White supremacy
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Allendale United Methodist Church, located on a busy thoroughfare, used its marquee to post two signs of protest after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn. (Facebook photo)
“In the span of 24 hours Black Americans voted to save our democracy and a white violent mob tried to destroy it.” -- Tweet by Bryce Tache, Minnesota activist
A United Methodist Insight Column
Whatever else we might think about the Jan. 6 events in Washington, D.C., one thing is abundantly clear: America’s foundation of white supremacy has been completely unmasked, and no one who claims to follow Jesus can support its continuance any longer.
Undoing white supremacy can’t come quickly enough, but its coming will take a long while. It can’t be accomplished through legislation, although legislation can set up parameters for public behavior. Nor can white supremacy be undone by another local church book study or some anti-racism program from a denominational agency. No, the only way for Christians to get beyond this inherent evil in America’s identity is to surrender fully to the good news embodied in Jesus Christ.
It’s not enough to proclaim, “in Christ there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female” (Galatians 3:28 NRSV*). In the same way that we’ve just celebrated how the Word became flesh and lived among us, we must become the flesh that carries gospel words into our world.
The “how” we carry out dismantling racism in American isn’t as important as the “why.” We simply can’t ignore any longer how the false doctrine of white supremacy buttresses an American empire that is the antithesis of everything we say we believe as Jesus’ followers. People are dying in poverty, disease and despair because we’ve created a society in which castes of color and economics matter more than compassion.
Don’t be fooled: the insurrection that took over the U.S. Capitol on Epiphany Day wasn’t about the political divide in America. It was motivated by the lie that some people, because of the color of their skin, deserve to have power over the nation. A single factor underscores this point: by ignoring social media posts by far-right agitators signaling their violent intentions, law enforcement failed to prepare adequately for the onslaught of rioters simply because they didn’t perceive that white people were a threat.
This is the only conclusion that can be drawn from the contrast between the Jan. 6 demonstrations and those of Summer 2020. After the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and especially George Floyd, demonstrators who sought an end to the rampant killing of Black people were met with beatings, tear gas, guns, and other intimidating riot-control tactics. The MAGA rioters were allowed to break through flimsy security barriers, climb the outer walls of the U.S. Capitol, break its windows and enter, even occupying some congressional offices and legislative chambers.
As has been said many times before, we are living through an apocalypse – not a nightmarish doom of fantastic symbolism, but a time when the cover on our collective sin is being peeled away to reveal the ugliness at the heart of the nation. We who follow Jesus can’t escape complicity in this unveiling, for even though we possess the gospel of truth and love we still have benefited from the empire around us, just as some Jews benefited from the Roman Empire in Jesus’ day. Even the righteous can succumb to greed for money and lust for power, the very evils with which the Adversary tempted Jesus in the desert. What shakes us from our complicity and complacency is the painful light of revelation and its aftermath, humility. As Walt Kelly’s cartoon character Pogo said, “we have met the enemy and he is us.”
What we need now to reclaim America’s soul and restore her ideals is a time of humble repentance. A national day of prayer and fasting much like Gandhi used to spark India’s independence from Great Britain wouldn’t be amiss, although it’s unlikely to gain unanimous approval because of America’s civil doctrine of the separation of church and state. Nonetheless, adherents of many beliefs can perform their own repentance rituals and let their scrubbed souls be known to their neighbors rather than hiding our lights under bushels of politeness.
In short, we can no longer be neutral on either the sin of white supremacy or the nationwide soul-cleansing needed to eliminate it. We saw on Jan. 6 where our complacency will lead us: chaos, pain and death. Our future doesn’t have to be like the Capitol riot, because we can see the way out of the hell of racism: loving our neighbors, whatever their skin color, as we love ourselves.
It’s past time we took the way that leads to a healthy, compassionate and fruitful society.
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.
* New Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible, copyright 1989, 1996 by the Christian Education Committee of the National Council of Churches of Christ USA. All rights reserved. Used by permission.