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our personal white experience with race

1. being white in a counrty filled with racial hate gives us a unique position to speak out against racism

The discussion of racism and white supremacy are difficult conversations to have in our current political climate. The topics often trigger unwanted emotions and are associated with accusation rather than general discussion. Being called a racist or a white supremacist is highly stigmatized and negative and is a classification that many people want to avoid. However, avoiding the conversation of racism and our own role in the system of white supremacy has left us blind to the current racial disparities in our country. We may want to be anti-racism or anti-white supremacy but certain social factors actually force us into unintentional racist and white supremacist acts that we can only prevent if we are willing to discuss racism, white supremacy, and white privilege openly.

Broca chart for determining skin tone. Used for anthropology field work.

2. Implicit Racial Bias

Humans have both explicit and implicit memories. Explicit memories are those that we can easily recall and are aware of. Implicit memories exist outside of the conscious remembrance and exist to help our brain make quick decisions about a certain situation based on our previous personal or learned experiences. Implicit memories are usually formed while we are young before we understand what is happening and thus often exist without our knowledge.¹

Our brain uses implicit memories to make snap judgments about situations which can control our person-to-person interactions as well as our fight or flight responses. The most harmful implicit memories are those around racial bias. Our implicit racial bias has developed throughout the course of our lives and determines how we subconsciously judge humans based on their assumed race or ethnicity. Throughout the history of America, African-Americans have continuously been misrepresented as criminal, less-intelligent, and sub-human. The blatantly inaccurate accusations against African-Americans has led to the development of a negative implicit racial bias. One statistically proven example of implicit racial bias is in the job market. A recent study found that people who had European-sounding names on their resumes were 50% more likely to get an interview than people with non-European names despite the exact same qualifications. Infact, white americans with a criminal record were more likely to get hired than African-Americans with no criminal record.² I am sure that employers who chose European-named individuals would not claim to be racist, rather they subconsciously prefered the European-American candidate from their implicit bias developed over years of mis-representation of African - Americans.

One way implicit racial bias is created is through movies and TV. In a study completed by Vox³ in September of 2016, researchers found that in movies, actors with titles such as “gang member,” “gangster” and “thug” were disproportionately played by African-American men. 60-65% of these roles were played by black men while in reality black men only make up 35% of known gang members.⁴ If our understanding of gangs, comes primarily from movies, our implicit racial bias is trained to see gang members as being predominantly African-American when this is completely incorrect. Without consciously choosing to, we have made a racist judgement of African-Americans just because we were subconsciously influenced by the media.

As we saw in current events one of the most devastating forms of implicit racial bias is racial profiling which has led to the death of hundreds of innocent, unarmed, non-violent African Americans. Few people would claim to be racist just like the officers involved in the shootings. However, we have racism ingrained into our subconscious by our white-centric social structure. This is manifested in many different ways, all of which disadvantage people of color.

“We need to recognize that implicit racial bias can be so powerful it can prompt us to take someone’s life, it can compound and multiply throughout a group so as to collectively justify the hasty taking of a life made in God’s image”

-Ken Wytsma⁵

Consider your own implicit racial bias. If a fight broke out between a white person and a black person who would you assume started it? When you picture a drug dealer what ethnicity are they? When a black person walks behind you at night do you feel more tense than you would if they had been a white person? Or in a scary situation have you felt relieved to see that the person following you was white or that there was another white person in the area? I have made these derogatory snap judgements about African-Americans because of my implicit bias, not because I want to be racist but because I have racism systematically ingrained into me.

Because implicit racial bias is ingrained within us, without our conscious knowledge, we must actively fight it in order to prevent it. Our racial bias causes us to make racist judgements and to associate easier with white supremacist ideals. Fighting our racial bias takes time but it is possible to overcome the bias by exposing ourselves to enough situations that contradict the bias. We must start looking at where our understanding of different cultures and ethnicities come from. Are we being influenced by actual interactions with people who are not white or by what the media and movies show us? We have to learn how to see our implicit racial bias so that we can confront it and stop ourselves from making unconscious racist and white supremacist judgements.

“Our desire for truth has to outweigh our commitment to comfort.”

-Ken Wytsma⁶

The 15 wealthiest people in America

3. White Privilege

White privilege is another difficult topic to discuss because so many people do not understand what it means. To put it simply, white privilege allows you to move through life without being negatively affected by your skin color. In regards to issues of racism white privilege is the ability to walk away when things get uncomfortable, challenging, or generally unpleasant, we can always return to our normal lives unaffected by racism. A misconception of white privilege is that it means we as white people have easy lives. This is of course incorrect. Anyone can suffer, have cancer, go bankrupt, loose a job, live in poverty, but the way we interact with those circumstances and are viewed in those circumstances is often very different provided our skin color. With our white privilege, harm done to us is assumed to be part of a bigger picture outside of our control. White poverty is blamed on economic factors while African-American poverty is blamed on black people’s lack of work ethic.

“In a 2012 survey, only 23 percent of people agreed that racial discrimination was the main reason [for poverty among African-Americans], while 61 percent agreed that ‘blacks who can’t get ahead in this country are mostly responsible for their own condition.’ ”⁷

The assumption that African-Americans are at fault for their own poverty is a misconception that can be caused by the lack of understanding about our white privilege. The economic and social structures of our country work in our favor even when we are unaware of it happening. We do not realize that putting our European name on a resume gives us a 50% higher chance of getting an interview, that the public schools we went to received more government funding, or that we will statistically get jobs that pay us 20% more than equally qualified African-Americans.⁸

White privilege can be statistically measured and identified when it comes to economic benefits. This does not mean that white people do not work hard, or that everything is handed to us. It simply means we get a head start on personal economic growth.

“White Privilege means that even if you're the unluckiest white person born in the United States, you were still born into a fortunate race. It may not always be like this, and things might be changing fast but the privilege afforded to the white race in modern Western history is undeniable.”

-Ken Wytsma⁹

Having white privilege is not something to be ashamed of or something to dampen your personal success. It was not the only factor in shaping the outcome of your life. It is however a statistically measurable advantage given to white people in America that cannot be ignored. If we want to truly take action towards ending racism it will mean dismantling our white privilege to assure that everyone has equal opportunities. We can use the social and economic benefits afforded to us because of our white privilege to call out the systemic racism of our country. Recognizing our white privilege can be a very powerful tool that we can use to create the equality envisioned in God’s kingdom.

“It is only through the power and grace of the Holy Spirit that we can overcome half a millennium of cultural aggressions, racist policies, and abuse. It won't be easy...It will be painful, arduous, and costly. We will make mistakes, we will hurt each other...but as we lay down our privilege and accept responsibility for the world in which we live, love of neighbor and true equality may yet shine through in our future.”

-Ken Wytsma¹⁰

The Creation of Adam painting on the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo

4. Normalcy of Whiteness

There are many different cultures within the US because of the great diversity of people who live in America. There is however a “normal” culture, which is white American culture. As a white American, our white culture is difficult to notice at first. This is because we are so fully immersed in it that we can not view it from an outside perspective. White culture is so normal to us that we do not even notice its existence. An obvious example of the normalcy of whiteness is the use of prefixes. White Americans are simply Americans, whereas non-white Americans have to be: Asian-American, African-American, Hispanic-American, or Native-Americans. It is only white people who can claim to be 100% American. This is also true when it comes to school subjects. Even though we technically study European history, European music and European art the classes are just called History, Music and Art. We can however take classes on African Music, Native American Art, and Chinese History. European history is just as much my ancestry as African history is the ancestry of African-Americans and there are many non European Americans with ancestors who came to North America far before mine did.

Another example is the way both God and Jesus are depicted in the church. God is an immortal being who transcends human appearance and form. However, Jesus was sent to earth in a very specific human form. Jesus was a middle-eastern Jew who would have had dark skin. Ironically, when we look at how God and Jesus are displayed in Christian imagery today, they are both shown as white men. This view that God and Jesus are white men can be very harmful when we take into account the ideas of white supremacy. By viewing God and Jesus as white, we subconsciously allow ourselves to think that they would be pro-white culture, or possibly that they would be anti-non white people. Why is it okay and normal for us to depict God and Jesus as European men when neither of them are?

We must also look at our own lives and recognize how normal whiteness is to us. Consider your closest friend circle. Are they all white? What about your church? Or the influencers you follow on social media? What about the neighborhood you grew up in or live in now, was/is it predominately white? For many of us, the answer is that we are predominantly influenced by other white people and we never thought anything of this. When thinking about this in terms of implicit racial bias, also consider where your opinions of different cultures come from. If your only understanding of non-white cultures come from the media, movies, or from people outside of that culture, are you able to get an honest and accurate perspective? The answer is probably no, as we saw with the example about gang member representation, movies, TV and media rarely give accurate depictions of true human life especially when it comes to ethnic diversity.

The normalcy of white culture leads to the suppression of other cultures. When discussing this topic with people of non-European lineages I have found that the majority of people admit to toning down their cultural practices to make me feel more comfortable. This includes changing the way they eat, the way they speak, and the way they show hospitality. My white culture beats out non-white culture. Daniel Hill, the author of White Awake: An honest look at what it means to be white, first realized the dominance of white culture while attending his friend’s wedding who is of South Asian/Indian descent. Daniel remarked on how he wished that he also had such an amazing culture to which his friend responded:

“Daniel, you may be white, but don’t let that lull you into thinking you have no culture. White culture is very real. In fact, when white culture comes in contact with other cultures, it almost always wins.”¹¹

The notion that white culture is superior to other cultures and thus deserving the title of “normal” is entirely anti Biblical. God clearly created one human race but He did not create one human culture or ethnicity. We see this in the importance of Jesus’ life has a human. Jesus was intentionally born a middle-eastern Jew with a specific cultural identity that was very important to His ministry and the political structure of the time period. Jesus was also not white, given His place of birth and lineage, Jesus would have had dark skin. Throughout his ministry he regularly encounters people of different cultures, welcoming them, going against Jewish traditions.

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

-Galations 3:28

The celebration of cultural diversity is also clear in Revelations when we see a glimpse of what heaven will look like

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands”
-Revelation 7:9

God celebrates cultural diversity so why do white Americans not do this as well?

5. Conclusion

Racism impacts our lives by the ways we are either silent and stand for it, or are vocal and stand against it. We must choose equality for all, over personal gain. If we do not choose this, we not only live in a white supremacist country, but we become white supremacists. Our silence is our support for racism, our in-action allows police to murder, detain, and imprison people of color. To fulfill our role as children of God, we must fight to end the systems of oppression that fill our country. We must step off our white pedestal and lift up the voices of the oppressed. We must realize that we are part of the oppressive group but that we can change that. We must understand what it means to have white privilege and learn how to use it to fight the system of racism instead of being complicit in it. We must confront our racist biases that have been unconsciously ingrained in us so that we do not perform racist actions. We must understand our white culture and the ways our perspectives of other cultures have been warped by it, and we must celebrate and uplift diversity just as the Kingdom of Heaven does

 

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