A neighbor-oriented call

The work of the Riverside Innovation Hub has been guided by an orientation towards the neighbor. This is both an invitation to pay attention in the neighborhood and a plea to be open to disruption we might encounter outside the comforts of our familiar surroundings. 

This neighbor-oriented way of living, when embodied by a Christian congregation, becomes a public church. As churches and as individuals, this call to be public, to encounter our neighbor, leads us into the public square. This is not a neutral place to be. It is filled with other humans, each with their own story, their own struggle, their own world view. It is shaped by systems and structures, which more often than not, have shaped conditions in the world that stray far from God’s intentions for creation. There is beauty and destruction. There are signs of life and threats to life. The public square holds potential and heartache. 

Our neighborhoods have been shaped by violent and dishonest histories – ones that have regularly privileged some groups of people at the expense of others. Entering the public square challenges us to make a choice.

Will we show up and participate in the dominant and dominating histories still at play in our neighborhoods? Or will we show up to participate in an alternative way, a way that seeds peace, truth and healing? A way that requires confession and humility? 

These questions take on a greater responsibility if you are someone who lives with any kind of privileged identity around race, gender, able-bodiedness, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status. These hierarchies, shaping our communities since long ago, continue to cause harm today. If we enter the public square ignorant of these harmful realities, we risk showing up in ways that perpetuate the lies and violence of our country’s past and present. 

Deep roots of violence and deceit in the public square

Basic rules we teach our children – don’t lie and don’t hurt others – have had little influence in shaping our society. There is a contradiction embedded in the heart of our nation, the soul of our American church, and in the bodies of those of us here today who inherit this story.  

Esteemed author and poet James Baldwin calls this contradiction our nation’s “fatal flaw.” As the founders shaped the values and aspirations around which this new nation would be built, they had an economic reality in direct conflict with their stated ideals. They owned slaves. In order to uphold their own thriving, they had to betray the principles and freedoms they claimed to be the pillars for building this new nation. They chose to withhold these freedoms from some for the benefit of others under the false premise that black bodies were inferior to white bodies. By three-fifths percent in fact. 

In order to justify this contradiction, a nation, a church and a way of life was built around a very hurtful and deadly lie – that not all humans matter. The reverberation of that lie continues to echo through each generation and each failed attempt to uproot it. 

So here we are in 2021, still hurting and lying to each other. We have yet to truly heed the instructions we expect our young children to follow because we refuse to fully confront the truth of white supremacy that is and has hurt, killed and denied human life and flourishing for centuries. 

Baldwin, in an effort to confront the lie by speaking the truth, said this in 1968…

“I think that you and I might learn a great deal from each other if you can overcome the curtain of my color. This country is mine too. I paid as much for it as you. White means that you are European still and black means that I am African. We both know, we’ve been here too long. You can’t go back to Ireland or Poland or England and I can’t go back to Africa. And we will live here together or we will die here together. It is not I that am telling you. Time is telling you. And you will listen or you will perish.” 

Confess the hurt, take humble steps

Baldwin’s words are no threat. They are the words of someone bearing witness to the reality of this fatal lie and pleading with us to face the truth. A truth where all lives matter and the need to demand that black lives matter is no longer necessary. A truth that demands the confession and reparative action of white people, institutions and systems. A truth that frees us to love others more and hurt others less. A truth that embodies what is at the heart of the Christian story and God’s vision for creation. 

This truth both calls us into the public square, while urging us to enter with confessing hearts and humble steps. We need to be aware that our limited worldview and the blinders of privilege, require us to be open to learning and changing because of those around us. We are not called into the public square because the church has something the rest of the world needs. We are called into the public square and into relationships with our neighbors because we all are in need of transformation. God’s intentions for a mutually flourishing creation requires our participation, our confession and our humility. 

And so we pray…

Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Change our hearts and minds.

Open us to truth, so we may confess the lie.

Make us humble, so we may repent the hurt.

Equip us for discomfort, so we may endure a new way.

Teach us love, so that your will may be done.

�������.��

Notes: The legacy of James Baldwin and his understanding of the human condition and race in America is explored by Eddie Glaude in his new book, Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, and shared in excellent Throughline podcast,

The post Humility & Confession in the Public Square appeared first on Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation.

Many of the staff in the Christensen Center for Vocation have used the list of White Supremacy Culture Characteristics by Tema Okun to examine, name and begin to dismantle the ways in which white supremacy shows up in the work we do as a Center [3]. See this previous blog or to learn more about White Supremacy Culture Characteristics.

Why Antidotes?

It is important to hold a critical lens to white supremacy culture, it is also important to simultaneously name the antidotes to these characteristics, or better ways we can work, live, and be in community. Tema Okun offers examples of antidotes to each characteristic in list she created. I believe that many of our core values can also serve as antidotes to the characteristics of white supremacy, especially when we can live out those values in our daily lives. In the Lutheran theological tradition specifically, many of our claims about who God is and how God is are directly opposed to the characteristics of white supremacy culture. The bad news of White Supremacy Culture can be displaced by the good news that the antidotes provide. As the theologian Douglas John Hall writes, “It is good news because it engages, takes on and does battle with the bad news, offering another alternative, another vision of what could be, another way into the future.” [4] In this blog post, we’ll explore a few of the characteristics, along with practical examples of antidotes to those characteristics and theological antidotes from a Lutheran perspective.

Perfectionism

One of the characteristics of White Supremacy is Perfectionism. A personal example of this characteristic is that as I continue to commit to antiracism and dismantling white supremacy, I sense myself striving to know and learn all the things, to have the perfect words, strategies, and beliefs. I often convince myself that I am not yet able to step up, disrupt, or dialogue in moments of racialized stress or when harm has occurred because I have to perfect the ways to do it. The desire to speak up, or act, is halted by the barrier of perfectionism, of needing to say or do the perfectly right thing. 

Another example of perfectionism in a congregational, or community, context is the tendency to keep doing the same program, over and over, with the belief that this is only one right way to do it. It could also look like an awareness that the ways of doing things together need to change, but being unable to start something new because the time and energy goes towards researching, creating, and discussing the unattainable perfect way to do things. 

Tema Okun shared some practical antidotes to perfectionism. Two of them include: “develop a learning community or organization, where the stated expectation is that everyone will make mistakes and those mistakes offer opportunities for learning” and “create a culture of inquiry about what constitutes the “right way” and what defines a “mistake”.” [5]

The White Supremacy characteristic of Perfectionism could be combated with the theological claim of “simul justus et peccator” or simultaneously saint and sinner.. To believe that we are simultaneously saint and sinner means that perfection is impossible. The desire to seek a perfect way of responding or acting can often lead us to do nothing at all. We will never attain a perfect way of doing or being antiracist. That knowledge that perfection is impossible can liberate us from the stronghold of perfectionism. 

Urgency

Another characteristic of White Supremacy Culture is Urgency. Urgency, in this sense, can look like quick, top-down decisions, or moving into immediate action in situations when urgency is unnecessary. To be clear, the daily, lived realities of racial injustice and other inequities are real and the work for equity does require immediate and consistent attention. Urgency becomes harmful when the urgency seeps into the day to day aspects of our work and life together.

I recall experiencing this “sense of urgency” as I processed and responded to the Uprising following the murder of George Floyd. I made commitments to read more books, pay more micro-reparations, and do more antiracism work. All of these commitments are good things, and in this urgent desire to solve racism, I set myself up for unsustainable commitments that were not realistic or responsive to my actual neighbors. I didn’t take the time to listen to my neighbors but moved with an unhelpful urgency that prioritized my needs for fixing something that was uncomfortable to me rather then prioritizing the relationships and work informed by my neighbors. 

An example from a community level could look like making immediate public responses to tragedies without taking the time to listen and hear form those who are most impacted. It can also look like those with the most decision making power failing to involve more people in a decision making process.

Tema Okun shares one potential antidote to urgency, “an understanding that rushing decisions takes more time in the long run because inevitably people who didn’t get a chance to voice their thoughts and feelings will at best resent and at worst undermine a decision where they were left unheard”

This characteristic of Urgency can be combated with the theological claims of Sabbath and abundance. When we claim to believe that who God is, and how God acts includes a period of rest, we can remember that we too can make room to rest and trust that there is enough time, resources, etc. Additionally, the commitment to an interdependent community means that urgency is impossible because relationships and change move at the speed of trust. [6] Deep, lasting transformation will require a long, sustained effort that’s able to be adaptive and responsive, but not urgent.

Reflection Questions:

How do you experience or notice these characteristics of White Supremacy Culture?

What antidotes already exist in your personal and communal practices? What could you deepen or develop?

References

The post Reflections on Antidotes to White Supremacy Culture appeared first on Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation.

The staff of the Riverside Innovation Hub have recently spent time reflecting on the list of “White Supremacy Culture Characteristics” written by Tema Okun to better understand how the characteristics of White Supremacy show up in ourselves, our initiatives, communities, and institutions. Some of the staff attended a webinar co-hosted by Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) and Tema Okun to mark the 20th anniversary of this list and to begin the launch of new website and updates to the list of characteristics of white supremacy. 

The phrase “white supremacy” often brings to mind images of burning crosses and the KKK. This association isn’t necessarily wrong, yet it isn’t fully accurate or entirely helpful. According to Layla Saad, the author of Me and White Supremacy, “white supremacy is the racist ideology that is based upon the belief that white people are superior in many ways to people of other races and that therefore, white people should be dominant over other races” [1] This ideology is baked into institutional structures, systems and bodies. In white-centered societies, like the United States, white supremacy is as common and permeating as the air we breathe. As Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre says in his poem titled “How to Explain White Supremacy to a White Supremacist,” “white supremacy is not a shark; it is the water.” [2] When White supremacy is understood as an abstract concept, or an extremist ideology, it is easier to distance oneself from it, and remain blissfully ignorant to the deadly, daily realities of white supremacy. When we begin to understand the commonness of white supremacy, it becomes more difficult to shift the blame to other people and it requires us to wrestle with our complicity in it. White supremacy must become better understood if it is ever going to be dismantled. And who should be responsible for dismantling the systems, institutions, and ideologies of white supremacy? The burden of this labor should lie on the shoulders of those who built, sustained, and perpetuated it, white people and predominantly white institutions. 

To dismantle white supremacy, it’s necessary to understand how white supremacy manifests itself in individual bodies, communities, and institutions. Learning to recognize and name white supremacy will be ongoing work, until it’s thoroughly eradicated. I have hope that it’s possible to dismantle and eradicate white supremacy. Whiteness has been constructed and therefore can be deconstructed. One concept that could help individuals and communities become more aware of what white supremacy looks like, feels like, and sounds like is the list of “” by Tema Okun. 

Tema Okun used her experiences from facilitating and participating in antiracism workshops, her learnings from being in community with other leaders and thinkers, and her frustrating experiences at a workshop to write up a list that describes the characteristics of white supremacy culture. The list names some of the norms and expectations for people living in a white supremacy culture. Tema Okun articulates fifteen of these norms and expectations, or characteristics: Perfectionism, Sense of Urgency, Defensiveness, Quantity Over Quality, Worship of the Written Word, Only One Right Way, Paternalism, Either/Or Thinking, Power Hoarding, Fear of Open Conflict, Individualism, I’m the Only One, Progress is Bigger, More, Objectivity, and Right to Comfort. [3] She offers examples of the characteristic and antidotes to the characteristic. This list is by no means exhaustive, in fact, over the last 20 years, the author, Tema Okun has further clarified and added updates to the list of characteristics. This list is helpful as a guide or reference key to hold in our minds as we try to name the ways that white supremacy manifests itself within ourselves, our communities and institutions.

The staff of the Christensen Center for Vocation are using this list to examine our work culture and initiatives in an effort to name and dismantle the ways in which white supremacy shows up in what we do and how we function together. While it’s important to hold a critical lens to white supremacy culture, it is also important to name the antidotes to these characteristics, or better ways we can work, live, and be in community. Tema Okun offers examples of antidotes to each characteristic in her list. I believe that many of our core values can also serve as antidotes to the characteristics of white supremacy, especially when we can live out those values in our daily lives. In the Lutheran theological tradition specifically, many of our claims about who God is and how God is are directly opposed to the characteristics of white supremacy culture. In the second part of this blog series, we’ll explore a few of the characteristics, along with practical examples of antidotes to those characteristics and potential theological antidotes.

[1] Saad, Layla F. Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor (Sourcebooks, Inc., 2020) 12.

[2] Tran Myhre, Kyle “Guante”. “‘How to Explain White Supremacy to a White Supremacist’ (New Video),” March 17, 2016. https://youtu.be/DbwcXDunxA8 

[3] Okun, Tema. “White Supremacy Culture Characteristics.” Showing Up for Racial Justice – SURJ. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/white-supremacy-culturecharacteristics.html.

The post Reflections on White Supremacy Culture Characteristics appeared first on Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation.