have to live every day with the question of whether the color of my skin will determine how I am treated.
I am the one – whose denunciation of unjust words or actions on the part of others keeps my gaze conveniently turned away from my own complicity in injustice.
I am the one – whose reluctance to engage my own privilege helps keeps systemic racism in place in our nation and in our church.
Prophetic words are never easy to hear from a place of privilege; our instinct is to deny them or to seek escape from their discomfort by resorting to quick action or proper posturing. Yet prophetic words are part and parcel of how God works our becoming – becoming what the Spirit needs us to be – as individuals and as communities – for the life of the world. The power of God’s prophetic word always liberates. For those of us with privilege of any kind, the liberating power of that word breaks us open. It jars us from our place of denial. It leads us to the repentance that offers new life. Just ask David.
You are the one … As uncomfortable as I find it to live with these prophetic words ringing in my ears, I am committed to leaning into what the Spirit is seeking to teach me through them. I am committed to my continued becoming. As part of that journey, I am spending 28 days of self-examination through the Me and White Supremacy Workbook by Lalya F Saad. I will pause to listen and learn deeper truths about myself. I will bear witness to the pain and prejudice experienced daily by my siblings of color. I will begin to ask hard questions about how our structures and practices as a synod and bishop’s office contribute to systemic oppression. I don’t know where it will lead, but I trust the power of these prophetic words to lead to true repentance, to a place of new life.
A colleague of color said to me recently: we have treated our engagement with justice as though it were an elective in our life of discipleship. It’s not; it’s central. I’ve begun to see what that means for me. If I as a white person of faith in this country do not make it a central and sustained priority in my life of discipleship to understand and dismantle the privilege that comes with the color of my skin for the sake of God’s justice and liberation for all people – my neighbors of color and myself included – I cannot hope to fully embody the gospel promise offered by the same God whose prophetic words convict me.
So, for the moment, I dwell in law’s prophetic power as I grapple with the sin of racism and my role in it. I trust that the gospel promise, with its capacity to raise the dead to life, will have everything to do with how God continues this work of becoming in me.
Bishop Jim
Bishop Jim
Comments
Thank you for yours words. Change needs at start now and it begins with us who are the white privileged.
May justice and peace prevail.
Rev. Dan Carlson, retired From ELCA.
I think you are over reacting to the murder of one black person by a police officer. Likely a bad apple on the police force. Let the laws handle the incident. More white people are killed every year by police than black people. Most people killed by police are armed with a gun, knife or other weapon. Police are killed every year by black people but there is no outrage to this. I think you are jumping on the out cry racism just for acceptance of a minority of vocal and dangerous people. You fail to acknowledging how far we have come as a civil society in accepting all people regardless of race.
Consider for example, the makeup of your professional staff.
Not only are there no people of color, there is only one straight woman.
The General Social Survey shows over time, since 1972, there are less racists attitudes Racial discrimination is different and while not legal or blatant still exists. It is more covert. We seem to disagree is your saying it was one murder.!! It is a pattern of murders by police and the two very public hangings of young black men in California. There have been a rise in hate crimes in the past 10 years. Do you know of the history of the Ku Klux Klan or rise of White Supremacy movement? There has been a Backlash as more women and men of color and more women are in visible positions of powers.It is well documented for twenty years now. the Knapsack Institute at the University Of Colorado in the Springs. Where do your statistics come from about murders? They do not seem like the official stats I am familiar with? We are not as segregated yet I have been with black and brown people who were discriminated while I was present. I have been in faculty meetings here where professors made racist remarks about students. I objected and they did not make them again to me. I come at with a long history perhaps if I share that with you you may understand why I said you need to do more. I was a very naive, young student nurse in Cleveland in 1966 when the Hough race riot occurred. many young white gang members came down from Michigan to hurt black people.. One was shot in the eye and I cared for him as he ranted against all blacks. Marshall law meant the machine guns were on the roof This rioting happened again when Martin Luther King was killed, the machine guns were up, but not so many injured.. There were not non violent marches . Again as a young nurse in 1969, Working in the OR at University Hospitals we worked for three days around the clock taking out bullets from mostly black young men. So when I look now I see more non violent protestors. Yes there are some agitators on both sides, but they are not the majority. I worked as a public health nurse in Detroit in 1969 and 1970. In a mixed black and white district. I saw the extensive devastation on the west side that occurred during the race riots in 1969. I was a member of a group trying to bridge the gaps between blacks and whites in Detroit. In my district on the west side I saw the white police sell drugs to black and white high school students. Openly and for many months. The many corrupt police were taken out a few months later by the FBI and the state patrol. So I have very different perspective on this issue of race, crime, corruption and non violent protest.
. I am not familiar with the book you recommend. I see she is Iranian and. I know that Iran had a history of slavery. I know that a big part of learning to be white in our country was a silencing with shaming so we would not see the violent legacy of slavery Seem Learning to be White By Thandeka. From my years of teaching race, class gender, religion and criminology as a sociologist and seeing students struggle with these issues I think the Lutheran church need help. my experience ha been that ministers and leaders are not willing to learn They are afraid they will alienate some white folks. Maybe they will gain some black and brown folks, who are now in the suburbs looking for a good place to worship. They may not be racist, but they do not know how to confront the racists or know that they are complicit. Did you learn as a child to ignore or confront racism Virginia S Fink. Ph.D retired, but not silent, sociologist.
First as yesterday was MLK day I will simply share:
MLK 10 COMMANDMENTS
Copied below are the 10 Principles of Non-Violent Resistance, as quoted in MLK's, "Why We Can't Wait" (A great little book which transports the reader back to 1963). Which one of the ten most resonates with you personally--not for other people--but for you? Personally, I long for the days when we would, "Observe with both friend and foe, the ordinary rules of courtesy." I need to check my heart these days. I'm not a violent person, but my, I can think and occasionally even say, some uncourteous things about other people. Lord help us as we prayerfully and lovingly, fight for equality among all people.
Nonviolent resistance movement, 10 commandments:
1. Meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.
2. Remember always that the nonviolent movement in Birmingham seeks justice and reconciliation--not victory.
3. Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love.
4. Pray daily to be used by God in order that all men might be free.
5. Sacrifice personal wishes in order that all men might be free
6. Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
7. Seek to perform regular service for others and for the world.
8. Refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, or heart.
9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
10. Follow the directions of the movement and of the captain on a demonstration.
Are we following those as well as the LORD's 10.
Then also Bishop Jim; I am a Lutheran pastor that has been away in 18 countries of eastern Europe for years, And the LORD has given an assignment to STOP Human Trafficking. I am on the Western Slope currently but will be at the VA for care in Denver soon and would like an short conference with you to discuss the Human Trafficking issue.
in HIS service
Rev Dr Vaughn Huckfeldt
303-847-8486