Will You Be A Voice of Dissent?
I think James Baldwin said it best: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed unless it is faced.”
. . .
At the beginning of COVID self-isolation, I had this thought: I wonder — now that we all are forced to stop our running around, forced to face ourselves in the stillness — I wonder if our “impurities” will rise to the top, like a boiling pot of soup, demanding to finally be seen and dealt with. When there are no more plates to spin, nothing to be done, and no distractions — Who will I be? What will I care about?
When my life, my essence, is distilled before my eyes,
What will I learn? How will I change?
The State of Our Nation
These questions hold so much more meaning now, 6+ months into COVID, with each new week bringing waves of depletion, devastation, exhaustion…
I was originally asking as an individual in a very weird time. But I see now that these questions are not limited to the individual or the pandemic. They extend to all the systems of our nation, and we can’t stop asking them anytime soon.
If there is one “gift” that I think Donald Trump has given our country these last four years, it’s the EXPOSURE of so many things we were trying to DENY. With as many lies as our president has told, he has revealed just as many Terrifying Truths. Our “impurities” have been rising to the top, like a boiling pot of soup, demanding to finally be seen and dealt with. The essence of our country is being distilled before our eyes…
Who will we be? What will we care about? What will we learn? How will we change?
After the inauguration of our first Black president in 2008, so many of us (myself included) thought of racism as a thing of the past. We were so far removed from the Black experience — in our own separate realities — it seemed like equality had been achieved. In our naivety and ignorance (our “whiteness”) we chose not to see or believe.
THEN… Trump started calling Mexicans rapists and drug dealers, calling Haiti and African nations “shithole countries,” telling non-white Congresswomen to “go back” to where they came from, choosing to declare “very fine people on both sides” rather than condemn neo-Nazis and white nationalists. And we, the white people — some of us, at least — began to wake up to the other realities beyond just our own.
Trump wasn’t inventing anything new; he was revealing what was already there (but had been carefully buried or denied). He was validating, empowering, and emboldening those who already held these ideas in their hearts. And exposing the little bits of prejudice inside each of us.
Now, we can no longer deny the presence of racism and white supremacy in our country (or in ourselves). We can no longer deny how very steeped we are in it; even how attached we are to it. We can no longer deny that to vote for Trump is to validate, empower, and embolden racism in our broader culture (can we?!).
We can no longer look away or wish for some elusive and romanticized “return to the past” (for the Black community, THERE ARE NO “BETTER TIMES” TO GO BACK TO!) As much as we colonizers may spin the story in our own favor, and reminisce on the “good old days,” the TRUTH is held in the hearts of the oppressed. We can’t make America great AGAIN when it hasn’t YET been great (read: equitable for all).
We are being forced to face these (and so many more!) Terrifying Truths, and reckon with the contents of our hearts and the heart of the nation.
Who will we be? What will we care about? What will we learn? How will we change?
The State of the White Evangelical Church
I suppose some would like to try to reclaim and redeem the word “evangelical” (if that’s you, I wish you luck). You have your work cut out for you. Because, in the eyes of those outside the bubble, the picture is crystal clear: White Evangelicals — whether truly devoted or simply deceived — will go down in history on the side of the oppressor; as associates of Trump.
The collective decision of (81% of) white evangelicals to hitch their wagon to Trump and his promises, has since backfired into an explosion of Terrifying Truths. It has revealed what was already there, but had long been strategically deflected or denied:
…that this is no longer a church defending the rights of the oppressed, fighting for dignity and justice for those on the margins, giving voice and honor to the outcasts. No longer a church willing to sacrifice comforts and safety for “neighbor,” serve and forgive enemies, or speak truth to power. No longer a church with good news. No longer a church following Jesus.
I’d even argue that (segments of) this church don’t simply like Trump, but are like Trump — they have so much in common, actually! Fueled by FEAR of losing, using power to condemn (not save), inflicting pain and shame on whole communities, happy to exclude anyone who disagrees, pushing to “go back” to an idealized past to preserve “what was,” always poised for battle. Trump is precisely the “Messiah” some of you have been waiting for…
But, Trump’s is a counterfeit god and gospel, shaped in his own image, and seeking his own preservation and power — AT ANY COST. What does Jesus and his upside-down Kingdom have to do with that?
The essence of this (version of) “church” has been distilled before our eyes; its heart laid bare for all to see. The question is, will it face its own Terrifying Truths? Or will it continue in denial?
You Have Permission
I’m fully aware of how harsh some of this sounds, but I don’t say it angrily — as a call-out or condemnation. I’m saying it as a reality check, based on the “scum” so many of us (disappointed, disillusioned) see rising to the top of the boiling pot of soup that is the American church.
Now’s the time to scoop out the scum.
It won’t happen if we disengage. It only happens if we activate, take responsibility, stand up, and name the ugly.
Those of us who have left the old faith, the old church — we are not the “lost” ones. We are doing the hard, existential, uncomfortable work many have been avoiding. We are leaning into the uncertainty; the UNEARTHING. It’s the only thing we know to do.
And now, I think the tide is starting to turn.
We’ve been dissenting — with our voices, our votes, our purchasing power. With where we decide to go to church (or not), where we make donations, where (and to whom) we give our time.
And, I want you to know that you have permission to do the same.
Dissent against white supremacy, ESPECIALLY in church! Again. And again. And again. Until it sinks deep into the souls and the bones of our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren — and reverberates out in justice for our BIPOC brothers and sisters.
Dissent against hate, cruelty, dehumanizing language, double standards, the blame game, misinformation, intimidation tactics, hypocrisy, lies, greed, lust for power, fearmongering, enemy-making, vengeance, and violence coming out of Washington.
Dissent poverty, housing discrimination, health care disparities, voter suppression, family separation, those being exploited for their labor (be it the incarcerated or undocumented), police brutality coming out of our nation’s policies and systems.
Dissent suspicion against Black leaders…the misrepresenting, falsely accusing, insulting, name-calling, criticizing, discrediting, dismissing, and demonizing. Call it out for what it is: RACISM.
Dissent your religion being used and manipulated to further political agendas. Christian Nationalism. Making political candidates into Messiahs. A white-washed gospel, a colonized Bible, and all those images of blonde/blue-eyed Jesus.
Get the Ugly Out
We have got to get the ugly out — the ugly of our individual hearts, the church, the oval office, and our country’s systems — before we can hope to forge a better future on equitable ground.
Admission is the first step. We need to acknowledge our SIN — the sin of WHITE SUPREMACY — to turn from it.
To call white supremacy/racism what it is (sin) is NOT to hate America or democracy, as our president seems to think. It is to love the people who make up America; to fight for the ideals we hold dear, like freedom and justice for all…
Please don’t trust a narrative (or a narrator) that makes “whiteness” superior, objective, exceptional, or white-washes history. Unless that is, you support the commodification, extermination, demonization, and indoctrination of people different than YOU (4 pillars of white supremacy according to Chanequa Walker-Barnes).
Don’t accommodate it. Don’t allow it oxygen to breathe and grow. Name it. Call it out. Squash it. Stomp it. Dig out the roots. Kill it. It has no place in our country and no place in our faith.
Who will you be? What will you care about? What will you learn? How will you change?
Will you do your part in scooping out the “scum” wherever it appears?
Will you be a voice of dissent?
For more from Chanequa Walker-Barnes, grab yourself a copy of I Bring the Voices of My People!
