Twelve Principles For Racial Integration

The White Guy Who Doesn't Know How To Talk About Race

Barnabas Piper offers some honest reflections on being white and wanting to seek change in reference to racial issues but isn't sure where to start.  Obviously he is writing in general terms as he speaks about "white people" but his contribution to the discussion is valuable and I'm sure many can relate.

Revisiting Martin Luther King's 1963 Dream speech

More photos here.

The Black Family in Politically Conservative Discourse

Very helpful thoughts here from Thabiti Anaybwile.

On Laying Down Our Rights...

Bryan Loritts:

At the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood to address the annual gathering of the SCLC. Not long into his remarks a man rushed the stage and began hitting Dr. King in the face. Audience members would later recall that the sound of the man’s fists across King’s face made a loud popping noise. They would also reflect on their own astonishment as they watched the leader of the movement simply relax his shoulders, while letting his arms droop by his thighs. After a few moments, some of Dr. King’s associates rushed the assailant, while King instructed them not to strike the man.

King’s actions that day would galvanize the movement, as those who sat in the crowded auditorium saw a man instinctively practice the very non-violent philosophy he so eloquently preached. While he may have credited Gandhi as inspiration for his ideology, he looked more like the Nazarene who patiently endured the suffering of the cross. Martin Luther King emulated Jesus’ life, as he followed in the footsteps of the God-man who laid down his rights for the benefit of others.

Central to the gospel message is the un-American notion of laying down one’s rights. Standing on a mountain teaching the masses one day, Jesus said, “Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles” (Matthew 5:39-41). Roman law stipulated that at any given moment a soldier could come up to you and ask you to carry his pack, and you were obligated to carry it one mile. However, Jesus says that at the end of that mile don’t just wipe the sweat from your face, toss him the pack and exhale that you’ve fulfilled your rights. Go with him two miles. Even more troubling Jesus says that if your enemy slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other one as well. Again, not a really popular American sentiment, but what Jesus is hammering home is the necessity of laying down your rights. King must have had this whole bit about turning the other cheek at the forefront of his mind as he stood on that stage being popped by his enemy.

I have a hard time with this. Something in me rises up when I feel as if I’ve been wronged. You cut me off on the freeway I want to at least speed up to you, give you a look and let you know I’m not happy about it. My kid comes home with a bloody nose, everything within me convulses and screams, “Get him back”. I mean after all, lawyers make well into the six figures to ensure that people hold onto their rights.

What brought America to its knees wasn’t an army of people rioting in the streets, cursing and screaming at their abusers. To the contrary, it was little kids attacked by German Shepherds in the streets of 1963 Birmingham who refused to retaliate. It was the sight of what Billie Holiday described as strange fruit- lynched black bodies swinging from southern trees. What toppled old man Jim Crow was the thunderous rush of water from fire hydrants turned on peaceful marchers. Turning the other cheek, laying down rights is what allows me to sit in any seat on any bus in Memphis.

More than home ownership or drinking out of any water fountain I choose, it was Jesus who laid down his rights that paved the way for my salvation. Peter writes of Jesus, “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (I Peter 2:23-24). In short, it was Jesus’ refusal to hold onto his rights that lead to my adoption into the family of God.

When I ease the grip on what is rightfully mine I don’t lose ground, I actually gain ground. I wonder how many marriages would be in a better place if both spouses would stop looking out for themselves, lay down their rights and seek the best in the other? This is the gospel. And it is this gospel that spawned the Civil Rights Movement which lead to the freedoms that I and generations of African American’s enjoy. For this I am forever grateful to Dr. King.

Read the rest.

"I've Been To The Mountaintop"

A Black Teenager's Rite of Passage

Frances Cudjoe Waters:

I still remember the first time it happened. I was dropping off my 17-year-old cousin at a friend’s house in the wealthy, white Massachusetts suburb in which I lived and where my father is still a professor. We knocked on the wrong door. Minutes later, I was pulled over by the police. Slight, young and scared, I was interrogated about my activities, whether I was delivering drugs and what I was up to.

I remembered. My parents had sat me down months before when I got my license.

It doesn’t matter that you’re female. It doesn’t matter that you’re an honors student. It doesn’t matter that you’ve never been in trouble a day in your life. It doesn’t matter that you are leaving to start attending Stanford this fall. When most of these police officers see you, all they will see is a young black girl and that can be dangerous. So, when you are harassed — and you will be — try to stay calm. Try not to be afraid, and call us as soon as you can.

A black teenager’s rite of passage.

Read the rest.

#TheElephantRoom and "Sucking Up To Whitey"

I hope this is my last post about #TheElephantRoom that I post at Take Your Vitamin Z.

For a variety of reasons that I won't go into, all the Elephant Room hype and controversy makes me really nervous.  But God is sovereign over all of this and none of it is any threat to his Kingdom purposes.  My hope rests there.  We won't be talking about this in 50 (and most likely 5) years.  This too shall pass.

Let me say at the outset that I love much of what ER is trying to accomplish.  I LOVE the face to face interaction.  Let's quit talking past each other and talk to each other.  I commend James MacDonald for this.

That being said, I have intentionally left any commentary of my own from all of this, again for a variety of reasons, but mainly because as a pastor of a new congregation I have limited bandwidth in my brain to sit down and reflect on issues that don't have a direct impact on my people.  Most people in my church don't have a clue what Modalism is, who T.D. Jakes is, or what this Elephant Room thing is and why it matters.  That is not to say that it's not important, it's just to give a bit of perspective for me as I get nervous about the implications.  My main focus needs to be on my people understanding what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.  ER most likely doesn't have an immediate connection to that.

All that to say, in light of what I have seen recently from the ER there are many things that I could comment on but won't.  It's not worth it.  At least not for me.  I am thankful for the diverse voices that have shed light on what went down.  I have linked to the ones that I have appreciated.

But upon further reflection there is one aspect of all this that I can't quite keep quiet on anymore.  It is from this video.  Bryan Lorrits's comments start at 4:08 of the video.  I would encourage you to watch it and reflect on it.  Some key quotes:

"Some of the strongest reactions were from African-Americans in the blogosphere... and I'll just go ahead and say it... Who strike me as wanting so bad to be in the white theological world." 

"My concern is, African-Americans, a small minority, speaking against Jakes, and then leveraging that in the white theological world... to be in their circles.   We want to be in their circles, so we will allow ourselves to be used as a puppet.  That is my perception of this backlash."

Who are these comments directed to?  Thabiti? Voddie?  Anyone else I don't know about who is black and Reformed and has concerns?   How could Bryan actually know this for sure about the aforementioned men and their motives?  Now maybe Bryan could say that it wasn't directed at these men.  Then why not name who you are thinking of and give some actual examples?  Sound like we should have Thabiti, Voddie, and Bryan talk about this issue next year at ER3! 

Where is the comment that Truth might transcend race?  Is there white truth and black truth?  How about Jesus' truth? He was neither black nor white.  I am not dismissing the fact that we all have our baggage and we all come to the text of scripture with our perspective that is informed by any number of things, race being one of them.  But this comment will not serve the greater goal of theological unity that transcends race and flows from Ephesians 2:13-22.  The "dividing wall of hostility" keeps getting taller when I listen to Bryan's comment.  

Doug Wilson sums up my feelings quite well in his post today that is worth the full read:

I have written elsewhere about how it might someday come to pass that Americans will have an adult conversation about race relations. We are clearly not there yet, but allow me to say just one or two things about it. And I will preface this by acknowledging that I am writing this as a white man. The consolation should be that if what I write is true, then the truth of what I say is not white at all, not even a little bit. I have throughout my adult life spoken as a white man, but I have never managed to say a white truth.

Some might wonder why white Reformed Christians unloaded on Rob Bell right away, but they were much slower to do so with T.D. Jakes. Didn't this expose the black pastors who were critical of the invitation to Jakes to the charge that they were trying too hard to do acceptable theology in the white man's world? This could be the result of a double-standard, but it might also have a more honorable basis. Speaking for myself, it is much easier for me to see what Rob Bell and his skinny jeans are up to. As soon as I see the schtick, I know. But when something arises from outside my cultural environment (which is north Idaho, white people, and trees), it takes a bit longer for me to get up to speed. But once you are up to speed, and everything is translated, the response really should be identical. I don't believe in "ready, fire, aim," but that doesn't mean that it is never time to fire.

At the same time, when responsible concerns like this are raised, by someone who doesn't have to get up to speed like I do, I believe that everyone who on all sides of the controversy should at a minimum treat it with respect. To dismiss such an agonized and heartfelt lament as sucking up to whitey quite frankly took my breath away. That was just not good.

So if the white inner circle guys are delayed in their responses, those playing the race card can say that these black pastors are desperately trying to earn their way into the inner circle. But if the white guys are right there with them, then the same card can still be played -- saying that the black critics are just so many hand puppets. This is because the race card is a joker. You can play it whenever and however you feel like it. There are some very good reasons for removing that card from this game.

For some, delayed reaction might also have an understandable but less honorable cause. If the race card was played on some conscientious black pastors who had legit concerns about Jakes, how much more likely would it be played on white Christians who went after Jakes? In short, when people create double-bind, damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't scenarios, the game is called gotcha. When a lack of racial involvement together is called bigotry and engaged involvement is called tokenism, then it seems to me that somebody has a bad case of the cutes. Do that to me a couple of times, and I will just give you my card and ask you to give me a call when you have reached a final decision about what you want us to do.

Maybe there is something that I am missing here.  Maybe I don't have all the information.  I have a limited perspective.  I would love to be corrected if that is the case.  But from what I have seen, this comment needs to be repented of.  It grieves me greatly in light of the unity that I so strongly desire for the Church and the Kingdom of God. It is quite ironic that is was spoken during the follow up to an event that seeks to unify.  Seems like the divisions are running deeper now instead of getting more shallow.  I thought ER was supposed to be about the latter?

I'll just close with this.  Here is how it hits home for me...

I have a new friend at The Vine.  He is black.  He is coming out of an extremely legalistic and dysfunctional church across town.  He would call it a false church because it preaches a false gospel and I would agree.  He has found a home at The Vine because he loves the biblical vision of God that we preach from the Bible every Sunday.  He was compelled by a greater vision than skin color.  He was compelled by the Gospel to come to a church where he is a minority.  It grieves me greatly that he could be exposed to this material and hear from an older brother in the black Christian community and begin to question his motives for why he is at The Vine.  Is it because deep down he has race issues and he simply wants to be accepted by the white guys who are in power?  I would hate for him to see this video and begin to rethink his membership with us and return to his false church because he wants to "not be a puppet" for the white guys.  This cuts at the heart of what God is trying accomplish in his Kingdom and what we are trying to accomplish at The Vine.

Now some may say that black people SHOULD be asking this question.  Is it not a valid question?  Why is this question off limits?  Shouldn't we seek to be profoundly honest as we search our own motives?  Agreed.  Yes and amen.  But the forum is unhelpful and there needs to be way more explanation coming from Bryan to help a guy like my friend know how to handle this issue.  It was like a bomb was dropped and then people, black and white, are forced to figure out how to clean it up.

I pray that James MacDonald pulls the interview for the sake of unity in God's Kingdom that I know he longs for and was seeking to implement through the ER event.  I hope that Bryan repents of his comments or would, at least, seek to further explain them if he feels like he is being misrepresented.  I pray that we get beyond all this very soon.


**P.S.**  In the spirit of ER, I did reach out to Bryan and let him know that I wrote this post and would love for him to consider it and interact with me on it.

Keep Your Head Up - A Review

Thabiti Anyabwile has a good review of Keep Your Head Up.  His conclusion:

Keep Your Head Up joins an important discussion already well underway between the conservative Cosby types who argue that African Americans need to accept and exercise more personal responsbility in addressing social problems and the liberal-progressive Dyson types who do not deny the need for personal responsibility but argue Cosby and his ilk overlook the more pervasive and debilitating effects of structural racism. Both Cosby and Dyson would criticize the Black Church for failing to play an effective role in resolving these social ills.

Keep Your Head Up speaks up to the church and for the church. The book really doesn’t break new ground, depending largely on the data and analysis already provided by Cosby and Dyson. The book’s main contribution is the insertion of the gospel in these discussions about African-American progress. If it did nothing else but repeatedly make known the Good News that the Lord Jesus Christ redeems sinners from their sin and brokennes, making them new, removing their guilt, and giving eternal life and everlasting hope through His death, burial, and resurrection, then it would have done a lot.

Perhaps it’s best to think of Keep Your Head Up as an early comment from evangelical Black Christians. There’s more that needs and certainly will be said. We can look forward to that. Read Keep Your Head Up for a start.

Read the rest.

Can't Afford to be Color Blind

Can't Afford to Be Color Blind from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Bloodlines - Watch The Full Documentary

Buy the book here.

You can watch here. POWERFUL:

John Piper: I Was Racist

Christianity Today has an excerpt from John Piper's new book, Bloodlines.  You can read it here.

New John Piper Book Coming Out Soon

John Piper has a new book coming out on Sept. 30th called Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian.  It is available now for pre-order.  Read more about this book here.

Here is a description:

Racism, hatred, and claims to ethnic superiority have been tragic elements of the human condition since the Fall. In every manifestation, the root of racial sin is an unbelieving heart resistant to the grace and mercy of God. The gospel of Jesus Christ, therefore, is the only hope for any meaningful racial solutions.

John Piper brings the light of the gospel to bear on racial issues in this groundbreaking book. Bloodlines begins with Piper’s confession of his own sins and experience with racial tensions, along with how God has been transforming him and his church. He enables readers to grasp the reality and extent of racism, and then he demonstrates from Scripture how the light of the gospel penetrates the darkness of this destructive sin. The book concludes with sections on what Jesus's atoning death means for racial issues, interracial marriage, and prejudice.

With great sensitivity and compassion, along with a careful reading of the Scriptures, Piper helps readers navigate the painful landscape of racial sin, showing that in the gospel we all have a common bloodline and that through the blood of Jesus, race and ethnicity become secondary for a common people of God.

(HT:  Matt Perman)

Loving Someone Who Doesn’t Look Like You

Dennae Pierre:

One of the big adoption questions I get asked is, “Can you love a kid that you adopt as much as you love your biological children?”

Read the rest for her response.

As a White Guy, MLK Jr. Day Means A Lot More When You Have A Black Daughter

This morning as we were sitting around the breakfast table it occurred to me that my kids know nothing about Martin Luther King Jr.  So my wife  and I talked about our country's history of slavery and the fall out of segregation.  We discussed black people having to sit in the back of the bus, eating in a different part  of the restaurant, going to different schools, and drinking from different drinking fountains.

Their cultural and historical ignorance was quite refreshing to me as they sat there dumbfounded.  They couldn't wrap their minds around what we were saying.  How could someone hate their sister just because she had a different skin color?

Oh how I wish we all had my children's point of view.

Justification and Racism

Trevin Wax:

A provocative article from Michael Bird on how the horizontal dimension of the doctrine of justification by faith naturally excludes racism:

To practice any form of ethnic or racial exclusion means that one either does not understand or does not believe in justification by faith… Justification by faith is our shield against any merit loaded legalism and the basis for the unity of the church comprised of the multi-ethnic people of God. Paul’s letter to the Romans, the great letter of justification by faith, includes a timeless exhortation to Jews and Gentiles at its pinnacle: ‘Let us then pursue the things that make for peace and mutual encouragement’ – that is what justification by faith looks like when it is worked out in the local church.

Same Kind of Different As Me

John Piper: 

If you want to crawl inside the possible world that opens when a dirt-poor, illiterate, former-share-cropin', homeless 50-something enters the life of a swank, upscale, southern, Christian art dealer, read Same Kind of Different As Me. These two men tell their increasingly interwoven stories in alternating short chapters that kept me coming back night after night.

Their names are Denver Moore and Ron Hall. There is a woman who binds them together. But if I tell you what happens to her it might ruin the story for you.

Here are the kinds of lines that would keep me going even if the story didn't (which it did):

• "Denver and I are not preachers or teachers but sinners with a story to tell."
• "You never know whose eyes God is watchin' you through."
• "I hope people will recycle the love they've been givin' to somebody that's not easy to love."
• "This earth ain't no final restin' place, so in a way we is all homeless."
• "Just tell 'em I'm a nobody tryin' to tell everybody about Somebody who can save anybody."
• "How do you live the rest of your life in jus a few days?

American Violet - A Review

John H. Armstrong:

American Violet is one of those films I truly wish every Christian I know would see. It reveals the deep seated impact of racism on black America and shatters the typically conservative stereotype that the problem is all but over. The film, released in April of this year to a limited number of screens in apparently small places, is based on the true story of Dee Roberts, a 24 year-old African-American single mother of four living in the small Texas town of Melody. Dee is dragged away from work one day in handcuffs, and dumped in the women's county prison for twenty-one days before bail can be met. The local district attorney leads an extensive drug bust, sweeping her housing project with military precision. Dee soon discovers that she has been charged as a drug dealer, crack-cocaine. Even though she has no prior drug record, and no drugs were found on her in the raid, she is offered an all too typical choice: plead guilty and receive a ten-years suspended sentence and go home as a convicted felon or remain in prison, jeopardizing custody of her four kids and risking a long prison sentence, perhaps as long as 16-25 years. She chooses to fight the unyielding criminal justice system, risking everything in a battle that forever changed her life and the Texas justice system. I will not spoil the ending or the consequences of this ordeal but it is a wonderful story with a mostly positive ending. The response of the community to their DA underscores just how deep-seated the racism is when you see the closing commentary of the film. Again, seeing is really believing in this instance. Just see the film. The San Francisco Chronicle called this “An ideal movie for an ideal time.” Entertainment Weekly says, “[A] powerful performance by newcomer Nicole Beharie,” giving the film a B+ rating.

Read the rest.

My Four Year Olds Experience with Racism

Guest post by Jason Kovacs

I posted this on my blog yesterday and the more I think about the more I can't believe I had this experience. It goes to show racism is alive today and sadly being passed on to the next generation.

On Saturday night I took my 4 year old daughter to swim at our neighborhood pool. As we were walking towards the place where we put our towels she befriended two other girls who looked her age. Their response was shocking. They told her “We don’t play with dark-skins, we only play with light skins.” I was just far enough away that I wasn’t sure if that was what I just heard. The little girls ran off and I ran to my daughter and asked her what they said. She confirmed it and told my wife and I later that she said to them, “that is not nice!” To which they replied “We can still say that.”

I was shocked. All I wanted in that moment was to comfort my daughter and assure her that she is loved. That she is beautiful. That I want to be her friend! I talked to her about how God made us all different colors and how we don’t choose who we play with or not play with because of the color of our skin. She said again, “that is not nice!” Yes, and I have another word for it too!

Later that night, my wife was able to talk to her again about the experience and reiterate some of the same things. She was also able to ask her what God’s heart was toward them. She said ‘it makes Him sad’. My wife then asked her what God tells us to do to our enemies. She said “we love them”, and so they payed for the girls to be kind and to know Jesus.

After the whole ordeal I couldn’t help but wish that I would have looked for those girls and their parents and had a talk with them. I can’t help but wonder why they said that so quickly in response to my daughters kind “hello!” Would their parents be shocked if they knew that their daughters said that? Would they or do they say the same things in their own adult ways? What is in store for those little girls if someone doesn’t change their heart towards those who don’t look like them?

I love the way my wife said it in response, “The joy those kids (and families) are missing in knowing those different from them and ultimately knowing the heart of our heavenly Father! Have mercy on them, Lord!”

What It Meant To Be Pro-Choice 150 Years Ago

Kind of shocking isn't it? Yeah, makes my stomach turn too, especially in light of the fact that I have an African-American daughter now.

I wonder why we don't feel that same way about abortion. One of the reasons is due to the fact that it is mainly a relatively private affair. If we did abortions in public like we used to do slavery (like the above picture) I'm sure it would change some minds. Ever seen a fetus pulled apart? Watch the movie "Lake of Fire". You'll get to see one. It's not gratuitous; just cold and clinical... and sickeningly horrific.

Remember, we voted for the guy who thinks it should continue that way. Could you ever imagine yourself voting in favor of slavery? If you voted for Obama you should at least watch the movie and allow yourself to face with brutal honestly what your candidate is fully in favor of. He is in favor of partial-birth abortion as well. Ever considered what that looks like in real life? It makes movies like "Friday the 13th" on par with Barney and Friends.

Please don't tell me presidents can't do anything about abortion (I heard that quite a bit before the election). Obama's done enough already in the first few months that should make us recoil in shock.

I still don't understand why most Christians would never vote for a president that believed in the above picture, yet so many Christians were so willing to vote for the most pro-abortion presidential candidate ever. Mind boggling.

Slavery and abortion is what happens when might makes right and human life is devalued.


(HT: Jill Stanek)