Minnesota Nice
When my wife and I accepted the call to come to Minnesota, specifically the Twin Cities, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Of course we knew it would be colder, we had heard horror stories about the below zero temperatures, the mounds of snow, and the huge sports culture focused on Hockey. What we didn’t know was that we we would have to learn another language, we had to learn how to decipher “Minnesota Nice.”
In Chicago, people are very direct, passive aggressive is not a word that is used to describe Chicago or its residents. Ultimately, it makes it pretty easy to recognize racism on a personal and collective level. For me being black in Minnesota (especially for a non-native Minnesotan) at any given time, often meant being the only black person in restaurants, movie theaters, and sporting events.
We had to learn how to decipher “Minnesota Nice.”
Racism in the Church
Unfortunately, the church isn’t free of these examples either, though it shows itself in slightly different ways. It is present when one notices that attendance dwindles when the gospel choir sings, or being told by some that gospel music isn’t a legitimate form of music. It is watching the Senior Pastor sift through the emails of irate parishioners because the church service or the Sunday sermon isn’t a place to to talk about police violence. What’s even more frustrating is being in dialogue with Christians who consider themselves proponents of racial reconciliation, but remain distant from the issue of justice.
Christians will quickly show compassion through benevolence, but shy away from the very pertinent need for advocacy.
Personal Prejudices
I am by no means perfect. Throughout my life journey, I have had to deal with my own issues of prejudice; and recognize how I have media stereotypes, the hurt of parents who were raised in the south during Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movements, and a lack of authentic relationships with people who didn’t look like me, and that all shapes my worldview.
…no longer let “white guilt” be the motivation for its engagement.
Love Mercy, Do Justice
However, if as a church we want to realistically continue on the path of reconciliation, there are a few things we must change. First, the majority culture can no longer let “white guilt” be the motivation for its engagement. I have witnessed too many instances where after being challenged by the need for reconciliation, whites respond and act out of guilt.
The church has attempted to reconcile without acknowledgement of its past involvement…
How to Begin Reconciliation
We also need to rethink how we go about reconciliation. For too long the church has attempted to reconcile without acknowledgement of its past involvement or lack thereof of injustice. We have for too long taken the “let’s get over it approach.” We have too many times tried to use the “it’s in the past response” as means of avoiding the ugly history. This method has failed us. In scripture, we learn one has to confess their sins before God (1 John 1:9), as a means of being forgiven and reconciling with God, and cleansed of unrighteousness; how can the church expect to do less, if forgiveness and authentic reconciliation is the true intention.
If the presence of color is all that we use to gauge the effectiveness of the current brand reconciliation; we have severely missed the mark.
This by no means fully encompasses all the work that is needed to effectively move forward, it is simply the observations gained by the experience of one who has only just begun the good work of Racial Reconciliation, and Inter-Cultural Ministry.
Rev. Leslie X. Sanders is the Associate Minister to Youth and Families at First Covenant Church of St. Paul and Program Manager of East Side Thrive Non-Profit Organization.
Pastor Leslie X. Sander’s Author Recommendations:
- James Cone
- Dwight Hopkins
- Cornel West
- Curtis DeYoung
- Bryan Loritts