Race Matters

We have been invited by our denominational leadership to begin, this morning, a sacred conversation about race and racism. What makes a conversation sacred is that we do it in the context of our faith, calling upon God to inspire and enlighten us, and allowing and respecting differences of opinion even while engaging the issues as boldly as possible. Today is only the beginning of such a conversation; we will need to find ways to continue it in the coming months and years.

A recent article in a local newspaper revealed what we have all known for a long time. People who belong to the majority Caucasian race in our society tend to think that racism is much less of a problem than do people of color. And that is only one reason why it is so difficult to address the issue of racism.

Another problem is trying to define precisely what racism is. If we try to keep it simple, such as saying that racism is anything which treats members of one race differently than members of other races, we then hear such arguments as have been put forth about affirmative action being racist.

While it is true that affirmative action is based on race, to call it racism is to dismiss the deeper distress and the outright destructiveness of the classical form of racism which seeks to disparage and discriminate against members of a particular race simply because they are members of that race.

For my own purposes, I assume that something is racist if, first, it involves making assumptions about anyone who is of a particular race and, second, it is hateful or discriminatory or unjust. Racism, for me, is not always intentional, but is always in some way dismissive of the goodness or the value of other people simply because they are different.

Another problem with racism, however, is that the definitions of the races are not very precise. For U.S. Census purposes, for instance, Arabic peoples are considered white. Yet I would guess that few of us, when looking upon a person of Arabic descent, would call them white. Many Hispanics are as dark as, or darker, than some African Americans. So color itself can be deceptive when it comes to defining race.

Another problem is that the same kind of discriminatory attitudes that some have toward other races often spill over toward those of other religions and other nationalities as well. So, for instance, since 9/11 many people now view anyone of Arabic descent with suspicion even though many Arabs are not Muslim. On the other hand, many Muslims are not Arabic.

I think it would probably be helpful to disassociate racism from being purely about race. I would consider anything that discriminates against a whole group of people, simply because they share a particular attribute in common, whether race or religion or nationality or whatever, to be racist.

Race matters. It doesn't matter because there are inherent differences between the races, although that is often true in a general sense. Race matters primarily because we have made it matter. We have chosen to structure society in a way that race is an issue. We have chosen to exaggerate and denigrate certain characteristics of races other than our own, for a variety of reasons. Some of those reasons are intentional and nefarious. Others are unintentional and simply unfortunate.

I have thought for a long time that the best starting point for any conversation about race and racism is confession. I have often confessed that I am racist in ways that are unintentional and mostly - I think - non-injurious.

If I am walking down the street in York and a group of young African-Americans are approaching from the other direction, involuntarily my breathing and my heartbeat accelerate. If the group is particularly boisterous, it is only worse. The truth is that I would have a similar reaction if a gang of young whites were approaching, but not nearly to the same degree.

Having said that, I do not make certain assumptions about African-Americans or other minorities in general, as some do, that they are an inferior race or that they are all lazy or that they would all prefer to be on welfare. As with so many things in life, our attitudes are often influenced by our own experience.

One of the significant memories in my life is about a time when I worked in an iron foundry for a summer during my college years. It was hot and tiring work, but I put forth my best effort and I was rewarded for that effort by being given even more difficult tasks.

One of those more difficult tasks was to shift weights on a floor of double molds rather than the usual single molds. Each of these double sand molds had two heavy iron weights on top of it to keep the molten iron from separating the mold as it was being poured. When I first went to shift those double weights to the next row of molds, I lifted them both at the same time.

The African-American gentleman who was shifting weights on the floor next to me chuckled and said - just move the weights one at a time - it will be a lot easier. I figured he was thinking - dumb college kid! But, to my surprise, when I could not keep up with shifting the weights before those pouring the hot iron were ready for the next row, this gentleman on the next floor pitched in and helped me. He wasn't getting paid to do that. He did it out of the kindness of his heart.

I never really knew that man - in those days, when lunchtime came, everyone ate with others of their own race. But his kindness stuck with me and affected how I tried to approach others of his race, and of other races, later on in life - as individuals, without prejudice or pre-judgment.

My first pastoral call, after I graduated from Eden Seminary, was to an integrated congregation. That was one of the factors that led me to accept a call to serve them as their pastor. The relationships between that blacks and whites in that congregation were generally very positive. Leadership for the congregation was provided by members of both races.

What baffled me, however, was that there were a few whites in the congregation who made it clear to me that the blacks in that congregation were not "normal" blacks. In other words, just because they were so nice, that didn't mean that blacks in general were nice. That strikes me as classical racism. Even if we might know some exceptions, we still presume that the general rule is much less positive when it comes to persons of another race.

As Christians, we have our own unfortunate heritage of racism, on several fronts. Slavery was justified for a long time on a biblical basis. First, slavery was an accepted fact in the Bible, so how could it be wrong? And then there was an argument that African-Americans were descendants of Ham, who were cursed by Noah to be servants of others.

The other primary area of racism that is often justified from the Bible is anti-Semitism. John, in particular, has it in for the Jews. Just last week we heard that the disciples were behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. Well, it was not "the Jews" who crucified Jesus. It was the Roman authorities, at the behest of some of the leaders in the Jewish community. But negative attitudes toward Jews have infected Christians, even some of our most beloved evangelists, for many generations.

In contrast to such attitudes, consider what we heard in the first of the two Genesis creation stories this morning (Genesis 1:1-2:4a). God said (1:26a), "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness..." And so, Genesis reports (1:27), "God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."

If all of humankind is created in God's image, then there is no basis on which to assume that some humans are less valuable or less worthy than others. If all of humankind is created in God's image, then all of humankind shares a nobility and an innate value because of that divine spark that is within us.

And when Jesus was charging his disciples to go into the world with his good news (Matthew 28:16-20), he told them to make disciples in all nations. Jesus allowed for no exceptions. All peoples were worthy of his good news and his gift of salvation.

Again, race only matters because we have made it matter.

Some will say that white people have more intelligence than black people, but that black people are better athletes. There may in fact be some genetic differences that often show up disproportionately in some races compared to others. If such observations are not used to suggest that one race is superior to the other, they may not be harmful.

One political pundit made a big thing about one of the presidential candidates being a lousy bowler, but very good at basketball as - this pundit said - we would expect. The question we always must ask is what purpose such generalizations serve.

The truth is that any such generalizations fail to hold up when we deal in particulars. There are lots of young black athletes who wish it was true that they are somehow just naturally superior to other races in certain sports. And there are lots of young white students who wish it was true that they are somehow just naturally superior to other races in intellectual capacity.

The truth is that such generalizations are typically false more often than they are true. And if we use such generalizations to determine our attitudes towards those of another race, our attitudes are bound to be flawed. The best cure for such generalizations is to get to know people of all races as individuals.

Race matters because we have made it matter.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has said (http://www.racematters.org/lessononlifecondoleezzarice.htm) that race matters in our society. She said, "Sometimes when we say to our kids, 'You are a minority,' we don't say it in a way that says it is part of who you are, we say it as if it's an impediment that cannot be overcome by hard work and access to education and all of those things. And I just think the messages are wrong when there is only focus on what group you happen to belong to, rather than the group is part of who you are, but also, who you are is who you are as an individual."

"We don't talk about it very much, but, yes...it is a very good thing for the rest of the world that when Colin Powell and I walk in with the president of the United States, we are there as secretary of state and national security adviser, because I think it says to people that there aren't boundaries in which black Americans are not supposed to play...I think it's an extremely important message to our kids. That's why I talk so much about the individual. It's not to deny the group, but I really think it's important that we appeal to each individual's worth and capability."

Rice says, ''It wasn't as if someone said, 'You have to be twice as good' and 'isn't that a pity' or 'isn't that wrong.' It was just, 'You have to be twice as good.'"

Dr. Rice is fortunate that she had the intellectual capacity to be "twice as good." But it is a pity and it is wrong that such excessive ability is required of those who are of a minority race. We do need to focus on the possibilities of the individual, but if society is set up in a way that discriminates against that individual, then things need to be changed.

This is the hardest thing for us to deal with when it comes to racism. All the slurs and all the hateful comments would mean little if they were not backed up by institutional barriers that work against equal opportunity for people of all races. While the laws have been changed so that all races can drink from the same water fountain, the reality remains that many people of color grow up in neighborhoods filled with crime and attend schools that struggle to provide a quality education.

Such circumstances don't prevent an individual from excelling, but they make it so much more difficult. Such circumstances don't intentionally inhibit equal opportunity, but they inevitably make it that much less likely that an individual will prosper in spite of the difficult surroundings.

It has been interesting to watch our nation responding to the possibility that our next President might be African-American. If he is the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama will surely evoke some very strong negative responses from a significant portion of our population, just because he is African-American.

As Christians, every one of us has a responsibility, should that be the case, to encourage people to respond to him as an individual and to make their choice about him on the basis of who he is and what he says and not on the basis of his race.

Race matters, but only because we have made it matter. The challenge before us is to make it matter less so that persons of all races can make choices and choose careers and live their lives on the basis of who they are as individuals and not on the basis of their race.

May God guide our continuing conversation, that it may be sacred and faithful.

Thanks be to God. Amen.