The Wrong Question About Racism

“I’m not racist.”

I hear that all the time. I’ve even said it about myself at one time or another. It’s the “go-to” response to the question, “Are you racist?”  But it’s not the right answer.  It’s the wrong answer because it’s not the right question.

Mike Novotny writes in his devotional “Race Grace Justice Jesus,” “I believe it’s a mistake to make racism a yes/no question.”  He adds, “We don’t do that with other [character traits].  Are you proud – yes or no?  Patient – yes or no? Selfless – yes or no? We recognize that pride and impatience and selfishness are sins we sometimes commit but are trying, with the Holy Spirit’s help, to resist.”  He then suggests that we a different question: “How racist are you?”

While I don’t agree with Mike on a lot of topics, I appreciated how he framed the question about racism because it recognizes that from birth we have been raised in a culture where race is a fundamental factor in the way we understand each other in the social structure.  The idea of race and the hierarchy of skin color is so deeply embedded in us that it is impossible not to be racist even if we object and try to deny it.  Racism is so pervasive that people (and by people, I mean “white people”) don’t even see it. People of color see it all the time. It really is always about race because race is the foundation upon which our society is built.

We are all racist. We are all racialized.  And again, by “we” I mean “white people.” Some of us are more overtly racist than others. Some literally wear their racism on their sleeves (or their flags) which gives the rest of us plausible deniability. Yet, we are all guilty of participating in and benefiting from the structures and institutions that were built on a racialized foundation. And most of us are guilty of micro-aggressions and routinely assessing people on the basis of internalized racial stereotypes and biases.

If we can finally admit that we are racist because we have been marinated in race all of our lives, we can begin to deal with it and ultimately be free of its distorting influence.

The apostle Peter was finally able to see his internalized racism when God confronted him with a sheet full of unclean animals and a family of Spirit-filled Gentiles (surprise!). (Acts 10:34-35).  Peter confessed that he needed to change his understanding of God and begin to fully accept those who were different from himself. (Acts 10:28).  Unfortunately, like the chicken pox virus that remains inside our bodies and resurfaces in other forms, Peter was so infected by racism that it later resurfaced and he fell back into old patterns of racialized behavior (see Galatians 2:11ff).

I have to confess that I’m more like Peter than I would like to admit.  I get confronted. I jump forward, but then I slide back into “default” thought and behavioral patterns. I get confronted again, and I jump forward a bit further. The more I am confronted with my internalized racism, the more likely I am able to see it’s hold upon me and resist it.

Am I a racist? The answer will always be “Yes.”  How racist am I?  The answer is “I’m working on it daily so racism’s grip on me will loosened. When I’m confronted with it – lovingly or otherwise – I humbly accept the rebuke and get back on track. When I sense it rising within myself, I renounce it and repent. When I fall back into old patterns, I hope someone will call me on it, and I will hear them out.  When I see how racism operates in the world around me and how it is embedded into systems and institutions, I reject it and work to dismantle it.”

May the Holy Spirit push us forward until all the walls fall down and the sun of justice shines fully upon us.