Racism: What Are We Missing?

Recently in CORE 300 class, the professors played a video of an interview of black liberation theologian James Cone:



This video was also played in class when I, your humble symposium news officer, took CORE 300 last semester. When I first saw this video, it made me angry. It also made a lot of my classmates angry. A protracted, heated debate followed, in which I’m pretty sure no one understood what anyone else was trying to say. A lot of shots were fired, and no consensus ground reached.

Looking back, I wish I hadn’t been so defensive. As a white child of the 90s, I sometimes feel like I’ve been saddled with guilt I don’t deserve. Long before I was born, people with my skin color instituted a truly horrific system of slavery and segregation on those with a different skin color. The effects of this massive crime against humanity linger to this day. As a white person, I have to contend with this legacy. I feel like this is unfair. After all, I never enslaved anybody. I imagine other white kids my age have the same feelings.

And yet, that legacy is a reality. And it is my calling as a servant of Christ to not turn away, to not get defensive, to not lie and say, “It’s not my problem.” It is my problem.

What better way to start dealing with the problem than by setting aside my defensiveness, and listening to people who come from a totally different background, who experience America in a completely different way than I do?

I still don’t agree with Professor Cone. But I’m not sure I completely understand what he’s trying to say yet. I think I’ll watch again. Care to join?

What do you all think? Look for Symposium to start a conversation about this in the near future. If you have any thoughts, please contact us.