This morning the sermon at church
called for American Christians to engage in a season of lament following the
tragic shootings in Charleston. I have thought about putting some of my
thoughts into written words a few times in the aftermath of Charleston, but this
finally gave me a framework with which to collect my thoughts. I agree with
Pastor Harrison that it is high time Americans took seriously both the nation’s
history and its present reality, rather than celebrating blind patriotism and
ignoring the problems. Unfortunately for many American Christians, engaging in lamentation
over the country’s problems also requires confronting some deeply-held myths
that have been perpetuated—some for decades, some for even longer—about what it
means to be an American, and about what it means to be a Christian.
Most dangerous among these myths is
the two-headed monster that claims that Christianity and patriotism are one and
the same and that America is a Christian nation. This myth is dangerous because
it causes many Christians to find any questioning of America’s greatness borderline
heretical, and it is impossible to lament our nation’s history and difficult present
if we refuse to acknowledge America’s propensity for failure. I do not know
exactly when and where this idea began, but I would guess that it could be
traced back at least to the idea of Manifest Destiny[i] in
the mid-19th century, if not to the landing of the Mayflower at
Plymouth Rock in 1620. This myth is not a unique American phenomenon, and has
been around since Constantine’s conversion. As Pastor Brian Zahnd says, “We’ve
seen this phenomenon in all the so-called Christian empires of the West—Rome,
Byzantium, Russia, France, Spain, Portugal, Britain, Germany, America—and often
with disastrous results. Instead of being a prophetic witness to the kingdom of
Christ and challenging the arrogant assertions of economic and military
superpowers, a compromised church perpetuates the shopworn myth that ‘God has
raised up our nation.’”
Just because America is the most powerful nation in the
world does not mean that God is on our side, or that we are actually “one
nation under God.” Rome was the most powerful nation in the world during Jesus’
ministry but by no means did that mean it was blessed by God. When American
Christians buy into the myth that their faith and their patriotism are the same
thing, there is a danger (and often a reality) that nationalism can supersede a
true commitment to Jesus. As Zahnd continues, “when nationalism subverts a radical
commitment to the kingdom of Christ, the church is prone to salute the flag and
turn a blind eye to sins like colonial conquest, imperial expansion, aggressive
militarism, economic injustice, and racial oppression.” It is exactly these
sins that I believe American Christians today should lament, but before we can lament
them we must throw off the “patriotism-is-faith” myth.[ii]
Another myth (one that is
definitely not limited to Christians but definitely includes them) is that
racism no longer exists in America (or that only very few Americans are racist).
I think this view was summed up in South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s
reaction to the issue. Speaking about racism in a gubernatorial debate last
fall (obviously before the Charleston shooting, but after the beginnings of the
Ferguson protests), Governor Haley said, “But we really kind of fixed all that
when you elected the first Indian-American female governor. When we appointed
the first African-American U.S. senator, that sent a huge message.” Apparently,
according to the Governor, electing a non-white person to public office “fixes”
racism. Unfortunately, Governor Haley is not alone among Americans in this
belief. Too many Americans think that racism ended with the end of slavery at
the end of the Civil War[iii]
(this may seem ridiculous considering the early-to-mid-20th century
resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan and the Jim Crow-era South, but this belief
still exists), or that it ended with the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act
of the mid-1960s. To believe either of these things is to ignore the continuing
racial disparity in the United States.
This disparity shows itself through
socioeconomic status, housing, and education. The gaps between white people and
African-Americans and Hispanics in these areas have their roots in historically
racist policies that, while no longer in effect, leave their legacies quite
clearly.[iv] Bryan
Stevenson, a lawyer who fights against mass incarceration and racial injustice
for the Equal Justice Initiative, said in an interview, “I don’t believe
slavery ended in 1865, I believe it just evolved.”[v]This
evolution of slavery, rooted in history, rears its ugly head in the form of
events such as the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the
subsequent protests, Freddie Gray’s death in police custody in Baltimore and
the ensuing riots, and the Charleston shooting,[vi]
among others. It’s one thing to lament these events, but I really think we need
to lament the underlying structural racism that leads to these events—a prerequisite
of which is recognizing that racism, structural as well as overt, is still
rampant in our society.
 |
| Today's racial distribution in Grand Rapids, MI almost exactly reflects HOLC's 1937 map that told buyers which properties were more "desirable". The higher-ranked zones from 1937 (in green and blue on the top map) are predominantly white today (green on the bottom map), and the lower-ranked zones (yellow and red on the top map) are predominantly populated by minorities today. |
If American Christians can manage
to cast aside these myths, I think that only then can we truly lament in the
way David lamented after his friend Jonathan died, the example Pastor Harrison
used in his sermon this morning. We need to lament with the families of those
killed in Charleston. We need to lament both that they were killed out of hate,
and that Dylann Roof was able to grow up in a community that fostered such
hate. We need to lament the half-dozen African-American churches that have been
burned, some likely by the KKK or other related groups, in the short interval
since the Charleston shooting, and the lack of media attention they have
received.[vii]
We need to lament the Trail of Tears, the taking of Native American lands, and
the fact that the Declaration of Independence itself, which we revere as a
nation on the 4th of July, refers to those from whom America has
stolen this country as “merciless Indian savages.”[viii]
These things and many others deserve to be lamented. What if, instead of blind
patriotism, the 4th of July inspired thoughtful lament about our
country’s troubles? What if, instead of celebrating our country’s past, which,
on closer inspection, leaves much to be desired, we looked at what our country
could be like if all of our nation’s Christians lamented our troubles and set
to work bringing the Kingdom of God here and now? What if we spent more time
showing the love and forgiveness the families in Charleston have shown and less
time trying to convince ourselves that nothing is wrong? If we truly give up
the myths and lament our country’s pains and wrongs, maybe some true change can
arise.[ix]
[i]
For those a little foggy on this part of American history beyond the Little
House on the Prairie and the Oregon Trail game, Manifest Destiny was the idea
that Americans (the white ones, anyway) had a God-given mandate to stretch
America from the Atlantic to the Pacific, ignoring any Natives already living
on the land.
[ii]
The full interview with Brian Zahnd can be found here: (http://www.redletterchristians.org/the-american-way-and-the-jesus-way-in-conflict/).
I would highly recommend reading it as it goes into more detail about the myth
and also highlights some of Pastor Zahnd’s ministry.
[iii]
Still called “The War of Northern Aggression” by many Southerners and even in
some textbooks used in the South.
[iv]
One such policy is shown in the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC) map of
Grand Rapids, MI, from 1937 (http://www.historygrandrapids.org/tilemap/2596/the-holc-map).
Looking at the descriptions of the different grades for areas and also at some
of the individual areas’ evaluations gives an idea of what was going on in
cities around the country. Looking at the HOLC map and other maps and policies
from around the country in comparison with maps that show where people of
different races live today (the maps at http://demographics.coopercenter.org/DotMap/index.html
and http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer
are my favorites) shows clearly both modern-day segregation and its historical
roots.
[v] I
would strongly recommend reading the interview in its entirety: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/06/24/bryan-stevenson-on-charleston-and-our-real-problem-with-race
[vi]
The radical forgiveness and love shown by the church family of the victims in
Charleston was a refreshing reaction and embodies what I think Christians
should look like to outsiders, but that is the topic for another post.
[vii]
A few articles that actually talk about the burnings: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/when-churches-burn/2015/07/02/cee0d4b0-2023-11e5-bf41-c23f5d3face1_story.html
and http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/02/us-church-burnings-race-south-carolina
[viii]
Mark Charles is an incredible advocate for Native Americans and works tirelessly to
inform Americans, especially American Christians, about America’s scarred past,
and his article about the 4th of July from a Native American
perspective (http://wirelesshogan.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-dilemma-of-fourth-of-july_11.html)
is something that I think all Americans should read. He is also on Twitter
@wirelesshogan. I would also recommend his other writings, which can be found
on his website, wirelesshogan.com.
[ix] A
couple other articles on similar topics to what I wrote about: http://www.redletterchristians.org/getting-church-right-on-the-4th-of-july/
and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/good-men-project/why-its-so-hard-to-talk-to-white-people-about-racism_b_7183710.html
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