What Would Make Us Want to Learn About the History of Racism in the USA?

One of the most stunningly ignorant things I’ve heard from a smart person recently was this. 

A few months ago, I was talking with a lovely 90+ year old white church lady who is generous and bright and has traveled a bit in her life. And now she is rather confined but she watches and reads the news. And she asked me about racism. 

“Do you believe that people in America are still racist?” I did not scoff at her. I did not write her off as an ignorant bigot. I told her – plainly – that, yes, people in our country are still racist. And she asked me for some examples. 

I shared with her some experiences I had as Co-Moderator of my denomination’s General Assembly while serving alongside a woman of color in that I had a front row seat to both microaggressions and macroaggressions. I heard comments with my own ears that were shockingly racist. I shared with her comments that white church members have made in my presence while serving in my current role including calling one of my Black colleagues the N-word to his face “in a friendly way” in a church fellowship hall, including discussing with one of our pastors while his church cannot host the Sons of the Confederacy for monthly meetings, including the request to remove the little Confederate flags from their church cemetery.

She listened and I believe she heard me. She’s at a point in her life when she probably will not have similar experiences. And yet she was willing to listen. She was curious to learn more.

We can probably all name people in our families, our work places, our neighborhoods who are not curious to learn about current-day racism, much less about the racist history in our country. They roll their eyes and complain about “wokeness” as if being open to conversations about racism are comparable to being open to conversations about worshipping Satan.

There are literally acts of Congress that hurt people of color in our nation’s history. To deny this is to be intentionally ignorant of facts. There are no alternative facts. 

If you tell me that you have never witnessed an act of racism – from White children not inviting Black children to their birthday parties to Black families not being able to buy homes in White neighborhoods – you are either clueless or an amnesiac.

This does not mean we hate our country. Imagine that I had an addicted great-grandfather than caused mayhem because of a moonshine habit and I wish he had stopped drinking but I still love him. Imagine that my neighbor painted her house pink and I wish she’d not done that, but she is still my neighbor. Imagine that I serve a Church that has a history of not allowing Black Christians to learn to read and yet I still love my Church.

I love my country and I know my country can do better. And I love the Church of Jesus Christ and know that we in the Church can do better.

So – friends who complain about “wokeness” or “libs” or “haters”: what would it take for us to have a healthy conversation about racism in our present days and in our history? This is a real question.