America will only heal when it fully severs itself from racism and white supremacy—completely. We have to wipe the slate clean. No more excuses for “accidental” racism. No more dismissing harm as misunderstanding. No more minimizing what has been destructive for generations. We need a fresh start.
It is absolutely possible to hold conservative values without being racist. Jesus, in many ways, embodied what people today would call conservative principles—yet He loved everyone, honored their dignity, and treated people as though He truly believed they were made in the image of God (Imago Dei). That is the standard.
Honestly, it feels like we need to start all of this over. A complete reset. A new administration, a new spirit, and a new moral foundation—not because I am conservative, but because I believe in America. I believe in the freedoms we have: the freedom to create political parties, to debate ideas, and to engage in ongoing discourse about what liberty and justice should look like. But as a nation, we must come to a shared agreement on one foundational truth: racism, white supremacy, and every form of it has no place here—none.
Just as Germany publicly denounced Nazism, we must denounce our own past sins—and, truthfully, our present sins as well. We have to name it, reject it, repent, and rebuild. We must begin again so that no matter which political party leads, we can at least stand on this: racism is abolished completely.
And we must also untangle Christianity from racism, because that entanglement is not accidental—it is foundational to America’s history and even to aspects of its founding. But that is not the faith of Scripture. It is not the Gospel. It is a distortion, a counterfeit Christianity that has been used to justify oppression while claiming the name of Christ.
So we need a reset here too—a total rebuilding of what it means to be the Church in this country. That means returning to our churches, our families, and our personal faith, and rejecting the false theology that has been passed down as tradition. We have to stop confusing nationalism with discipleship and power with righteousness.
The Church cannot keep pretending that racial hierarchy and political dominance belong in the same space as the Gospel. We have to separate what has been wrongly fused together for generations and return to a Christianity that reflects the Kingdom of God—not the kingdoms of men.
And we must remember what Jesus made clear: we render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and we give God what belongs to God. The Church’s mission is not to preserve systems. It is to embody truth, repentance, justice, and love. Only then can we truly heal—only then can we truly start anew.
Dr. Anika T. Prather 
We already did “name it, reject it, repent, and rebuild.” That was the precise point of much of what our Constitution was amended to say expressly.
“We the People of the United States” to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves” did in June 1788 “ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” (Preamble). We promptly also declared that “No person” (citizen or not) can be “deprived of life, liberty, or property” before being afforded all process of law” that is “due.” (Amendment V).
But everything in our early Constitution obviously wasn’t nearly enough so the People established and emphasized who “We the People” are: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” are “citizens.” (Amendment XIV, Section 1).
After We the People identified ourselves, we declared that “No State” has any power to purport to “make or enforce any law” that does or would “abridge [any] privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States” or to “deprive any person” (citizen or not) “of life, liberty, or property” before affording such person all “process of law” that is “due” or to “deny to any person” (citizen or not) of “the equal protection of the laws.” (Amendment XIV, Section 1).
But even all the foregoing was not enough to right the wrongs imposed by many on many. So we expressly named and expressly rejected particular evils, including specifically discrimination on account of race, color, previous condition of servitude, sex, wealth or age.
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” (Amendment XV).
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” (Amendment XIX).
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax,” i.e., on account of wealth. (Amendment XXIV).
“The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.” (Amendment XXVI).
Back in 1754 Montesquieu, in “The Spirit of the Laws” emphasized the reason for and meaning of all the foregoing. Montesquieu highlighted (and many of the people who wrote and ratified the foregoing parts of our Constitution understood) that the right to vote isn’t about any mere right. It’s most essentially about sovereignty. Suffrage is the quintessential speech of sovereigns under our Constitution.
“In a democracy the people are in some respects the sovereign, and in others the subject” (of the laws). “The freedom of every citizen constitutes a part of the public liberty; and, in a democratical state, is even a part of the sovereignty [of the people].” “[T]he enjoyment of liberty, and even its support and preservation, consists in every man’s being allowed to speak his thoughts and to lay open his sentiments.”
The “exercise of sovereignty” by citizens is most clearly “by their suffrages, which [is an expression of citizens’ sovereign] will: [by voting and other exercises of the freedom of expression] the sovereign’s will is the sovereign himself. The laws, therefore, which establish the right of suffrage, are fundamental to this government” so it is “important to regulate, in a republic, in what manner, by whom, to whom, and concerning what, suffrages are to be given.”
Amendments XIII, XIV, XV, XIX, XXIV and XXVI already did “name it, reject it, repent, and rebuild.” More of us just need to start acting like we understand and respect our own Constitution.
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