WB Hidden Racists
On the first day of classes here in Chapel Hill, NC, I was in a coffee shop meeting on the main street of campus when I saw a group of older men wandering down the street parading Confederate Flags. They were surrounded by a growing group of students counter-protesting with middle fingers aloft.
A week later some of those same men, joined by others, donned white robes and hoods, and held the same flags, along with “Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan” flags and banners in front of the courthouse in Hillsborough, the next town over. No longer hiding behind hoods, these men made sure their faces were seen. Hillsborough residents showed up to counter protest, and a week later, hundreds marched peacefully in Hillsborough for an anti-racism march.
Most of us are appalled by the KKK, and I am sure there are Trump supporters who are friends of mine that are disgusted that the KKK in Hillsborough would wave a banner that read, “Make America Great Again.” Most of us would consider ourselves “not racist,” but I am drawn to Ibram X. Kendi’s assessment that “The opposite of ‘racist’ isn’t ‘not racist.’ It is ‘antiracist.’ … One either endorses the idea of a racial hierarchy as a racist or racial equality as an antiracist.” In other words, work against racism where you see it instead of letting yourself off the hook by saying, “Well, I’m not as bad as those guys.”
Since we don’t usually know how to respond or what to say, I want to lift up an example. Rev. Cameron Merrill, the pastor of Hillsborough United Methodist Church, responded promptly to empower his church members following the KKK rally in his town. With his permission, I share with you his response, praying that it will inspire both you and I to bravely face the ongoing presence of white supremacy in the church and world:
Dear friends in Christ,
By now you have certainly seen, heard of, or read about the presence of members of the Ku Klux Klan in front of the Orange County Justice Center on Saturday.
In such moments, two truths comes to my mind as your pastor that I feel called to share with you today.
First, those who share in Christ’s Resurrection are new creation, and as St Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatian church,
“All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Secondly, in our baptism we make three basic commitments, oaths that are the oldest and most basic vow Christians take:
On behalf of the whole Church, I ask you:
Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness,
reject the evil powers of this world,
and repent of your sin?
We do.
Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you
to resist evil, injustice, and oppression
in whatever forms they present themselves?
We do.
Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior,
put your whole trust in his grace,
and promise to serve him as your Lord,
in union with the Church which Christ has opened
to people of all ages, nations, and races?
We do.
In baptism, we take on the freedom that Christ gives us as the church to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.
Evil was made visible to us and to our community this weekend, the evil of oppressive racism made visible in the symbols, signs, and story of the Ku Klux Klan.
White supremacy, the belief system that says White persons are superior to and have dominance over any other race and especially those identified as Black, has no place in God’s good creation and the Gospel life.
So, some of you might be wondering, if we are given authority by baptism to resist this evil and oppression, what are we to do in response?
It is, frankly, an easy response to show up and protest in the moment, even though that may also be needed. It is an even easier and, dare I say, cheap response to rant on social media when situations like this happen. Neither, especially the latter, will do much to change our world, as we continue to see nearly every day.
What is far harder is the small, everyday work of being anti-racist and dismantling racism in our community. What happened here involves real people who need liberation from a story that tells them they only have worth and purpose and meaning if others are lesser than they are. That is not the Gospel story, which means we have a better story to tell them of Jesus and his love for all people.
Let me try to suggest some ways that we can fulfill our baptismal vows and live the Gospel life in moments like this:
- Pray for those who felt called to show up in Klan regalia.
Many people will try to make the excuse that they are not Hillsborough residents, that they came from outside our town and county.
That logic won’t work for Christians, those called by Jesus to make neighbors everywhere we go.
These people are our neighbors, and if we are going to take Jesus seriously in his call to love our neighbors and pray for our enemies, we must pray for them, too. These people are real people whose lives and identities are formed by an evil system that tells them they must dominate in order to be good and to have meaning. By God’s grace, they are our brothers and sisters in need of liberation and healing. We pray that God’s light and love might crack open stony hearts. We pray for forgiveness and grace. We pray for justice and mercy. We pray for the Spirit to set a fire in them this day and every day.
- Repent of the evil that enslaves us by learning to see the ways that racism and white supremacy shape our lives, even without our knowing or choosing it–and often despite our best intentions. Use this tool, written by scholar Peggy McIntosh, to help you see those effects in your own life.
- Get equipped with tools to dismantle racism in your daily life. Attend training like that offered by the Racial Equity Institute, who will be hosting a workshop at St Matthew’s Episcopal Church this fall.
- Resist evil, injustice and oppression by having the courage to challenge racist behavior in co-workers, family, and friends. In our desires to be kind and hospitable, we often don’t want to rock the boat, and therefore we miss the chance to work for God’s kingdom as our baptism tells us. It can be, and often is, as simple as telling a brother or sister, “I love you very much, which is why I need to tell you what you just said or did was racist, and I’m not sure you know that. Can we talk about that?”
- Lastly, may we also continue to pray for one another, and may this prayer from St Francis of Assisi shape your own:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Finally, in dark and difficult moments like this past Saturday, I cannot help but think of a beloved hymn that I often sing to my own children at night:
This is my Father’s world:
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let earth be glad!
The peace of Christ be with you all,
Cameron
New Charlie Baber
The Rev. Charlie Baber, author of Wesley Bros cartoon.
When not drawing the Wesley Bros cartoon, the Rev. Charlie Baber, a United Methodist deacon, serves as youth minister at University United Methodist Church in Chapel Hill, N.C. His cartoon appears on United Methodist Insight by special arrangement.