Confronting Racism

 This past week we’ve been going to leadership meetings with a diverse group of leaders from many nations .  Part of those meetings was to sit and think about how the past effects the present.  Specifically, how ideas of colonialism and racism have shaped the way things are and the way we are.  It’s not a very comfortable topic.  But we cannot deny history.  And the history of Africa cannot be told without talking about uncomfortable subjects like colonialism and racism.  And the history of our organization, right up to the present, cannot be told without acknowledging these uncomfortable subjects.

Beautiful jacaranda of East Africa

It is undeniable that racism and the impact of colonialism still exist in Africa.  I’m not talking about the overt “I believe my skin color makes me superior to you” type racism.  (Although that too still exists in some circles.)  I’m talking about the assumptions rooted in racist ideas and everyday stereotypes we hold onto whether we realize it or not.  For example, the speaker shared how, despite the fact that he is a college professor with years of experience, when he brings his young college students to a big cosmopolitan African city the people want his students to come and speak at their gatherings, not him.  Why?  His students are white Westerners and he is a black African man.  We would be lying if we were to say we’ve not seen many similar things like this happen in our time in Africa.  On the islands, whenever we go to a wedding, we are asked to sit in one of the places of honor.  Why?  We might sooth ourselves with thinking it is because we are foreigners and all foreigners are supposed to be honored.  But we wonder if they would so quickly realize we were foreigners if it were not for the color of our skin.  And if our skin happened to be black or brown, would they notice us??? 

As distressing as this is, it is much harder to admit that these things going on in our very midst.  Within the organization we work for, some of the attitudes and decisions that are made, often with the best of intentions, are done in a way that makes Africans in our organization feel like second-class citizens, outsiders, and strangers among us.  The meetings this week encouraged people to open up and share about their experiences.  It was so disheartening to hear these first hand stories from people we love and respect being treated badly by other people we love and respect.  We shed many tears.  Our eyes were opened.  Things we thought were in the past, we have learned, still go on, and (more heart-breaking) often happen without the perpetrators realizing what they have said or done.  Before you start thinking our organization is terrible, realize that the speaker was challenging us to say that all organizations are like this—not just ours.  There are mentalities so ingrained into us, that many times we fall into the patterns without conscious intent. 

The common defensive phrase is: “I’m not racist.”  We have to stop saying this.  Here is an important insight from the week: I am racist.  You are racist.  We don’t need to know who is reading this blog in order to say that.  We don’t need to know the color of your skin to say that.  Whoever you are, know it’s true.  In fact, even if we didn’t have hundreds of years of racist slavery and colonialism in our past history (and we do) we would still all be racist.  Saying “I’m not a racist” is like saying “I’m not a sinner.”  Many of us have been taught that we are inherently sinful.  Whether we are intentionally doing something or not our normal state is that of a sinner.  Often times, as the Anglican confession puts it, we sin out of omission “for what we have left undone.”  Is this not also the case with racism?  Whether we are doing it consciously or unconsciously, we all have tendencies in us—to make our group and our way of doing things is the best, to look down on other people, to put people into classes and relying on stereotypes to decide how to interact with people.  Add to that a few hundred years of slavery, racial ideology, and colonialism—it’s a battle for any of us to avoid being bigoted.

Enjoying weekend with our sons

Why go there?  You might ask. For the same reason we need to admit that we are sinners, or an alcoholic needs to admit that they are an alcoholic.  Only when we have named it and accepted it can we move forward.  Only then can we see who we really are and start to address it.  Only then can we start to call it out in ourselves and others.  Only then can we extend grace when we see someone else blindly, naively or unintentionally doing something racist.  Only then can we start to forgive each other, empathize with each other, and confess where we need to grow.  We won’t confess what we don’t acknowledge.  More deadly still, when we deny it and say, “I’m not a racist.” We are destroying the only path to change and growth.  We are declaring the discussion over.  We are saying we have nothing here to learn.  But if we own it.  “I am a racist.  But I don’t want to be.”  Then we open ourselves up to change.  

“You’re a racist and so am I.  You’re a sinner and so am I.  By God’s grace, we can change.”

PRAYERS ANSWERED 
We are privileged to work with amazing people from all over the world, who recognize they are sinners, are willing to listen and wanting to grow—may it be true of us also.  We are thankful for the meetings we’ve had this week that were so challenging and for the many relationships strengthened because of the time together.  We are thankful that we’ve gotten to be with our boys this weekend and are having a wonderful time with them.  Women’s gathering happened this past week with bigger numbers than the past few months, though still with several missing. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray that the lessons learned this week would stick with us and lead to continued change in ourselves and in organizations.  Pray that we would not become weary in doing good—including talking about uncomfortable subjects.  Pray that we would have safe travels back to the islands and that we would be able to continue to figure out what our new rhythms of life should look like in this new season of life.  We have several island co-workers that are expecting babies (one recently gave birth to a little girl). Pray for safe and healthy pregnancies and babies.