Dear White America

U.S. history has been characterized by 400 years of ethnocentrism and oppression punctuated by well-meaning, even heroic efforts to change things, but with little long term success.  Why? Because few white churches have repented fully nor restituted massively.  For the most part, our supposed Judeo-Christian heritage seems to have supported ethnocentrism and oppression more than led to reconciliation and justice.  This was certainly true of the Puritans and our founding fathers, and today. of most white evangelicals.

In the last few decades, there has been an effort by some American churches to bridge the racial divide by using the reconciliation paradigm.  According to Jennifer Harvey this well-meaning effort has failed to resolve the fundamental issues.  Harvey sees more hope and promise in using a reparations/justice paradigm, difficult as this may be.

The reconciliation paradigm seldom puts the primary focus on white superiority and privilege and the need for white churches to repent,  restitute and repair.  The reparations/justice paradigm does force the issue and has the potential to move America away from oppression toward justice.

Chapter 8, "Becoming Repairers of the Breach," in Harvey's book, Dear White Christians, tells the story of the Diocese of Maryland Episcopal Church's attempt to implement the reparations paradigm. The following quotations are from that chapter:

"The history and depth of complicity in slavery and its aftermath is deep in this region.  Despite having been a free state during the Civil War, Maryland is a place where the living, breathing presence of centuries of racial atrocity remains very much pervasive, though rarely spoken of in mixed racial company."

"A number of congregations did not know that the property [buildings] they were in was built by slaves."

David Clark comments:  "I believe that part of what happened in our committee . . . was that we finally understood there has been a great injustice that was evil and wrong done to this group of people in ways that the general public has no concept of.  Traces of the [Slave] Trade began to address it.  We began to understand the need for making it right in a holy context because we acknowledged that that was really evil."

Colleen Clark comments about a loving aunt and uncle from the deep south:  "They were so good to us kids and, you know, I just loved them dearly.  But I remember we went to church. . . .  And this car passed my uncle and it was driven by a Black man, and if you could have heard the tirade that came from my uncle's mouth. . . .  I had never heard that kind of hate. . . .   You think this person's this wonderful, loving person, and then you see this evil side of them."

Ron Miller:  "I've been ordained since 1964, and every decade there's been this work on racism and it never goes anywhere."

Mary Miller:  "Before the reparation piece it's just been about 'getting along.'"

Colleen Clark:  "That's how you heal, by talking about it. . . .  It's the same thing as when  my first husband died.  I didn't heal by not talking about all of that.  I had to talk about it and talk about it and talk about it. . . .  It's grief work.  It's the same thing with the reparation.  You don't heal and you don't get beyond without talking about it."

"Repentance and reparations must come before reconciliation."