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July 6 - September 26, 2020
A handful of historical eras have marked our country’s long reckoning with race, and the age in which we find ourselves now appears destined to be remembered as another crucial turning point.
Pick any index—education, economics, health—and the results make starkly apparent our racially stratified society.
Is the church at large, and are we as individuals, currently making any contribution to healing the divisions? Or are we making things worse? Have we come to grips with our role in creating this divide, or are we stuck in a state of denial?
In response, she founded an organization called Be the Bridge, which has inspired and equipped thousands of people to pursue a distinctive and transformative response to racial division.
This book, Be the Bridge, serves as her incredible and much-needed gift to all of us who want to more closely follow Christ’s call to unity.
people of faith often avoid discussions about race and when those who meaningfully confront the challenges often ignore faith.
learn a lot about how you can move from good intentions to genuine heart transformation and meaningful action.
the gospel calls us to nothing less than a wholehearted commitment to truth and unity. But more than anything, you will see Jesus more clearly.
White Awake
To read
As I listened, a feeling of discomfort set in. Why hadn’t I heard about the African empires—the kings, queens, and ingenuity of the people—prior to college? Why didn’t I learn this in high school? Why didn’t my family teach me? Why had no one introduced me to any of the scores of books on the slave trade?
but there was a massive hole in my understanding of history.
And why did America seem so bogged down in racial division and discrimination so many years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed?
Underneath my shame and embarrassment, I felt ignorant. Ignorant of the historical context of my people. Ignorant of my own roots.
It was a sort of shared history, even though my ancestors and the ancestors of the White students had been on opposites sides of a divide. Now we were together, facing the full truth of our past, and it was awkward for all of us.
When we lack historical understanding, we lose part of our identity.
Likewise, without knowing our history, it can be difficult to know what needs repairin...
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As I learned more and more about the injustices wrought against my ancestors, I began to realize that we deserved justice. This realization awakened within me indignation, pain, and a holy discontent.
When I later moved to Austin, Texas, in 2012 to join the staff of an almost entirely White church with an almost entirely White staff, that holy discontent reached a boiling point.
We had different worldviews, experiences, and perspectives.
the most part, they didn’t understand the heritage of racism baked into their own social and cultural structures, including their church.
I was comfortable and familiar with White culture, but they’d never had to learn about the history or culture of my people.
A racial disconnect and a surprising level of ignorance about the divisions between our cultures were deeply rooted in the way they did church, and the more I encountered this, the more broken my heart became.
They equated working hard with success, and they dismissed the reality of systemic issues that create barriers for people of color.
The longer I worked in the church, the more I came to see that it wasn’t a credible witness for racial reconciliation.
With that realization, I made a conscious decision: I’d do my best to build a bridge between the majority and non-White church cultures.
The Color Purple.
To read and to watch
few friends joined with me and we formed a racial-reconciliation discussion group.
How can our church do this?
and doing better meant showing up to listen and learn.
We pushed deeper into reconciliation and relationship, and as we did, we found we understood one another a little better. That understanding brought such healing.
Ferguson, Missouri, erupted with violent protests in the wake of the fatal shooting of an eighteen-year-old Black man,
Michael Brown,
These conversations set the stage for the launch of Be the Bridge, an organization committed to bringing the reconciliation power of the gospel to the racial divide in America.
racial illiteracy.
How are we racially illiterate?
- as a church
- as a cg
- as families
- as individuals
If you’re White, if you come from the majority culture, you’ll need to bend low in a posture of humility. You may need to talk less and listen more, opening your heart to the voices of your non-White brothers and sisters. You’ll need to open your mind and study the hard truths of history without trying to explain them away. You’ll need to examine your own life and the lives of your ancestors so you can see whether you’ve participated in, perpetuated, or benefited from systems of racism.
They’re learning, growing, and even worshipping together in the spirit of John 17, a spirit of multiethnic unity.
Have you studied the history of non-White cultures in America and how those cultures came to be here? If so, what books and articles have you read and what videos and documentaries have you watched about the history of those cultures prior to their forced migration?
H: Yes; only a few, and not many more that i can recall outside of school. Most were eductional only, and only trbrough choice in secondary school.
Describe some of the books you have read, films you have watched, or art you have admired that was produced by individuals of a different ethnicity than yours.
H: i havent always paid attention to the ethnicity of the products i have consumed. I could not tell you the ethnicity of the authors of most of my books or the creators of the art i have seen. I do pay attention to food, though, and have always appreciated its diversity and honesty - most ethnic food i have had has a greater quality of history, culture, and honesty than the false pretenses of "quality" that some white food has. Its often more accessible. I can tell you the ethnicities of the craftsmen and women of many buildings i have studied. Like the food, their craftsmamship is often more honest and deliberate, at least in america in the time periods i was responsible for - though this held true for all impoverished craftspeople i have found.
Do you approach conversations of racial reconciliation as if you have all the answers? Do you approach those conversations with a willingness to be corrected? What do you think it looks like for participants to approach those conversations in humility?
h: i often avoid these conversations altogether for fear i have no aswers or the wrong or offensive answers...
Give us collective eyes to see our role in repairing what has been broken.
my new life in Austin when I realized I’d not interacted with another African American in more than a week.
my cultural loneliness.
Have you ever felt this?
cultural isolation,
My friends seemed genuinely interested in deepening their understanding of race relations. However, the predominantly White culture of Austin was less willing.
parents were still getting to know me, were still feeling me out, trying to determine what type of Black person I was. That’s right. What type of Black person.
The more I embraced my ethnic identity, the greater the chance I’d be rejected by those White parents—seen as unsafe, angry, and likely to make trouble.
Had they saved all their questions for the first Black person they interacted with?
Enforcing a law didn’t dismantle racism. Diversity doesn’t disrupt systemic racism,
considered how we’d come to this place in the conversation, wondered how this stranger could be so oblivious to the pain and evils of slavery.
How could someone be so deceived? How could the truth have been so watered down and washed away? How could any Christian hold these views?
“Love,” I said, “brings freedom, and slaves didn’t have freedom or choice. Family doesn’t leave family in bondage.”
