I Bring the Voices of My People: A Womanist Vision for Racial Reconciliation (Prophetic Christianity)

by Chanequa Walker-Barnes

This picture that Dr. Walker-Barnes paints for us is far more than a Browner, more womanly take on racial reconciliation. This is a clarion call to renounce our colonized eyes—to allow ourselves to admit that we are blind and have not seen the Scripture—we have not seen Jesus—until we have seen him through a Brown woman’s eyes. What she sees changes everything.

The prevailing models of racial reconciliation within largely White evangelical and mainline Christian communities fall far short of what is needed to adequately address racism and repair its legacy. Having been disproportionately articulated and advocated by White Christians, racial reconciliation has heavily emphasized the importance of proximity, dialogue, bridge building, forgiveness, and friendship, while largely excluding issues of liberation, justice, and transformation. Much of what passes for racial reconciliation feels like an interracial playdate. Whites leave the playground feeling good about their new friend of color, but the material realities of people of color are unchanged.