Questioning Our Presuppositions on Race

(This is an edited transcript from Episode Fifty Seven of The Messy Reformation podcast. You can find the full version of the podcast here.)

Unhelpful Assumptions

Willy: You don’t really know somebody until you actually sit with them and spend time with them day after day. You get to see them through joys and through struggles, or even just mundane things like history class where you’re struggling with homework. Those are the moments when the Lord really uses his means to accomplish his purposes.

I think many people have these preconceived notions about the African-American community saying, “They’re not well-spoken. They’re not articulate. Their reading level is very low. The culture is kind of degenerate and more rundown. They’re more recipients of welfare. The single motherhood rate in these neighborhoods is very, very high.” I think they kind of conflate those issues with the actual ethnicity of the people in mind.

Once we break down some of those barriers, we can show that race and culture are two very, very different things. In my experience, culture matters a lot more in this country—and in this world—than race ever has.

Positive Trends in the US

Jason: Do you see positive things happening with the conversation about race in the United States and the CRC?

Willy: I actually do—not immediately in the Christian Reformed Church, but I will say in the broader United States. We’ve seen the African-American unemployment rate at the lowest it has ever been in history, especially in the last couple of years. That is something very encouraging—African-Americans saying, “I’m not just going to be a recipient. I’m not just going to be a victim. I’m going to pick myself up by the bootstraps and find my individual purpose and capacity—my communal purpose and capacity—and go out and get a job and bring home the bacon” either for yourself or for your family.So that is very encouraging.

African-American voting trends are also encouraging. I believe voting is a civic duty. I always have. That was instilled in me at a very young age. So, seeing voter turnout increase in the African-American community—seeing that civic virtue at the forefront of their minds—is very encouraging today.

Pushing Back Against the Cultural Narrative

Another thing I see as very encouraging is the pushback against the dominant culture right now. The African-American community is saying, “We don’t have to be defined by our race. We can be defined by what we believe, how we behave. We don’t have to be defined by the color of our skin.” We’re seeing a large pushback. African-Americans are hosting podcasts specifically talking about these issues (I’m thinking of The Hodge Twins in particular. They’re fun to listen to).

I think this pushback is a reaction against the ideology that places people in a particular collective, then assumes they must live a certain way. If you’re told your entire life, “You’re never going to get a job. You’re going to have this many kids before you’re 30, with this many women. You’re always going to be a welfare recipient. You’re never going to be well spoken or articulate. You might not even graduate high school.” If you’re told those things over and over and over again, multiple things can happen. First, you might believe those things and self-fulfill those prophecies that have been put in front of you.

Thankfully, we’re seeing people question these presuppositions, asking, “Why do you see things this way? Why do you think that my color or my shade of skin will determine the things I do, the things I believe, or the way I act?” When we ask those questions, we tend to the conclusion, “I don’t have to live this way. I can graduate from high school. I can go get a job and not be permanently poor in the United States. I can wait until after high school before I start having kids.” So there is a reaction to some attitudes and beliefs and behaviors that are imputed on the African-American community.

Jason: Where are you hearing these voices on a regular basis?

Willy: I don’t want to throw anybody particularly under the bus, but I will just say it: It is the broader left culture. It is the social justice activists and the BLM activists who are saying these things.

And that’s another thing I can say is encouraging. I have stood in opposition to organizations like BLM for years now. So, it’s also encouraging to see African-Americans, and even white people, pushing back against movements like BLM from a biblical and Christian perspective.

By What Standard?

I’ve always found it interesting when secularists and materialists give themselves the authority to say that anything matters. When they try to argue that something matters, my response is, “Given your worldview and your presuppositions about the world, how can you say anything matters? How can you say that one life does or doesn’t matter over another? What gives you the right? And, by what standard are you actually judging these things so that you can give an actual accounting of what does and doesn’t matter?”

I think it’s only a belief in the Triune God, revealed in scripture, that gives us a standard. He has given us his Word, and He has told us what matters. He has written on our hearts that we’re all made in the image of God and therefore everybody’s life has intrinsic value because God has bestowed that upon them as his image bearers.

Concerns With Black Lives Matter

Jason: What are some specific concerns you have with the Black Lives Matter movement?

Willy: My biggest push back is turning everything, in every instance, into a race issue. That’s probably one of my biggest problems.

One of the worst things you can be called today, at least in 2022, is a racist. You can lose business capital, financial capital, fellowship capital, personal reputation, just because someone called you a racist. Personally, I believe you have to discern somebody’s intentions before you can make an assertion like that. You have a lot of homework to do.

Turning everything into a race issue makes these battles unwinnable. We’re being forced to fight these battles on their terms and conditions. Well, they’re completely unrelated to the issue at hand. It’s an unwinnable argument. So, I just call it out and say, “I’m not going to fight this battle under your terms. Go ahead and look for instances of racism where there are none.”

I prefer to evaluate things based on their merit and what is true. If there are instances of real racism, then I want to stand with you and I want to fight these things because everybody is made in the image of God. That value has been bestowed on them and they deserve to be treated as such. If they’re calling foul ball and it is actually a foul ball, then let’s find the foul ball and let’s play the game. Let’s keep going. But calling somebody racist, while having no basis for it, is disingenuous, and it’s creating a battle that can’t be won.

I was in boxing for a couple of years as a teenager. They’re throwing punches at things you cannot see. Actually, they’re throwing punches at an opponent that doesn’t exist. I’m not saying that racism—in specific instances—doesn’t exist or that racist people do not exist. But, when they say that everybody who is an ethnic majority is inherently racist—Well, I’m sorry—We’ve ceased from being able to have an intelligible conversation on a neutral playing field. You’re asking me to concede to that before I can actually fix the problem that’s at hand.

Carefully Defining Terms

I think we need to make people define their terms a little more carefully. Even in White Fragility, Robin D’Angelo’s definition kind of flutters here and there—it changes mid-book. I think the universally agreed upon definition of racism is: discrimination against somebody based on their race or ethnicity. The inconsistent thing about some of these people is that their definition changes depending on what they do or don’t want to talk about.

So we need to be honest about our terms and about things we can actually agree on. We also need to be honest about the actual issues at hand and calling things out in individual instances. If there are individual instances of real racism, then let’s partner together and let’s fight that together.