There are many who work in non profits, schools, universities, colleges, churches, etc. who either witness forms of racism (subversive or overt) or experience it as a minority working within the organization. When people witness it or experience it within an organization that is doing good for humanity there is a fear of exposing it, because you don’t want to be the one that hurts the good work that is happening. There is even a sense of gratefulness people have about just being “allowed” be part of the good work. Leadership may even seek to guilt employees, volunteers, patrons, etc. into remaining silent, because saying something about the racism will tarnish the reputation of those who have changed so many lives for the better. People should just be grateful they have been invited to be part of the work, so they keep silent. Somehow expressing your hurt about a racist experience makes you seem guilty of being unthankful. This right here is a clear sign of a deeper problem, because this is denouncing your equal humanity, who is worthy to feel hurt and offense. Black people especially have been trained to hold their pain for so long, for fear of some type of consequence (i.e. being lynched, having a child sold away, losing a job, etc.), because when we do, there is a response of “How dare you? I have done so much for you by just letting you be here.” All the while you have also worked hard to support the work that is being done. In these times people often forget that they are equally human and deserve to be treated as such….so there is silent suffering.
If we look at the history of America, we will see that America’s whole history is founded in “good work” being done rooted in White supremacy. This has actually created the mess we are in today. Spreading the gospel was used to abuse, oppress and “evangelize” the Native people. Slavery was justified by people thinking they were saving those pagan African souls, by snatching them from their homeland and holding them captive here. I literally cringe when I read an autobiography or biography that talks of a person of color changing their given name to a “Christian” name, usually after meeting some missionary someplace. My goodness the audacity.
The reason it is so important to speak up about racism when working in organizations, is because it is part of breaking the cycle of White supremist humanitarianism. America is notorious for this type of “good work.” But this is a dark work. It is an evil work. To me, I don’t care how much good is being done, if the foundation is White supremacy then it is meaningless to me, but if there is a community effort to bring change going forward then God’s grace abounds. God loves to give millions of second chances. There is still time to change the foundation of White supremacy to a foundation of LOVE. God knows we are human and so there’s always time to start over. There’s always time to put aside unforgiveness. There’s always time to put aside the pride that wants to make ourselves the center. There’s always time to embrace loving our neighbor. In creating space to have honest conversations, doing the soul searching and being humble enough to be the change, we create a beautiful new path forward.
When serving humanity, we must come from a place of humility. We must come from a place of servanthood. We must come from a place of recognizing our own human failings, instead of thinking our perfect selves are somehow chosen by the Almighty to save the world. Most importantly, we must recognize that the people we serve or work with or who work for us are also equally human.
One clear sign that an organization has a foundation of White supremacy can be seen in if they do more work to cover up the racism than rooting it out. If they work hard to protect the source of racism, then holding them accountable or removing them from the organization, then they are inauthentic. If they spend more time excusing the racism, then seeking to listen to the person that has been offended, then they are insincere. If they work harder to find ways that the person sharing their experience with racism is flawed, paranoid, “too sensitive”, etc., then they do not seek to really reach mankind for good. The work is performative. It is merely for their own pat on the back. The good work is not really for those they claim to want to reach, but it is so they look good. If the diverse community who works for the organization are afraid of losing their job if they speak up, then the organization is merely doing the good work to give the illusion of being concerned about humanity. When a Black person or any other ethnicity does not feel an organization that claims to be concerned about racial equity, is a safe space to share their experiences with racism, there is a reason why. Somehow that organization has shown in the past that their ears and eyes are closed to having that conversation. That organization has demonstrated that those who are the source of the racism are more important than those who are the victims of it. An organization functioning in this way does not deserve to be protected. They deserve to be held accountable.
Efforts in accountability should not be done for the sake of vengeance. We should never allow vengeance to be the motivation. We actually should speak up because we actually do love the work of doing good for humanity! If you do it in love, respect, and even with discreetness, maybe growth and change can happen. Racism left unchecked, has destroyed so many lives. Calling out racism should be done to save us all from America’s habit of the continuous and vicious cycle of good deeds being done at the sacrifice of Black and Brown people, in order to preserve the illusion of goodness, that is really covering the darkness of racism. I sometimes think DEI gets mixed up in this illusion, but that’s for another blog post.
I write this to encourage those who are working in these types of spaces. My experience comes from when I attended Christian schools. My philosophy about staying in the space and fighting for change comes from that experience. My parents could have pulled my brother and I out, but they would talk to us daily about staying there and fighting for what is right. How can change come if we all keep running away from one another? I tend to just stay until either change comes or someone puts me out. The one Christian school that did put all the Black students out, my parents marched right back into the school and made them let us back in. My parents believed that someone had to be the one to break the cycle! The Christian schools that allowed God to bring authentic change are still thriving today. I attended one where I watched and experienced the growth and it was absolutely beautiful. It was beautiful, because WE ALL CHANGED. God birthed in me a heart of forgiveness and grace and I saw mindsets that were clouded by White supremacy evolve into seeing that God is NO respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). I graduated from there and am proud to say I am a graduate of that place because they had the courage to allow God to do the work in them. Those Christian schools that resisted change closed down.
God cannot really bless our work if it is not rooted in his AGAPE love. God cannot ultimately bless ANY good deeds rooted in inequity. Jesus showed us how he hated inequity by how he turned over the tables in the Temple (please look up why he turned them over…it wasn’t just because they were selling stuff), talked to the woman at the well, ate with Zacchaeus, and invited Mary Magdalene who was possessed with demons to follow him. I tend to think that most times people are unconscious of racism’s residue in their hearts (remember God looks at the heart), but are stuck in how things have always been or have not been trained to change the generational curse of White supremacy in their mentality. Or maybe pride prevents them from doing the necessary soul searching to excavate what lies deep within. Sometimes when we stand with our human brothers and sisters and speak the truth in love about the racism we experience, then God can change hearts. I have seen it happen too many times to give up, so I keep working on this wall and prayerfully others will join me and we can all fix this mess together.
Dr. Anika T. Prather 