A Post-Racial Era -- Not Yet

The present political climate is frightening. As a matter of fact it is down right scary. It seems as though there is a real back lash in this country because we have an African American president. Just two years ago we were hearing that we were in a post-racial era-- well--not yet.

This weeks incident involving Shirley Sherrod is case in point. The right wing media machine was trying to say that the NAACP was as racist as the new Tea Party movement. Well, there are a few things wrong with that. First we seem to be afraid to explain the classic definition of racism--prejudice plus power. This has been written about and talked about in numerous books and articles on racism. Joseph Barndt classic work Dismantling Racism written in the early 90's and the more recent work Understanding and Dismantling Racism: The Twenty-First Century Challenge to White America written in 2007 explains. While a person of color can clearly be prejudice they do not have the overarching power that makes it possible to be racist. Even with a black president this has not changed. The dominant culture in this country still maintains much of the power -- political and economical.

Secondly, has anyone ever heard two wrongs don't make a right. No one says that the NAACP or left leaning politic pundits do not sometimes act with prejudice, but to tarnish an African American woman to make a point isn't right. What the right wing media machine particularly, Andrew Breitbart, did was take a small snippet of a speech given by a woman who had worked her entire life to overcome prejudice, out of context. If anyone had taken the time to view the entire speech they would have heard that she was telling a story of where she started out. When she encountered white farmers that had experienced hardship and had been hurt by an unjust system, she came to the conclusion that it was less about race and more about the 'haves' and 'have nots.' Shirley Sherrod was telling a story of how her prejudice had been replaced by compassion. A white farmer appeared on television to attest to this compassion. Sherrod was being anything but racist.

What has happened? And how do we who believe in Jesus the Christ counteract this constant rush to judgement about people who are different or who have differing views than we do?

Well, I have a few ideas when it comes to race and ethnicity: First, we have to tell the truth. We have to tell the truth about what frightens us. We also have to continue to be willing to tell our stories. Sherrod told her story of overcoming prejudice and we can tell our stories of experiences with those from different ethnic and racial groups.  Secondly, we can educate ourselves on the issues. In my church library there is an entire selection of books on racism including the two volumes named above. We can also be willing to participate in conversation and bible studies that deal with issues of race and culture. One such bible study is written by the ELCA; it accompanies the social statement "Freed in Christ: Race Ethnicity and Culture." This can be found at elca.org on the page that list social statements.

The statement begins:

. . . there is one God and one Lord, Jesus Christ, " . . . through whom are all things and through whom we exist" (1Cor 8:6).

Scripture speaks of one humanity, created by God. It recounts our rebellion and enslavement to sin. Scripture tells of a diverse people reconciled to God through the blood of the cross, a people set free for the work of reconciliation. It heralds a new freedom and future in one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

I long for the reality of this "new freedom and future." It is here in Jesus the Christ, but not yet in how we live our lives. I would love to live in a post-racial era, but this will only become a reality if we work toward this. Are you willing? We really can live together in peace with justice black, white, and brown. We can live together with God's help. Don't you agree?