How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice

by Jemar Tisby

Thinking of racial justice as a journey helps us focus on each step without growing discouraged when we don’t make the progress we desire. The destination is racial equity and justice for people of every racial and ethnic background. The endpoint is harmony, where unity in the midst of diversity prevails. But viewing racial justice as a journey encourages us to think about fighting racism as an ongoing series of steps rather than a final point of completion. Instead of defining success by the results we achieve, we should define it by the actions we take. The effectiveness of our actions is not solely determined by their outcomes but also by the fact that we are taking steps forward and moving in the right direction.

As we begin to treat each other with more love and empathy, it will not only change the world around us; it will also change us. As I have taken steps to promote racial justice, I have developed more endurance, discovered untapped wells of creativity, and experienced more joy than I ever expected. The journey of racial justice is itself transformative.

This book is an invitation to dream. It is an open door for you to explore the possibilities of a world in which racism does not define so much of our reality, an opportunity to reimagine a life where we acknowledge our differences but do not use them to dismiss or dehumanize others.

Others may criticize the practices proposed here as “liberal,” “leftist,” “socialist,” “Marxist,” “Communist,” or “promoting critical race theory.” But such accusations are ahistorical. Some of these ideas for fighting racial justice have been offered for centuries. Extending voting rights to people of all races and ethnicities, for instance, has been around since the founding of the United States. Black activists and ministers have proposed the idea of reparations for slavery since before the end of the Civil War. Labels used pejoratively like those above typically ignore the continuity of racial justice movements throughout different historical eras. Instead of reflexively rejecting recommendations, test the ideas themselves for their impact on racial and ethnic minorities. Let mutual respect, humility, and solidarity with the oppressed lead you to your conclusions about what must be done to ensure racial justice.

While there are always precursors leading to that action, there eventually comes a moment when a person decides that doing nothing is more costly than doing something. W. E. B. DuBois once said, “The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.”21 When that becomes true for you, you will be ready to take the next step on the journey toward racial justice.

As we will see below, the Christian doctrine of the image of God teaches that all people have inherent worth and dignity simply because they are God’s creation. This ontological significance means that no person of any racial or ethnic group should hold a superior place over anyone else because of their background or appearance.

White supremacy, of which racism is a component, constructs concentric circles with white people of European descent in the center, the place of privilege and importance. Those in or near the center enjoy greater access to professional opportunities, more access to high-quality education, more financial wealth, and the presumption of innocence and normality.

From beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, God has planned for a racially and ethnically diverse church. This heterogeneity is not a mistake or a backup plan. Diversity is God’s “plan A” for the church. In order to fight racism, people who advocate for racial justice must become aware of the scope of God’s deliverance and the Lord’s all-encompassing love for all peoples.

Yet I find it odd that some people seem more willing to learn from the theologies of slaveholders than the theologies of the enslaved and oppressed. The presumed theological and intellectual superiority of European and white sources is itself an example of white supremacy and should be confronted whenever you teach about biblical ideas of race and ethnicity.

As journalist and author Renni Eddo-Lodge explained it in her book Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race, “Everyone has the capacity to be nasty to other people, to judge them before they get to know them. But there simply aren’t enough black people in positions of power to enact racism against white people on the kind of grand scale it currently operates against black people.”15

The erroneous concept of “reverse racism” and the perception among some that white people have it harder in the United States because of race than people of color is a characteristic sign of people who have much further to go in their racial identity development.

A hypothetical conversation with an elementary school age child about racial justice might go like this: Have you ever noticed that people look different? Some are tall, some are short. Some have caramel skin or chocolate skin. These differences make life fun and never boring. But sometimes people do bad things, and we treat each other differently just because of how we look or where we come from, or how we talk. But there’s something you can do about that. There are lots of things we can do to help people feel safe, valued, and loved. Awareness: First, we need to learn about who they are. Instead of being scared of differences, we can celebrate them. Relationships: We should also be excited about being friends with all different kinds of people. People who have different hair, clothes, food, and languages than we do. We might discover something new to like about the world, and people with lots of different friends do the best job of getting along with others. Commitment: But just like you have rules in school, you’ll have rules as a grown up too. Have you ever thought a rule was unfair? Just like people can be mean to each other, an unfair rule is kind of like being mean. As you get older you’ll see lots of rules that seem unfair. The question is what are you going to do about it? If you see something wrong, you absolutely have the ability to raise your voice, take action, and try to change the rule. You won’t always be able to make the changes you want, but it’s trying t...

In his piercingly insightful essay, “Unnameable Objects, Unspeakable Crimes,” James Baldwin reflected on the importance of history. Baldwin explained, “For history, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read. And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do.”1 History is alive.

As people concerned about racial justice grapple with the contradiction of living in the “Land of Liberty” that was built on the displacement and murder of Native Americans, one proactive measure we can take is to learn who the original inhabitants were and where they are now. Several tools now exist to remind us of who originally lived on the land we currently occupy.12 If you go online, you can find interactive maps that allow you to enter an address or a zip code, and it will tell you which nations originally lived on the land in that area. Beyond simply knowing the name of the nation, you can go further by learning its history. What language did they speak? What treaties or wars led to their displacement? What is the state of the nation in the present day?

Another objection some have is that whatever Confederate symbols may have meant in the past, their connotation now is more positive. “Heritage not hate” is the refrain often invoked in the defense of Confederate iconography. The problem with “heritage not hate” as a defense of contemporary Confederate symbolism is that insofar as the Confederacy existed to defend race-based chattel slavery, its heritage is hate. It is the hatred of freedom, of the image of God in Black people, and of unity. There is much to celebrate about the culture and traditions prevalent in the southern United States—Blues music, catfish, Margaret Walker Alexander, and much more.19 Why represent a region and a culture whose heritage you appreciate with the most reprehensible aspect of that place? For Christians, Scripture teaches us, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves” (Phil. 2:3). Selfishness says, “This symbol represents heritage not hate to me, even though it represents terror and dehumanization to others.” Humility says, “Whatever attachments I may have to Confederate symbols and monuments, I value others enough to consider their pain over my pride.” Monuments and symbols are about memory—how we choose to remember the past. They are about who gets included and who gets left out of our narratives. For too long people invested in white supremacy have inscribed the celebration of whiteness and denigration of people of color into our ...

As we have been learning, the mere accumulation of facts will not change the racial status quo. Nor will a commitment to systemic change alone build bridges of interpersonal understanding. People need a personal motivation to disrupt the regular patterns of racism in their own lives and in society. Often it is a relationship or friendship that changes a person’s perspective. Reading a book about the Civil Rights movement can be helpful, but hearing the grief in the voice of someone who lived through it will leave a more lasting impression. It is difficult to pursue effective structural remedies to racism if you have little understanding of the personal experiences of marginalized people. Relationships make reconciliation real and motivate us to act.