by Rev. Vonnie James, Grenada Baptist Association
Have you ever imagined that God was dead? Well in societies where years of exploitation, marginalisation, oppression, and subjugation exist, God seems dead.
The United States is one of these societies, where whiteness has prevailed so much, that for non-whites, God seems unable to bring liberation to God’s oppressed people, the way God did for the oppressed people of Egypt (Exodus 3, Exodus 9). Whiteness in the United States has become a clear and present danger to non-white people, especially to Black Americans, Caribbean and people of African descent living in this atmosphere. The recent international protest that started in the US, against police brutality and all forms of inequalities that have had worldwide implications for churches and governments is an attest to the problem of whiteness.
Using the theoretical concept of whiteness within a socio-historical framework, this writing aims to (1) bring attention to whiteness (2) inquire whether whiteness has affected the Grenadian and the Caribbean communities (3) explore some options to reduce its impact. As we proceed, however, it is important to note that public issues such as race, racism, racial inequalities, racial injustice and race relations all are related to the larger issue of whiteness. Therefore, we should discuss them in relation to this concept of whiteness. This article will attempt only to give a very brief description of whiteness.
Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre says, “‘Whiteness,’ like ‘colour’ and ‘Blackness,’ are essentially social constructs applied to human beings rather than veritable truths that have universal validity. The power of Whiteness, however, is manifested by the ways in which racialised Whiteness becomes transformed into social, political, economic, and cultural behaviour. White culture, norms, and values in all these areas become normative natural. They become the standard against which all other cultures, groups, and individuals are measured and usually found to be inferior (Henry & Tator, 2006, p. 46-47). “Whiteness studies [explore] what it means to be White in the United States and the global community,” and constitute “a growing body of books, articles, courses, and academic conferences,” (Rodriguez 1999:20).
Rightly observed, “America is inherently a “white” country: in character, in structure, in culture. Needless to say, black Americans create lives of their own. Yet as a people, they face boundaries and constrictions set by the white majority. America’s version of apartheid, while lacking overt legal sanction, comes closest to the system even now…” (Hacker 1992:4). Unfortunately, “Whiteness has been made to appear natural, that is, as objective scientific fact, in US cultural and legal history,” says Alex Mikulich (PhD) in his article “Race, Racism, and Whiteness.” Alex Mikulich is an anti-racist Roman Catholic social ethicist and activist.
Whiteness is complex, compelling and continues to be a very problematic issue. We know this because (a) all major institutions in the US have policies on racism, inclusion and the likes, surrounding whiteness; (b) with the recent uprising against police brutality and inequality in the US, numerous institutions across the world have released statements on the issue, including St. George’s University (Grenada) and the University of the West Indies-Mona (Jamaica). In these statements, these institutions categorically and clearly condemn all forms of racism, violence, intolerance, hate, and bigotry; (c) there is a quiet exodus in the USA that reached a crescendo in 2016, that saw black people leaving white churches, mostly because of the silence of the white evangelical on issues such as police brutality, racial inequality and such vices. See “A Quiet Exodus: Why Black Worshipers Are Leaving White Evangelical Churches“ an article that Campbell Robertson (2018) wrote in the New York Times.
So what? As a black, Caribbean person of faith in Grenada who often takes on the role of public theologian in the sphere of the Christian tradition, I or no one can deny the complicity of the white evangelical community in the USA on the issue of whiteness. That is a deep theological concern. Because of whiteness, God’s justice seems incapable of addressing vices that affect the black community and that makes the question of whether God is dead for black America and other non-whites is a justifiable one. Because expressed or not, some are beginning to question this God because of whiteness. So, either God is dead or God is only for white people.
I do not believe that God is dead. But if God seems dead for the black community, can we blame them? In religious education and formation, whiteness has seen a generation of Grenadian And Caribbean churchgoers growing up with a concept of Jesus as a White man? That is, despite many scholars, including Robert Eisler in a classic 1931 study of “Josephus’s Testimony” proving otherwise. And who is challenging Samaritan Purse, a US based Christian organisation that works in the Caribbean, when for example they distribute white dolls in their Operation Christmas Child programme in Haiti and the rest of the Caribbean?
Further, who is challenging the religious imageries of ‘white Jesus’ in artworks, in our edifices and colour code evangelism tools which almost always use ‘black’ or non-white as the colour for sin or death?
In Grenada and the Caribbean, we should challenge whiteness through public education such as intellectual debates, Bible studies on racial issues and ensuring that the languages we use in church and society do not place whiteness as the standard.
We should also challenge whiteness from a Biblical and theological position. God created all humans equal (Genesis 1:26-28) and that all humans regardless of the colour of their skin have a right to self-actualisation in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:28-29) a concept that whiteness, ideologically opposes. In fact, we should literally remove any images of white Jesus, reject any books, paraphernalia or otherwise, that paints black as sinful, evil or associated with death. In situations where we present Jesus as white, we and our congregations should repent. Because in fact, the historical Jesus was not ‘white’, in any way, shape or form.
References
Guess, T. J. (2006). The Social Construction of Whiteness: Racism by Intent, Racism by Consequence. Critical Sociology, 32(4), 649–673. https://doi.org/10.1163/156916306779155199
Hacker, A. (2003). Two nations: Black and white, separate, hostile, unequal. New York: Scribner’s.
Rodriguez, Roberto. 1999. “The Study of Whiteness. (Caucasians)” Black Issues In Higher Education 16(6):20–25.
Tator, C., & Henry, F. (2006). Racial profiling in Canada: Challenging the myth of “a few bad apples”. Toronto [Ont.: University of Toronto Press.
Jesus = biggest con man in history. Son of God WALOB. Been filching peoples money away and peddling false hope for 2000 years ffs. It’s b0llax.
I find the subject interesting. Although I find it more to do with history, politics and religion rather than our Great and Almighty God! I’ve noticed, sadly when times are hard we tend to blame Pa Pa God, but we need to take responsibility for our own actions. Our God is a loving God and he has given us freedom of choice. Greed and temptation is usually the cause of our problems, if not directly by us but by our fellow humans. We should pray to God for wisdom and he will give it to us. I agree, we should paint our God in our own image as other cultures do, and buy our children black dolls in their image rather than white dolls, to teach them from an early age that they too are beautiful (spiritually and visually). Importantly, we need to educate about our history and change the narrative – be positive about ourselves! We are wonderfully made. As people of African descent we are no longer slaves, our fore-fathers/mothers were brutalised and enslaved by evil people but they fought hard and died for their/our freedom so we need to take of the mental shackles and stand up for ourselves. We are not who the white racists say we are. We are welcoming, kind and caring. We were not the ones who enslaved and brutalised other humans for greed , vanity and wealth. They divided us, in order to rule over us and they are still using the same tactics today. So for the sake of our future generation it’s time for us to wise up and continue to move forward not – look upto the Europeans as better than us or to lead us, but we must be confident in who we are Great – God fearing people. Togetherness, peace and love.
Rev Vonnie, thank you for choosing to write on this subject at this critical and traumatic time. I believe that Whiteness is a clear and present danger as it has had such a negative impact on the lives of Blacks the world over. I am saddened to read some of the responses to your article. I hold the church responsible to a large degree for this complacent attitude that perpetuates racism and all its inhumanity.
For the person who says that All Lives Matter, yes, I agree but from my daily lived experience that does not appear to be the case. It seems that at present and historically only White lives mattered and unless Black and all other minorities lives matter then all lives does not matter. So please don’t deflect from the issue. Many whites behave as if only white lives matter so we need to remind people that Black lives do matter as only when that is demonstrated will we know that all lives matter. BLACK LIVES MATTER and if Black people don’t see that then it is a form of self-loathing
To begin with slave owners did not want preachers to speak to the slaves but in time that was changed as the preachers, told them that thy could only be free in Christ but must continue to be subservient to their cruel masters, that message has changed little since emancipation and is so woven into the fabric of our society that many injustices goes unchallenged. I wonder if we would dare to send black dolls to charities in a white dominant country. I wonder how the people of England would react if all the books given to their white children showed the queen of England as black which she clearly isn’t, just as Jesus was a Palestinian Jew and NOT white.
Bob Marley sang of emancipating ourselves from mental slavery, wow, we certainly need it now. I too at one time did not see clearly until my road to Damascus experience came and the scales fell from my eyes. Wake up from sleep my sisters and brothers. Our Lives matter.
Psalm 14:1 (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
14:2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
So yes God is alive and true, unlike this article.
Repent of your sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
God was never alive to be dead, All lives matter, Black White, Yellow, brown. Using the words Black lives matter is racist.