Four Basics You Must Know to be a Racial Reconciler

Here are some concepts I've found helpful in engaging cross-culturally. What do you find helpful? Please comment below.

1. Theological Foundations for Cross-Cultural Reconciliation

The ancient prophets of Israel—culminating in Jesus, the Messiah—envisioned a kingdom wherein former enemies would partner, all nations would worship together, and all nationalism would submit to the reign of Jesus (Isa 65:17-25; Rev 21–22). By living and promoting reconciliation, Christians obey the will of God. Racial reconciliation, which is God’s restored shalom across cultural neglect and hostility, is integral to the mission of God.  

Reconciliation is founded on the fact that every human being is created in God’s image, therefore inherently deserves dignity and the opportunity to fully enter into community (Gen 1:27).

Reconciliation is the primary evangelism tool given to the church because it proves the validity of the Gospel (Jn 17:21). People cannot claim to be reconciled with God if they are not reconciled to others.  

Reconciliation reveals who the true children of God are (1 Jn 2:9-10).

Through differences and contrasts, reconciliation further reveals the character of God (The best theological argument here is the Bible itself—a compilation of laws, stories, poems, and prophecies gathered over centuries, written by different authors, yet proclaiming a central message). Diversity makes community stronger, not weaker. 

2. The Essentials of Cultural Transformation

Howard Hendricks rightly states that people are only transformed when they are hit at the level of their emotions. Studies and statistics reveal that facts are the least important factor in held beliefs. Psychological, social, and emotional factors constitute the basis for belief, especially in topics as personal as racism and privilege. True racial reconciliation must ruthlessly aim to expose hearts by disorienting old, protective paradigms. Disorientation is best accomplished when people are removed from their comfort zones. The cycle of transformation, therefore, must include disorienting exposure, relevant information, relational discussion, and repentant practice.

3. The Pillars of Culture 

Language and story are the primary building blocks of culture. The language we use and the stories we tell about God and this country demonstrate who and what we really value. Moreover, leadership, music, and food create strong cultural forces that send messages about who is (or is not) welcome. Reconciliation must include expanding the “we” of a social space. It must confront the idea of who or what is normal. Reconciled spaces create a new “normal” in which those who were previously "other" are now meaningful shapers of culture.

4. Ideological Barriers to Racial Reconciliation

Certain ideological and psychological barriers must be overcome for racial reconciliation to occur. National values that have become indistinguishable from Christian values must be exposed and transformed. I use the following terms in a broader sense than their classical definitions. 

• White Innocence: White people have been socialized to believe that they are innocent of racism, that racism and prejudice are sins of the past, or that they are extremist views today. Schools socialize children into believing the innocence of America and her founding fathers. In reality, white supremacy pollutes the very air we breath, and the sins of the past greatly affect present conditions. The fear of fully confessing historical or present racism is that it implicates one beyond repair, or that dealing with its complexity is too difficult.    

• Blindness: Blindness is both willful and un-willful. The more one chooses to be blind, the more one’s blindness is established beyond one’s will. As Dr. Cornel West states,  “Ignorance is a sin before you ever do anything.” The biggest area of blindness for privileged people is systemic injustice and institutional racism. They have been taught to see sin solely individually instead of something that inhabits systems.   

• Individualism: American individualism prevents dominant cultures from assuming collective responsibility. It must be understood that no one is neutral in the world of privilege—either one is working to undo unjust forms of privilege, or one is a recipient of it. Collective responsibility is a biblical value.

• Relationalism: Dominant cultures over-emphasize the capacity of personal relationships to address systemic injustice. White Evangelicals have not often been exposed to the dynamics of structural power unless they have taken secular sociology classes. Relationships are important, but without confrontation and reshaping of structures, privilege is never shared. Fredrick Douglass states that “Power concedes nothing without a demand.”    

• Capitalism: The hidden assumption that untampered free markets automatically govern and correct themselves seeps into the church. Unless racial reconciliation is a driving value, the current issues will persist.   

• Imperialism: The idea that truth and goods are given from the top–down.

• Colonialism: The mere presence of different people-groups in a room is not reconciliation but often colonialism. Reconciliation happens as power is shared—every cultural group must have an equal voice at the table.     

• Absolutism: The belief that one culture or society possess all truth. 

Recommended Reading

• Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Even if you disagree with her conclusions, Alexander does a wonderful job of chronicling how systemic injustice works.  
• John Perkins, Let Justice Roll Down. John Perkins has been the leading Evangelical voice on racial reconciliation for the last twenty years. His voice is powerful. 
• Michael Emerson and Christian Smith, Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America. Very thorough book for understanding race and Christianity. 
• Peggy McIntosh, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Every white person should read this sometime in their life. The best resource for understanding white privilege. 
• Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man. This is a great novel about a Black man finding his identity in a racialized world. 
• Howard Zinn, A People’s History of America. Zinn's work has been accused of being misleading, cynical, and socialistic. However, he speaks of the dark side of America unlike any other historian.  
• Daniel Carroll, Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible. Daniel Carroll is the leading voice on Immigration in the United States. A very good work on that topic.  
• Cornel West, Race Matters. This book does a fine job of explaining race from a Black perspective.