Diversity and the Common Good

I just published my first article/essay at the Canadian magazine, Comment.

“I don’t see colour.”

I cringe every time I hear this sentence. In most instances, people say it in an attempt to let me know that they are not racist, or that they value people regardless of their race. But I’m afraid it communicates something quite different. The alleged colour-blindness devalues me as a person of colour, and it does not foster the trust, healing, or intimacy that is needed within our churches and the broader culture. When I hear this statement and others like it, I wonder, “What are you afraid of?” What would seeing my colour say about me, and about you? I want the speaker to come face to face with that question. Then, I can share the truth that I know: God made us different on purpose, and that is good.

Because of course we see colour. We acknowledge its beauty when selecting fashion patterns. Colour contributes to our enjoyment of food, and it’s one of the many things we appreciate about nature. All able-bodied people see colour. So, if we claim that we do not, or if we refuse to see colour when we look at the body of another person, we are inherently acknowledging that something is wrong with our gaze. Something is indeed wrong, but it is not the colour of the other person’s skin.

The negative connotations and actions that are imparted because of the colour of a person’s skin is colourism. Colourism is one of the affects of racism. The idea of racism or being racist is what people are desperately seeking to avoid. Some Christians are under the false illusion that we will somehow all get along if we just ignore the issue of race, preach Galatians 3:28, and raise “colour-blind” kids. Ignoring colour or denying the fact that racism exists, however, will not solve the race issues in America, nor will it enable the racial reconciliation that is needed in the American church.

Black Lives Matter

Author Patricia Raybon is the product of the civil rights movement and Jim Crow era. She is also a black woman and the mother of black children. In her foreword to Amy Julia Becker’s book White Picket Fences, Raybon writes candidly about the toxicity, trauma, and terrorism of American racism on black bodies. She writes about the luxury allotted to families and children who do not live under this constant threat. It is a luxury that children of colour are not afforded, because too often black children and black bodies are targets for the violence of white supremacy, which is carried out in very visceral ways.

Continuing reading at Comment Magazine.