Racial inequalities have existed in America since before our founders declared independence in 1776, as has the discussion on why these inequalities exist and how we should respond to that reality.  In their book, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, And You, Jason Reynolds and Ibram Kendi tell us that historically, three groups of people have been involved in this heated argument: Segregationists, Assimilationists, and Antiracists.  Segregationists and Assimilationists believe that inequalities are caused by black Americans being inferior, either in culture or DNA.  The Assimilationists believe black people can be changed for the better, and the Segregationists do not.  The Antiracists believe that structural racism is the cause of racial inequalities and that racism needs to be changed, not black people. 

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The Antiracists try to transform racism.  The Assimilationists try to transform black people.  The Segregationists try to get away from black people. 

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Instead of looking at this as three distinct groups of people, I suggest that we look at it as three perspectives on the problem and that each of us, regardless of our skin color has the capacity to embrace each of these perspectives at different points in time.  It is our gut, not our conscious decision-making that determines how we respond to topics of race based on our past personal experiences.  Our reactions to topics of race may evolve over time and may not consistently fall into one of Kendi’s three categories at a given point in time. 

 

The Segregationists gave us separate entrances, staircases, lunch counters, water fountains, and toilets.  It might be easy for us to see segregationists as being from a different tribe than our own and not see our own temptation to embrace this perspective.  After the Civil War, black Americans streamed into Cincinnati.  Some voices that had called for freeing the slaves now called for segregated communities.  By 1950, 90% of black Cincinnati residents lived in the West End.  But then, the Kenyon Barr project and the construction of I-75 decimated this community, pushing black residents into the surrounding white communities of Over-the-Rhine, Avondale, and Walnut Hills.  This prompted white flight, with white evangelicals playing an active role.  While white evangelicals often expressed their desire to escape liberal values being taught in public schools, the changing racial demographics of these communities were a central factor in this migration.  Today, we may find our comfort tested when the racial mix changes on our street or in our church, and it is easy for our guts to tell us that we should seek safety in settings that have less racial diversity.

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The Assimilationists believe that black Americans will achieve equality with white Americans if they simply became more like white Americans in their culture, dress, language, character, etc.  While Assimilationists would never publicly say that they believe black people are inferior and would become very defensive if others labeled them as white supremacists, their guts have a propensity to blame black Americans for the racial inequality that they experience. 

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The Antiracist resists believing that one’s DNA and ethnic culture are the sources of racial disparities.  They understand that if you randomly divided 1,000 students into two groups, tagging one group with green labels and the other with blue, and then played 250 Monopoly games with two green and two blue players participating in each game, you would reliably see the game winners evenly split between green and blue players.  And if participants are divided based on a specific characteristic, i.e., height, education, age, language, etc., significantly disparate outcomes, such as one group winning 80% of the time, demonstrate with certainty that either one group is superior to the other or that the game is rigged against the lower-performing group.  For the Antiracist, the fact that significant racial disparities persist in America, which cannot be explained by DNA or cultural differences, is a certain indicator that structural racism persists.  This perspective calls us to dig deeper into why racial disparities exist and to search for the structures that must be causing the inequality instead of accepting the premise that black Americans must be inferior.  Ibram asserts that Segregationists and Assimilationists feel threatened by Antiracists searching for structural racism because their guts have been trained to know with certainty that structural racism no longer exists, and therefore, those that continue to look for it are preventing us from reaching the real solution of either transforming black Americans or getting away from black Americans. 

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Is the belief that black Americans are inferior based on fiction or fact?  We know that 98% of Americans affected by sickle cell anemia are African Americans.  If this is due to a genetic component, it would demonstrate that in this specific aspect, people of African descent are inferior.  If Asians enjoy better health because they consume more rice and have done so for a thousand years, then this would demonstrate that Asians are superior in this specific aspect.  But suppose researchers were to determine that the health gap between black and white Americans is partly the result of black Americans consuming less fresh fruit.  In that case, we must ask more questions before we can say whether this demonstrates that black Americans are inferior or the victims of structural racism.  If black Americans have always consumed less fruit, then it would follow that black Americans are inferior.  Still, if we learn that black Americans started consuming less fresh fruit in recent decades because they no longer had access to fresh fruit in their communities, then it would follow that the root cause is structural racism.  Reasons for that lack of access must then be evaluated.

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Antiracists resist believing that some inferiority of black Americans is the primary cause of the wide racial disparities that we see in America, and, according to Ibram, Segregationists and Assimilationists resist believing that structural racism still exists. Suppose we are going to solve racism, keeping in mind that we all have the capacity to be skeptical that structural racism is a factor.  We must understand how our guts are responding, bypassing our conscious decision-making, and commit to digging for the underlying causes of racial disparities.  I recently read an article that poked fun at antiracists for labeling speed trap cameras in Chicago as racist since they disproportionately hurt black communities who have the least ability to pay the speeding fines.  This individual thought that Antiracists should embrace speed trap cameras because they eliminate the potential racial bias that can come from police officers pulling over speeding motorists.  The speed trap cameras were deployed in black communities because black communities have the highest rates of pedestrians being struck by cars.  This individual was satisfied knowing that the motive for putting up the cameras was just, that racial bias wasn’t involved in issuing the fines and that those receiving the fines were guilty of the crime.  But the Antiracists weren’t satisfied and pushed the Chicago mayor to research why speed trap cameras were hitting black communities the hardest.  What the research found was that black communities have wider streets and lack sidewalks because of lower structural investment in black communities, resulting in both higher pedestrian deaths and more speeding.  Structural racism is indeed the root cause, not the fact that black Americans have a greater natural propensity to speed or ignore the law.

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Racial disparities persist in America, and it is important that we realize that the health gap, lifespan gap, wealth gap, education gap, and marriage rate gap are all connected.  When discussing why these racial disparities persist, some are quick to point to the marriage rate gap as the cause but slow to ask what is causing the marriage rate gap.  In this video, Race in America, Phil Vischer gives an excellent explanation for the root cause of America’s racial wealth gap.  Then, in this follow-up video, Race in America - Part 2, Phil explains how the marriage rate gap is the result of structural racism.

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Are black Americans inferior?  Its time for the church to confront this question and to address the theology flaws that lead us to such conclusions.  Research by Michael Emerson & Christian Smith in their book Divided By Faith reveals that 62% of white conservative protestants attribute racial disparities mainly to lack of motivation, compared to 51% of other white Americans.  Michael Emerson and Christian Smith argue that our evangelical cultural lens often blinds us to the presence of structural racism.  Evaluating our cultural lens against the teachings of Scripture is crucial.

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To come to an objective conclusion on whether black Americans are inferior we must address our biases, which have been reinforced by attending mono-ethnic churches, where alternative viewpoints are never encountered.  Korie Edwards summarizes it well in her book: The Elusive Dream: The Power of Race in Interracial Churches. “Homogenous churches actually entrench racism.  In these echo chambers, our biases are never challenged; they are only entrenched.” 

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How do we overcome our entrenched biases?  The first step is to become intentional about developing meaningful relationships with people of other races, making them your neighbor.  If your community and/or church are monoethnic ask why is this true?  Communities and churches don’t necessarily lack diversity in race, age, culture or socioeconomic status by chance.  Seek racial diversity in the authors you read, the movies you watch and those you go to for council.

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If your life is experiencing racial diversity, ask yourself if you subconsciously believe black Americans should assimilate to “normative” culture.  If your church is racially diverse, invite 5 congregants of the minority race/ethnicity over and ask them if they feel expected to assimilate to dominant culture in your church.

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As we prioritize desegregating our lives and celebrate our diversity within the body of Christ it fosters solidarity and empathy for our fellow Christians from other racial, political and socioeconomic tribes.  This empathy ignites a hungering and thirsting to make things right, which ultimately leads to the unity Jesus prayed we’d experience, becoming a powerful witness to the world of Christ’s transforming power.