Dream with Me: Race, Love, and the Struggle We Must Win

by John M. Perkins

Not that we black folks were purely innocent victims, of course, but we lived in a constant state of vulnerability, with a never-ending undercurrent of fear. Danger lurked around every corner, and so did opposition and discouragement. We expected that every door we approached would be not only closed but also locked. We knew we would have to fight and wait and fight some more to get through that door.

The truth is, human beings were created as one race—in the image of God. For some reason or another, though, we have doubted that central truth. We have allowed ourselves to believe we are divided by deep and irreconcilable differences, but that is not the truth of the gospel. When Jesus came and died on the cross to reconcile the world to Himself, He, through His blood, brought peace into this world (see Col. 1:20). But we have not allowed this peace to take root or these broken-down walls to be realized. Instead, we have tried to come up with human solutions and means of reconciliation.

the most dangerous divide between us is our lust for power and deep greed that makes us hate our neighbors and think only of ourselves. But when we view ourselves as one race, one human race, I think we start to recognize that these differences are not insurmountable. We have a common place to start from. We must start viewing other people as human beings, not as obstacles to getting what we want. We can start believing that as members of the family of God, reconciled to Him through the blood of Jesus Christ, we are actually brothers and sisters.

Claiborne, Shane, and John M. Perkins. Follow Me to Freedom: Leading and Following as an Ordinary Radical.

Perkins, John M. Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development.