race and progress

I spent the last two days attending the Global Leadership Summit at the Orchard Hill Church satellite site in Cedar Falls, IA.  I always come away inspired by God's community of 200,000+ gathered around the globe to learn and thoughtful about more than a few timely nuggets of coaching and wisdom that God provides me through the speakers' faith, research, experience.

A young high school friend of mine who also attended the Summit was especially excited to hear from Tyler Perry...and excited that I would get to hear him also, as I am not much familiar with his story or work.  I was not disappointed!  What a tremendous smile, gregarious spirit, contagious positivity, delightful interview.  I look forward to being in the company of my young friend when she sits me down to take in some Madea movies in the future.

There's just one place in Perry's interview in which I would like to encourage him, due to his tremendous influence, to go beyond his answer.  Bill Hybels asked Mr. Perry about his take on race in America, given the most recent set of racial tensions exploding in Ferguson, MO, where an unarmed black teen was shot and killed by a police officer, and rioting has ensued for days after.  Tyler Perry responded that he believes each generation is getting better than the last and that we just have to keep opening doors to other people and realize that we all are people with more similarities than differences.

I understand that Perry had like 30 seconds to answer on the complex topic of race, but I would like to suggest to Mr. Perry that his answer won't exactly help the average middle to upper-middle class white person who already doesn't believe that there's much of a race problem...especially on his or her own part. Blind to systemic racism, white evangelicals tend to view racism individualistically and believe that if we're just friendly to our neighbor of color, racism should just disappear in the future.  I was reminded as I read Rachel Held Evans' blogpost this morning, that we will not drift toward a non-racialized society but will only move that direction through a great deal of intentionality and hard work.  To hear that each generation is getting better likely translates to the average white American into a rationalization for inaction and a deepened, stubborn inability to recognize core assumptions and regenerating systems at play.

As our country's minority population grows to the majority, as white dominant culture attempts to hold on to power and wealth, tensions will continue to grow around race and class, I believe.  What a critical time for Christ's people, who, in Christ "regard no one from a worldly point of view (2 Corinth. 5:16)", to confront the -isms of class and race within themselves and at the root.  

I encourage my white friends to be ultra-intentional about growing self-awareness by:

-praying that God would grow you in honesty, openness, and willingness to clearly see reality.
-praying that God would give you a deep hunger for the Kingdom of God.
-reading broadly and educating yourself on the history of race, racialized society, systemic racism.
-taking a class or joining a book study or conversation group around the topic of race relations.
-Browzing through this website:  RACE: Are we so different?
-finding a mentor of color from whom you can learn and follow.
-doing a mental inventory to discover the patterns and things in your life that keep you largely separate from people of other races, ethnic backgrounds, or socio-economic realities.
-Naming some of your fears and pray about them.
-taking yourself out of comfort zones and into contexts you consider "other" in order that you might grow to listen, learn, and love better those of a different race.

Mr. Perry, you mentioned that you use humor to get to the heart of things things that really matter.  I am so grateful for your faith and calling, your creative gifts, your narrative, and your platform and influence to impact the world at the heart level.  I encourage you to keep using humor in ways that will help deconstruct racism so that it will indeed become less and less of an evil due to the reconciling work of Christ in you and through you and your work in this generation.