racism
How old is racism?
Many will look at the tribal and ethnic tensions that exist all around the world as a problem as old as human civilization. Isn’t this a strong argument for the reality that the racism that was practiced by white/western Europe is indeed just a reflection of what has always been?
Spiritual striving for American identity
The question of American identity has historically been both complex and contested. What’s more, it often yields mythic notions rooted in exceptionalist dogmas like election, commission, moral regeneracy, sacred land, and innocent past.
Embedded in religious American exceptionalism is the American Dream: if an individual works hard, perseveres, and is a good citizen, there is no limit to how far she can advance.
Transformed by Spirit-Chi
The Spirit’s loving, life-giving, transformative power—Divine Eros—connects us, moves within us, and can heal the wounds of our division.
Reckoning with racism
Why does the church participate in modern-day lynching, or at most turn a blind eye, rather than protesting as our faith would dictate?
A space where we can learn about white supremacy and the church together
Join me in June for Duke Divinity's 'Summer Institute for Reconciliation' to learn together how we can subvert the currents of racial hierarchy and racism that permeate our lives.
Who matters to us?
Moral concern usually begins when one person makes an effort to become, in some measure, one with the other. Privilege impedes this.
The science of injustice
The Enlightenment view of autonomous human subjects is built into the law, so the criminal justice system floats on myths and superstitions.
Black Lives Matter
BLM is writing a new chapter in the history of black people's struggle for full equality. What are the implications for churches?
The language of liberation: Black Lives Matter symposium
Disaster is understandable for black lives—they are antagonists in a narrative of humanity written to serve white supremacy. To say "black lives matter" is to interrupt this story.
Full of emptiness
Emptiness can alternatively mean too little or too much. It is sometimes unclear where emptiness is distinct from excess.
Trumpism without racism?
Something subtle and remarkable has happened in American politics—and, it seems, in democracies across the developed world. The big arguments over what the state owes the people, in terms of services and public welfare, have been somewhat eclipsed. Now the focus is on who counts as people in the first place.
The black social gospel
In American history, some lives have mattered; others have not. That difference fundamentally has been a racial one.
by Paul Harvey
Live online interview tonight about the book #TroubleIveSeen
Tonight at 8 pm EST, Katelin Hansen will interview me about my new book, Trouble I've Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism, which was released in January.
Du Bois's lesson we still haven't learned
Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy shot in Cleveland by an officer in training, suffered death. According to an Ohio grand jury, the case is closed.
Elsewhere in these United States, presidential candidates have and will continue to laud America as exceptional.
Why should you support the #SentencingReform and corrections Act of 2015?
Though most of the American churches in the past failed to be a people that manifested the kingdom of God in society during racialized chattel slavery, as well as during Jim Crow white supremacy, we have the opportunity to repent and live into a new and more Jesus-shaped story, being a people that do what God requires; doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly before our God. (Micah 6:8)
Should the church take sides or stay neutral with the #BlackLivesMatter movement?
Most white Christians, and many middle class racial minority communities, have cut themselves off from any intimate life together with poor black communities that struggle every day with a multiplicity of oppressive obstacles. But a movement is happening all around us.
Stopping racism with a smile?
Last semester, I had students review Divided By Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America, by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith. For those unfamiliar with this book, the authors make two general claims:
America is a racialized society. White evangelical Protestants are unwitting proponents of racialization.
When white people are never racist
No white person ever wants to think of themselves as racist. And that is precisely part of the problem, no white person ever thinks of themselves as racist. Each white person is the innocent exception to the rule, even when confronted with the realities that our society is thoroughly racialized.
Action plan
Most white people now say race relations are bad and getting worse. Black people overwhelmingly agree. Will we stop talking and do something?