White Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means to Be White

by Daniel Hill

This is why the sin of racism is so serious. The system of race, at its core, is a revaluation of human worth. Instead of ordering human value around the doctrine of the imago Dei, it ascribes value based on proximity to whiteness. Dr. Reggie Williams, a professor at McCormick Seminary, describes this historical act of playing God by ascribing value to the creation of the “white normative human being.” He says that throughout American history the white male has been held up as the ideal human that everyone else is measured against. “It is what historically allowed us to colonize Native people, subject Black people to slavery, to control immigration narratives for Latino and Asian people, etc., and it still remains coded into our values.”3

The term white supremacy tends to trigger defensive reactions and is often taken personally as an accusation of racism.

you understand that there is a fundamental difference between the system of white supremacy (which must be challenged and ultimately dismantled) and the personhood of white individuals (who are made in the image of God and are therefore inherently worthy and valuable).

Once white supremacy is understood as the evil and dangerous system it is, the common enemy becomes abundantly clear. The enemy is not each other; this is not white people versus people of color. No, the enemy is white supremacy, and the evil one leverages that system for destructive purposes. It’s a dark and dangerous system, and it must be opposed and dismantled at all costs.

He learns to see a lack of diversity as the branch of the tree and white supremacy as the root.

pastor of a large, suburban, white church asked for advice on diversifying his congregation. He shared his enthusiasm about a recent epiphany he’d had about racial justice and told me he and his board had made a commitment to add at least two nonwhite employees to the team over the next twelve months. He then asked for guidance on setting that process up. Rather than giving him suggestions, I asked, “What do you hope will happen to the church as a result of hiring two staff people of color?” He was ready for this question and answered quickly: “I want my congregation to know that our leadership is serious about this vision. I believe that the best way for them to know how serious we are is to back it up by hiring people of color.” That sounded great, and I could see he was serious about it. I also recognized it may be the beginnings of a transformational awakening, so I continued to probe. “How will you create structures and systems for allowing these staff members to speak into any vestiges of white supremacy that they discover in the culture of your church?” This question threw him for a loop. He hadn’t thought about this angle, and to his credit, he was very transparent about that. He said, “I don’t think I could use the phrase white supremacy within my church. They aren’t ready for it yet.” I thanked him for his humility and candor. I told him that if he continued to walk in spirit of truth, love, and humility, he would come to see God’s kingdom in new ways. We spent t...

We aren’t engineers who need technical training on how to disassemble and reassemble the pieces of race; instead, we are blind wanderers who need help to see a world that functions according to a different set of rules than what we’ve been raised with.

Said another way, we aren’t Nicodemuses who need just a little push over the edge; we must be reborn through the power of Jesus in order to see his kingdom.

leadership being underutilized, though it was also predictable. This continues to be one of the classic combinations that come with early stages in the blindness-to-sight journey: an underestimation of how serious the problem is and an overestimation of our ability to effectively solve the problem.

An elder at River City who coaches young leaders in our congregation says, “You may have gifts that can be shared in this environment, but wait for them to ask you for them. It’s always better to be invited than to invite yourself.”