Myth #1: We have a moral obligation to assure conversations about racial reconciliation or justice, do not lead to a victim mentality.

 

You’ve probably heard the term “victim mentality”.  A victim mentality is a mindset that blames others or circumstances for one’s problems and feels powerless to change.

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When I talk about issues of justice or racial disparities, I’m often told that I should get over my victim mentality or I’m told that my speaking about racial oppression will lead to a victim mentality.

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What does the Bible say?  Jesus tells us that justice is a central feature of the Kingdom of God and that we are hypocrites if we fail to advocate for justice.

 

The Apostle Paul admonished the Church at Corinth to examine themselves before taking Communion because bringing the world’s hierarchies into the Church is a serious sin, not because Paul had succumbed to a victim mentality.   And Jesus inserts a Samaritan into The Parable of the Good Samaritan to convict us of racism, not because Jesus had succumbed to a victim mentality.

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Many people who advocate we address issues of injustice are not members of the groups that are victims of the injustice.  Certainly, these individuals aren’t motivated by a victim mentality.  But what about when someone like Dr. King advocated removing racial hierarchies but was also a member of the oppressed group?  But what about when someone like Dr. King advocated for removing racial hierarchies but was also a member of the oppressed group?  Let Acts 6 be our guide on how to respond to complaints of structural racism.  It was Hellenist Jews who raised the objection that their widows were being ignored.  The Apostles could have reprimanded them for succumbing to a victim mentality, but instead, they addressed the structures and processes that were causing the injustice.

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Does our calling attention to racial injustice promote a victim mentality?  Nowhere in the Bible are we taught that we should refrain from talking about injustice because doing so might lead the victims of injustice to embrace a victim mentality.  If that was a concern to the writers of the Bible, it was left unexpressed.  What we do see, time and time again, is the writers of the Bible championing the cause of the oppressed, and calling God’s people to speak up on behalf of those in need.