Greetings!
I’m glad to meet you – virtually! And I look forward to meeting you in Raleigh soon.
I rejoice at the opportunity to share in this work together, giving thanks to God who compelled your Diocesan Leadership to engage in this work…
And to engage in it with me!
So…as a quick aside: you know…when we talk about “engage?” I want to take a moment to give you a bit of a primer on my style…
For one…how about the fact that I’m giving you a primer on my style…and now a primer on the primer?!?!? WHAT??!?!?! (More on my quirky character later…)
Interspersed throughout this dialogue (yes, dialogue: I expect you to respond to the screen as you read, ok?) will be links to resources and supporting documentation for some of the claims I make.
You don’t have to click on ANY of them. There will not be a quiz later. Yet, I do encourage you to pay attention to them. More than likely, I’ma say something to which you’ll respond: “huh?” Or, “yea, right.” Or, “Get the out of here!”
In either case, you might want to check my sources. So, I site my sources! LOL.
Everything to which I refer you, is something I think will help frame our discussion so that our time is most effective – to the glory of God!
Some of the sources may be books I’ve read, and I link you to them in Amazon. In those instances, I have shared an affiliate link and will get a small referral from Amazon if I happened to send you to them in search of something that actually is useful to you.
Always, it’s about the resource for me…satisfying the expectations of intellectual life using social technologies.
All that to say: when you notice the color change on the text, don’t be afraid to click it! You might be pleasantly surprised where that rabbit hole leads!
Now, back to what we’re here for…
When your Standing Committee approached me to do this work, I rejoiced! It was a signal of hope for the Church…
That a Diocese would be brave enough in these times of social/cultural discord to say: “You know, this White supremacy thing is flaring up across America and the world. Maybe we should dig deep and make sure that any remaining vestiges of white supremacist thought and praxis are removed, so that we can better model the Beloved Community?”
Well…to be honest: no one said thatto me…but, that is how I interpreted the engagement that has brought us to this point.
And that’s incredibly exciting!
You see, we believe in repentance – and the grace that is extended to those who avail themselves of this Holy Medicine. And so we know that if we find something heinous within ourselves, we shall overcome. As the psalmist says: “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.”
As a Black man doing this work, looking out – typically – on a sea of White faces, I know that…
I know that repentance makes all things well. I know that no matter how bad it has been, there is nothing God won’t forgive us if and when we repent. I know that once we repent, the Heavenly hosts will rejoice, singing Alleluia – as something truly life-giving is incarnate in our midsts.
And I want us to prepare for that Great cause for Eucharist, as if we expect it to really come and truly desire its coming.
Because, if we truly expect that Christ will come again, and truly desire His Coming: wouldn’t we wish to all be one?
Wouldn’t we be serious about reconciliation? Like…urgently serious, because we truly desire Christ will come to become Christ is coming – and dare I say: “Christ is Here!”
For on the night before He was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ said: “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.”
The oneness to which we are called is not simple language. It’s not the social justice thrusting of Liberals in the Church. It’s not the hegemonic cultural adherence of Conservatives in the Church.
Oneness…
Well…I could go off on that tangent for FOREVER. Oneness if the Chief thing I study. It’s what drives my interpretation of the Faith. I go on – in deeper lengths – about oneness in this free ebook I put together for Pentecost: The Power that We All May Be One.
But, that’s about oneness in a foundational sense. Not simply a racial sense. Racial Reconciliation is only one component of our deficiencies at all being one.
Nevertheless when I come to North Carolina, our focus will indeed be on the racial component of our “oneness problem.”
And I know: we get uncomfortable talking about White Supremacy. People cringe at the term. It tends to evoke a visceral reaction in most, causing (what scholar, Robin DiAngelo terms) “White Fragility.”
At this point, I think it’s appropriate for another sidebar…
So, I am an eclectic sort…
When I was in college, I got into DJ-ing. Never got on turntables. But, I did co-host an extremely popular underground hiphop show on WVUD 91.3 fm Newark, DE. It’s a funny (i.e. racial) story as to how I became host of this show and how we became so popular…. #AskMeLater
My Dad has also had several radio shows over the years. Talk shows. Mainly politics.
So…I’ve always had this thing for radio. But, who does radio anymore…right? And, who really needs radio?!!
Well that’s what I told myself, after experiencing the rejection of my ideas. But…with podcasting: who needs approval?!?! Right?! LOL
Just pure ideation. Put it in the market, and let the market decide if there’s value. The American way…
So, I’ve been podcasting for about 15 years. Most recently, I’ve done two: Blacks with Power, and Racial Heresy.
Racial Heresy I co-host with a brother I met in seminary. Fr. Cayce (who is White) and I took the ruckus refectory conversations of our time at Virginia Theological Seminary and turned them into public explorations of race and faith.
Now back to the main point…
Twice, we’ve spoken with Dr. DiAngelo about her theory of White Fragility and how it manifests in the Church.
- White Fragility: Robin DiAngelo & the White Church’s Fear of Black People
- White Fragility: Robin DiAngelo on White Liberals Protecting Racism
What’s funny about this is how much growth you’ll see from top to bottom between episodes 1 & 2…
The first episode was done before we invested money in equipment and while I was still learning the myriad ways to cross-market content across social media platforms…
Nevertheless, both conversations show two obstacles to this work. If we’re aware of them we can overcome. So, I hope you’ll click those links and give those a listen between now and when I see you!
Because I need all my White brothers and sisters to be present. Not just physically, but mentally…emotionally and most spiritually.
So, I need you to trust me now and confront yourself now…
So you can find a baseline and know when you are being triggered by something I’m presenting or asking you.
And don’t worry White folk. I ain’t letting Black folk off the hook!
And just like how I spoke to them in your presence, I’m going to speak to you in there’s! #SeparateButEqual
We have been conditioned to comfort…
Let me allow that to stew for a moment…
To leave you in that place where you’re wondering what type of comfort I’m mentioning.
We have been conditioned to White Comfort.
Fr. Cayce and I spoke about White Comfort and the way it impacts our relationship (his and mine), in this episode of Racial Heresy. Yet, our conditioning to comfort has been a selfish one.
We’ve comforted Whites in ways to get them to leave us alone…let us be…not take any more than has already been taken. We comfort them because we’ve learned throughout history that comforting them keeps us safe.
It’s part of that subconscious culture resultant from what Dr. Joy DeGruy calls “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome.”
But cum-forte means “with strength.” And therefore, mightn’t we say – as Christians – that comfort is to put someone in a position of strength, enabling them to stand firm in the face of the enemy’s assaults?
You know: encouraging… Placing them in a state of courage, while facing the realities of the world that’s been created…
In the above-referenced episode of Racial Heresy, you’ll see us engage comfort in this way…across color-lines. This is what I think is needed of you, my Black brothers and sisters…my brothers and sisters of color. So, I hope you’d listen to that episode and reflect on the questions posted below the video.
At this point, I know I’ve gone on for quite a while and I really do hope you’ll thumb through these links as you are compelled. So, I better start wrapping up…
Then again…cueing you into more of my character. I can be long-winded! Yet, I suspect I’m not the only cleric with such affliction! LOL
Yet, allow me to simply close with this…
I am hard on the Church because I love the Church. I am hard on the Church because the Church has to be better, if humanity is going to safely navigate these tumultuous times.
Yet, if the Church can’t get right…what shall we expect of the Country?
White folk, I’m back to you. Because this is indeed your Country. You just allow the rest of us to remain – for now. #SendThemBack.
Yet, that is not what America has to be. I personally think She is called to so much more. A More Perfect Union. The only place on earth that could become the Beloved Community. And I rave about my love and defense of Country – from a Christian perspective – in this writing.
But what ultimately matters in shaping American Society is the opinion of whiteness.
So, let’s get the ideation flowing!
Let’s start now to do this work – yes now! The sooner we get started, the more we can accomplish!
I’d like for you to do this quick survey. The Diocese needs you to do it…even if they haven’t asked me to say that! LOL
The point of this work is to cultivate a space where we can be vulnerable, because that’s where the fertile soil is found to yield the most growth.
What that means is: I expect to see ALL KINDS of thoughts and responses. There really is no wrong response – except no response.
And when I said “this quick survey,” I mean as quick as the Spirit allows it to be. So take it during the dedicated prayer time I know you all have! LOL
But seriously…
It’s one (real) question. Then a about 3-4 choice questions.
Your answers will help you get into the mode of though that will be called upon during our session. They will also help me know how best to engage with you, during our time. Thank you in advance, sisters…brothers…
So, let me wrap up with this: I love the Ancient Fathers…the Patristic Period of the Church and the Orthodox tradition. One of the fathers would say: we must practice living in the Kingdom now, if we intend to live in the Kingdom then.
In coming to visit with you and share in this work, my hope is that together we can create fertile ground for an outpost of the real and true Beloved Community that would compel others from all walks of life to join together with those from seemingly opposed walks of life, to journey the Way to the Promised Land, in praise of He who alone Is Life!
See you soon!
In peace,
Jabriel+