A little over a year ago, I entered a mental confessional to lay bare any bias or racist proclivity that I may harbor. I sincerely sought to confess my white guilt or white privilege.
I think most of us will find that deep down, we actually love each other, and we all want love and respect. We want to see each other succeed. We're happy when we see excellence wherever it occurs; we're unhappy when we see suffering. Thanks for owning up to your love and standing firm on it. This helps others make their way through their own self-doubt.
"we had always been poor together"--shared sorrows and shared joys bring people together. I feel you gave Robin diAngelo what she didn't deserve--she's not preaching love; she's preaching division. You are clearly preaching love and understanding.
Thank you, pastor for these thoughtful words. I am writing from Uganda- having come to Africa in the mid 90's to help with construction projects- mostly medical- for mission agencies. I have read two of the books you mention and have not found them helpful at all- pretty disturbing, actually.
Excellent, my sentiments exactly. I too saw "colored" and "white" drinking fountains as a kid. I hated the racism I saw as a kid, and I also was astonished at the miraculous improvements in race relations as I grew up. I remember thinking in the 70's, wow, all of a sudden I see black people with new cars, owning businesses, etc, something I had never seen before. At the time I thought it was a miracle.
Now we have all these people acting like no progress has ever been made on racism. That me by definition being white am a racist, when I know I never have been and have taken active steps my whole life to oppose it. This is so wrong and counter productive.
Thank you for this thoughtful piece. I read Diangelo’s White Fragility several years ago and found it disturbing that she largely backed up her thesis with anecdotes and assumptions about what motivates others. Your essay captured the essence of what it’s like for a young person to learn that the world can be cruel and how that person grows into their role as an adult in righting societal wrongs. Despite Diangelo’s castigation of you and everyone who looks like you, I think your account is an excellent contribution to this complex topic.
Great article and probably more indicative of the actual state of the citizens in the US. Just because some so called enlightened elites making a living off of racist or homophobic issues say something doesn't make it true.
Now some genious who's probably thinking I am so smart has added a L versus W to describe racism. The ignorance and desire to keep hustling a buck on racism never stops. It actually dilute's real issues like the inner city failing the people.
I believe the normal is more closely related to this article on real life.
These are my sentiments, precisely. I recall taking the implicit bias test 10-15 years ago and was not surprised to find I did not harbor the implicit bias the test designers were seeking. I suspect my score reflected, instead, the fact that my early years were spent in Japan with Japanese kindergartners and later in Turkey where my playmate was a Turkish boy who lived in an adobe house with a dirt floor.
But the test was loaded from the outset, and is an absurdly designed tool to advance the race mongers' agenda.
There is one race, the human race, and all those who say otherwise are ignorant.
Diangleo and Kendi are race hustlers and should be ignored and shunned from polite society.
Beautifully written piece; thank you for that. Nice to hear someone of your generation discuss this. (And a pastor no less.) It’s sad how overly simplistic the race conversation has become in contemporary times. The idea that things are worse for black people in 2022 compared to the era of Jim Crow or slavery is absurd, and yet the antiracism movement pushes this idea constantly. The data does not back their claims up. (Police brutality is an obvious example.) Two books are helpful for understanding race and also the historical plight of low-income white Americans: ‘Power and Liberty’ by Gordon Wood, and ‘Black Rednecks and White Liberals’ by Thomas Sowell. Here’s the truth: Everyone is ‘racist’ on some level. We’re human. We naturally notice differences in people. Our internalized biases, genetics and childhood environment rise up to form preconceived ideas about others. But we also all have so much more common than apart, regardless of race. DiAngelo and Kendi are con-artists, in my opinion; they found a profitable way to exploit racial animus and white guilt. All people of any race can be racist. All people of all races can hate. Much of it comes down to culture and class, whether it’s the urban ghetto or white Appalachia. Indentured servants were very similar to slaves; they were even sold at auctions. Poor whites also couldn’t vote or own property for a long time. We fought a nasty civil war to face our grotesque racial reality. The 1960s voting rights bills went into law. Segregation ended. There is now a thriving black middle-class.
Here’s a question: Why is it that every time white woke people discuss ‘black people’ in general they are assumed to be poor and ghetto? Isn’t THAT racist? John McWhorter answers this in his brilliant recent book, ‘Woke Racism.’
Anyway. Thanks for the discussion. Antiracism is ridiculous. We need to get away from all the ‘anti’ this and ‘phobia’ that. We’re human, goddamnit. Let’s start acting like it.
I will admit, however, that my early days as an adopted child of lower middle class folks was probably far different than your early years.
But we each, in our own way, have struggled to gradually change our views about race.
During my 20s and early 30s the minister at our local Presbyterian church guided me towards the views I hold today in terms of our frailty.
His guidance allowed me to understand that we are not cows or dogs, or other animals whose reproduction has been mostly determined by humans since before recorded history.
To this day, I share his belief that "race" is a made up term; a relic of the many centuries were one group of humans bought and sold other humans. It is a word very much like the words we used during periods of war to dehumanize our enemies.
Which is why I refuse to accept "race" as a valid term for the wonderful gift of diversity God gave us.
We all are humans. Some tall, some short, some with dark skin, some with light skin, some with yellow hair, some with dark hair, some with more gifts than others, some with gifts yet to be appreciated.
And thus, Ken, we have arrived at nearly identical points of view during our nearly 80 years of living.
Your essay illustrates that God's greatest gift is the freedom we have to think for themselves.
Please accept my wish as a long lapsed Presbyterian that God will continue to bless both of us.
They will say its not you. Its the system. Its in the air. Its in the real estate, the criminal justice, the banking, the government, the education, the 'structures' and such imaginary tripe. Indeed, the amount of Afr Ams (lets face it this is the main fetish, not 'people of color') in all those systems, loving them, gaining employ from them, investing and vacationing on them, belies this 1950s era myth they persist at. They are making it up just as Foucault, Fanon, Said and Crenshaw did. They theorize lies. They make the world turn to the right. We were doing fine up until 5 yrs ago. Now the right will win the world. Putin himself is horrified at this stuff.
I have not read all the books you referred to but I am familiar with them and many of their ideas. It seems that you might have missed the larger point they make about systemic racism. The fact that you grew up in the South and were oblivious to the abhorrent dehumanization and violence perpetrated against a group of people based on their skin color is an example of how such a pernicious system can be allowed to exist. I don't think anyone is arguing that there have not been significant material differences in the way blacks are treated today. However, our moral responsibility is commensurate with the moral knowledge we currently have, not what it was 60 years ago. As the "arc of history bends towards justice", our responsibility to act "justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God", only increases. The fact that we are beneficiaries of moral progress should not make us complacent about the less visible forms of racism that perseverate in our society. We are no better than the complacent whites of the Jim Crow era if we don't seek to eradicate the tremendous inequity that exists among our black brothers and sisters today as a result of hundreds of years of white supremacist ideology and systems of oppression. The important work of reconciliation continues.
I think most of us will find that deep down, we actually love each other, and we all want love and respect. We want to see each other succeed. We're happy when we see excellence wherever it occurs; we're unhappy when we see suffering. Thanks for owning up to your love and standing firm on it. This helps others make their way through their own self-doubt.
Truly excellent, and VERY well-written.
Thank you, Mark, for your kind words. Yes, you are right. The willingness to laugh at our foibles, as painful as they are, is therapeutic.
"we had always been poor together"--shared sorrows and shared joys bring people together. I feel you gave Robin diAngelo what she didn't deserve--she's not preaching love; she's preaching division. You are clearly preaching love and understanding.
Thank you, pastor for these thoughtful words. I am writing from Uganda- having come to Africa in the mid 90's to help with construction projects- mostly medical- for mission agencies. I have read two of the books you mention and have not found them helpful at all- pretty disturbing, actually.
Excellent, my sentiments exactly. I too saw "colored" and "white" drinking fountains as a kid. I hated the racism I saw as a kid, and I also was astonished at the miraculous improvements in race relations as I grew up. I remember thinking in the 70's, wow, all of a sudden I see black people with new cars, owning businesses, etc, something I had never seen before. At the time I thought it was a miracle.
Now we have all these people acting like no progress has ever been made on racism. That me by definition being white am a racist, when I know I never have been and have taken active steps my whole life to oppose it. This is so wrong and counter productive.
This is one of the best pieces I have read here. Kudo's to the author and to FAIR for publishing it.
Thank you for this thoughtful piece. I read Diangelo’s White Fragility several years ago and found it disturbing that she largely backed up her thesis with anecdotes and assumptions about what motivates others. Your essay captured the essence of what it’s like for a young person to learn that the world can be cruel and how that person grows into their role as an adult in righting societal wrongs. Despite Diangelo’s castigation of you and everyone who looks like you, I think your account is an excellent contribution to this complex topic.
Great article and probably more indicative of the actual state of the citizens in the US. Just because some so called enlightened elites making a living off of racist or homophobic issues say something doesn't make it true.
Now some genious who's probably thinking I am so smart has added a L versus W to describe racism. The ignorance and desire to keep hustling a buck on racism never stops. It actually dilute's real issues like the inner city failing the people.
I believe the normal is more closely related to this article on real life.
You speak for so many of us brother. So many know what you say to be true but few can say it so well and with such truth.
These are my sentiments, precisely. I recall taking the implicit bias test 10-15 years ago and was not surprised to find I did not harbor the implicit bias the test designers were seeking. I suspect my score reflected, instead, the fact that my early years were spent in Japan with Japanese kindergartners and later in Turkey where my playmate was a Turkish boy who lived in an adobe house with a dirt floor.
But the test was loaded from the outset, and is an absurdly designed tool to advance the race mongers' agenda.
There is one race, the human race, and all those who say otherwise are ignorant.
Diangleo and Kendi are race hustlers and should be ignored and shunned from polite society.
Beautifully written piece; thank you for that. Nice to hear someone of your generation discuss this. (And a pastor no less.) It’s sad how overly simplistic the race conversation has become in contemporary times. The idea that things are worse for black people in 2022 compared to the era of Jim Crow or slavery is absurd, and yet the antiracism movement pushes this idea constantly. The data does not back their claims up. (Police brutality is an obvious example.) Two books are helpful for understanding race and also the historical plight of low-income white Americans: ‘Power and Liberty’ by Gordon Wood, and ‘Black Rednecks and White Liberals’ by Thomas Sowell. Here’s the truth: Everyone is ‘racist’ on some level. We’re human. We naturally notice differences in people. Our internalized biases, genetics and childhood environment rise up to form preconceived ideas about others. But we also all have so much more common than apart, regardless of race. DiAngelo and Kendi are con-artists, in my opinion; they found a profitable way to exploit racial animus and white guilt. All people of any race can be racist. All people of all races can hate. Much of it comes down to culture and class, whether it’s the urban ghetto or white Appalachia. Indentured servants were very similar to slaves; they were even sold at auctions. Poor whites also couldn’t vote or own property for a long time. We fought a nasty civil war to face our grotesque racial reality. The 1960s voting rights bills went into law. Segregation ended. There is now a thriving black middle-class.
Here’s a question: Why is it that every time white woke people discuss ‘black people’ in general they are assumed to be poor and ghetto? Isn’t THAT racist? John McWhorter answers this in his brilliant recent book, ‘Woke Racism.’
Anyway. Thanks for the discussion. Antiracism is ridiculous. We need to get away from all the ‘anti’ this and ‘phobia’ that. We’re human, goddamnit. Let’s start acting like it.
Michael Mohr
Sincere American Writing
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/
I was born one year after you were born, Ken.
I will admit, however, that my early days as an adopted child of lower middle class folks was probably far different than your early years.
But we each, in our own way, have struggled to gradually change our views about race.
During my 20s and early 30s the minister at our local Presbyterian church guided me towards the views I hold today in terms of our frailty.
His guidance allowed me to understand that we are not cows or dogs, or other animals whose reproduction has been mostly determined by humans since before recorded history.
To this day, I share his belief that "race" is a made up term; a relic of the many centuries were one group of humans bought and sold other humans. It is a word very much like the words we used during periods of war to dehumanize our enemies.
Which is why I refuse to accept "race" as a valid term for the wonderful gift of diversity God gave us.
We all are humans. Some tall, some short, some with dark skin, some with light skin, some with yellow hair, some with dark hair, some with more gifts than others, some with gifts yet to be appreciated.
And thus, Ken, we have arrived at nearly identical points of view during our nearly 80 years of living.
Your essay illustrates that God's greatest gift is the freedom we have to think for themselves.
Please accept my wish as a long lapsed Presbyterian that God will continue to bless both of us.
When the wokesters claim that all white people have hidden racism, what they really mean is that THEY have hidden racism. They don't speak for me.
They will say its not you. Its the system. Its in the air. Its in the real estate, the criminal justice, the banking, the government, the education, the 'structures' and such imaginary tripe. Indeed, the amount of Afr Ams (lets face it this is the main fetish, not 'people of color') in all those systems, loving them, gaining employ from them, investing and vacationing on them, belies this 1950s era myth they persist at. They are making it up just as Foucault, Fanon, Said and Crenshaw did. They theorize lies. They make the world turn to the right. We were doing fine up until 5 yrs ago. Now the right will win the world. Putin himself is horrified at this stuff.
I have not read all the books you referred to but I am familiar with them and many of their ideas. It seems that you might have missed the larger point they make about systemic racism. The fact that you grew up in the South and were oblivious to the abhorrent dehumanization and violence perpetrated against a group of people based on their skin color is an example of how such a pernicious system can be allowed to exist. I don't think anyone is arguing that there have not been significant material differences in the way blacks are treated today. However, our moral responsibility is commensurate with the moral knowledge we currently have, not what it was 60 years ago. As the "arc of history bends towards justice", our responsibility to act "justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God", only increases. The fact that we are beneficiaries of moral progress should not make us complacent about the less visible forms of racism that perseverate in our society. We are no better than the complacent whites of the Jim Crow era if we don't seek to eradicate the tremendous inequity that exists among our black brothers and sisters today as a result of hundreds of years of white supremacist ideology and systems of oppression. The important work of reconciliation continues.