RevGals Anti-Racism Project: “Trouble I’ve Seen,” Week 6

Being black is draining. Blackness continues to be described pejoratively in America. Black skin in our world has been designated as a marker for all things bad. To be a black American is to have to constantly tell yourself that you are somebody, that you are made in the image of God, that you are creative and intelligent. Not doing so will result in drowning in the oceans of negative words about your existence and “your kind.” Drew G.I. Hart, Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism (p. 117)

Chapter 6 of Dr. Drew G.I. Hart’s book brings us to the phrase that both encourages and infuriates segments of the U.S. population, #BlackLivesMatter. (Please read RevGalBlogPals’ statement in support of #BlackLivesMatter here.) Hart reminds us of the historical context beyond slavery into Jim Crow and onto the contemporary “school-to-prison pipeline.” He draws the painful contrast between the support provided by the black church and the complicity of the white church, not just in the past, but even today. Do our white churches really see black people as created in the image of God? (See last week’s discussion of Chapter 5 for more on the imago Dei.) There have been times when silence made things worse, and other times when white churches led the way in anti-black racism. He also calls on the black church to do more, but the onus remains on the mainstream white church voices that have more power to change the conversation.

Loving others we have been socialized to devalue should be a familiar practice for the church. We ought to be in a community discipled into loving socially rejected people as our heavenly Father does. (p. 120-1)

Hart takes us through historical assaults on black identity and expands on the ways they continue to give permission to white people.

Antiblack ideology was the engine that allowed white supremacy to continue without white people in each new generation perceiving their own actions as inhumane and heinous. (p. 121)

As a white reader, the repetition of actions taken and words spoken against black people hurts to read, and I will confess to skimming paragraphs and having to make myself go back and read the words more thoroughly. Although Hart reassures us that all have fallen short of the imago Dei, the brunt of the responsibility is clearly on those living with white privilege and on the white church and white Christians in particular.

Some readers may be familiar with the Clark doll test, which Hart studied as part of his self-education around racial history. The test conducted by Kenneth and Mamie Clark began in the 1940s. A white and a black baby doll were shown to white and black children, who were asked to associate characteristics of beauty and goodness with one or the other. While it came as no surprise that white children attributed more positive qualities to the white dolls, it is sad that even the black children had internalized negative messages about their skin tone as represented in the dolls, even though they also identified those dolls as the ones they resembled. Hart urges us not to turn away from these painful images and their related issues:

The lack of honest engagement around how antiblack racism continues in our churches and the larger society will result in us having the same problems again and again going forward. The temptation to think that ignoring race (which is the historical approach of white dominant culture) will solve these problems leads only to the continuations of the vicious cycle. (p. 124)

Hart calls on the church to value all black lives, including those of black men who are targeted for fear-mongering, and those of LGBTQ black people, who face a double prejudice. Hart acknowledges that the work of white supremacy has been done so well that “is is hard even for black people to see and love other black people the way God does.” (p. 126)

Poor black people suffer most of all in our U.S. culture. Hart writes from the perspective of a middle class person and asks the reader to consider that judging the poor if we have no direct experience of poverty or no relationships of meaning with people living in poverty is scapegoating. Despite the prejudice heaped upon them, they manage to make something out of almost nothing. Who will champion them?

If you have been following the book carefully, the answer that concludes Chapter 6 will come as no surprise. Hart calls us to see Jesus as the champion of the poor and marginalized. He affirms the vast majority of black people in U.S. history who have “chosen to pursue love, justice, restoration, and healing,” despite living in a country that valorizes revolution. Of all the people who live in this country, their story most resembles that of Jesus, who was subject to being taken bodily in the night.

That Jesus identified so intimately with “the wretched of the earth,” even to the point of death, should result in God’s church daring to see humanity from the perspective of God. To follow Jesus every day demands that we also must dare to interpret vulnerable and outcast bodies through the lens of the crucified Christ, through whom God’s wisdom and power is revealed. (p. 129-130)

Can we do it, he asks the church? Can we live like #BlackLivesMatter?

Some of this week’s discussion questions are taken from Herald Press’s excellent discussion guide.

What’s your gut response to “Black Lives Matter,” and has it changed over time?
Do you have a response ready when a parishioner, colleague, or friend questions #BlackLivesMatter, either the phrase or the movement?
Do you think black lives matter to the church? What about to the white church specifically? What is the evidence for and against?
What do you think it means to be socialized by antiblackness? What would it mean to “truly love black people as fully created after the image of God” (p. 125)?
If you have children, have you supplied them with non-white dolls? If you serve a church, are there black baby dolls in the nursery?
What are Jesus’s words and actions in response to oppression? What should we be saying and doing today to model ourselves after him?

Find our post about Chapter 1 here, our post about Chapter 2 here, our post about Chapter 3 here, our post about Chapter 4 here, and our post about Chapter 5 here. Join the conversation here or in our Facebook group.

About the RevGals Anti-Racism Project: As a majority white organization incorporated in the United States, the leaders of RevGalBlogPals feel called to confront systemic racism in the U.S. As a global ministry, we feel called to oppose minority oppression and racial injustice in all nations. We hope this book discussion will be a step toward awareness and away from unconscious centering of whiteness.

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