Can "White" People Be Saved?: Triangulating Race, Theology, and Mission (Missiological Engagements Book 12)

by Willie James Jennings

Part of building a new world involves not only challenging structures of oppression but transforming the way all of us have been shaped by these structures. As Rita Nakashima Brock notes, the “myth of innocence” is a colonial entrapment that prevents communities from engaging in internal self-critique.66 That is, the logic of innocence says that suffering is only bad when it is inflicted upon those who are innocent. Those who are viewed as “less innocent” somehow deserve oppression. White people often flock to reservations to help “poor Indians,” whom they romanticize as perfect victims. When they discover the amount of violence and dysfunctionality that exists in Native communities, they become disenchanted, no longer want to work with Native people, and decide Natives are getting what they deserve. The fact that there are no innocents does not justify oppression; rather, it means that oppression is unacceptable regardless of the innocence of its victims. Furthermore, when oppressed groups are liberated from constantly having to maintain the image that they are innocent and perfect victims, they can take responsibility for the oppression that exists within their communities. We can finally be viewed as moral agents who will often make mistakes but who do not deserve oppression regardless of the mistakes we make. When we no longer have to prove ourselves innocent, we can engage all of our community in the struggles for justice without writing off some sectors as hopeless s...