Kingdom Racial Change: Overcoming Inequality, Injustice, and Indifference (Michael Evans, David McFadden, Michael Emerson) - A Review
There
is an effort underway in the United States to remove all Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion programs from the federal government, state governments, schools and
universities, and corporations. The argument for this effort is that everyone
should be treated the same. However, the underlying argument is that white men
are being discriminated against by DEI efforts. That argument is somewhat specious
since white men have had certain advantages given to them by society since before
the founding of the nation. DEI simply opens up opportunities that had
previously been closed to women and people of color. The reality is white men
still have the upper hand—just look at Congress, corporate America, and other governmental
agencies from local to federal. White males are still in charge. So, how do
things change?
Michael
Evans, David McFadden, and Michael Emerson offer a helpful response to the
question of how things change when it comes to racial realities, and they do so
from a distinctively Christian perspective. They offer this response in their book Kingdom Racial Change: Overcoming Inequality, Injustice, and Indifference. Two of
the authors, Evans and McFadden, are African American. The third author is
white. All three are male and evangelical in their professions of faith. Evans
and McFadden have been friends since they were teens, as both were part of the
same church in Chicago. Evans is a pastor and community organizer in Chicago,
while McFadden is a physician. Together, they served as the co-founders of Unity
Men’s Group of Chicago. As for Emerson, he is the Harry and Hazel Chavanne
Fellow in Religion and Public Policy at the Baker Institute at Rice University.
By academic training, he is a sociologist whose work has focused on race and
religion. All three have connections to Chicago.
Personal
stories carry a lot of weight when communicating about matters such as
inequality and injustice. Kingdom Racial Change is rooted in personal
testimony. The co-authors of Kingdom Racial Change use their own stories
effectively, such that we see firsthand the disparities that come with race in
the United States. Throughout the book, we hear the stories of Rev Ev (Michael
Evans), Dr David (David McFadden), and Emerson (Michael Emerson). The
co-authors also offer the reader guidance as to how we as Christians might
respond on three levels, macro, meso, and micro. As we move through the book, the
authors introduce us to what they believe are the eleven “Building Blocks of
Kingdom Racial Change.”
In Part
1, titled “Telling the Stories amid National and Local Realities,” the authors
tell their own stories beginning with childhood and moving to adulthood. As
they tell their stories, we learn about the real disparities that come with
race, including access to education, good and safe housing, jobs, and more. We
also learn that in some ways, African Americans have advantages that white
folks don’t have, including close kinship and faith. On the other hand, white
folks have economic and other social advantages that are often unavailable to people
of color. While each of the three men tell their stories, Michael Emerson brings
his training as a sociologist into the conversation, helping to situate their
stories into the larger social context. Therefore, they can use demographic and
other forms of data to underscore their own stories. They write that this data
helps them determine if their stories are unique or reflective of larger social
realities. They also draw on Scripture to inform their analysis of their
stories and the data they wish to share. As a result, as they note in their “Prelude”
to the book, “we take clear normative stances. Some things are right, some things
are wrong” (p. 3). As they tell their stories and place them in context, the
authors use the opening section to reveal the eleven building blocks of change.
After using their stories to reveal the eleven building blocks of racial change, which include:
1. The mighty arm of racial power is that it is systemic.
2. Every single one of us occupies a social location—a specific place in the social world within a specific society within a specific historical moment.
3. We must understand Black advantages just as white advantages.
4. We have an urgent and essential need to root out the Religion of Whiteness from religious communities. [This is an important part of the book’s message, which will be disconcerting to some, but it is a necessary word.]
5. We must work to create healthy environments starting in childhood.
6. We must overcome the unholy link between race and class.
7. We, as Christians, have an amazing opportunity to change the structure of networks and connections.
8. When God puts us in a position to help others of different racial groups thrive, we must do so.
9. Cross-racial relationships are essential for kingdom racial change.
10. We must directly address whatever creates inequality between God’s people.
11. Significant change often occurs through social movements, which occur through community organization and group cooperation.
I noted above the fourth building block, the rooting out of
the religion of whiteness that infects many of our faith communities. Another
important building block involves working to create opportunities for
cross-racial relationships. One of the story elements in part one deals with
the reality that for many people, such opportunities are rare because we
segregate ourselves ethnically and racially.
In Part
2, the authors focus on “Making Kingdom Racial Change.” Here is where they lay
out ways in which we can implement the eleven building blocks. This is the
place for practical efforts to take place. The three chapters of this section
focus on three levels of change—Macro, Meso, and Micro.
In Chapter 5, titled “Make No Small
Plans—Macro-Level Change,” the authors focus on the systemic nature of racial
realities. They believe, rightly so, that unless changes are made at the macro
level, “racial inequality will not only continue but increase with each
generation.” This requires making changes in laws, practices, regulations, and
beliefs. These are the most difficult changes to make. The three building
blocks that are involved at this level include the reality that racial power is
systemic, the need to break the relationship between race and class, and work
to overcome what creates inequality between God’s people.
Chapter 6, titled “The Meso-Level
Change Levers,” involves the kinds of changes that occur through social
networks, employment, churches, and schools. This is the level where our social
realities exist. They can serve as important places where we can make changes
that provide energy and power to our efforts to bring about change at the micro
and macro levels. Here they focus on five of the building blocks—understanding
black advantages as well as white advantages; rooting out the Religion of Whiteness;
as Christians, changing the structure of our networks and connections; if
placed in a position to help others from other racial groups thrive, do so; and
participate in social movements that bring about change. One of the efforts
that illustrate the possibility of making changes at this level is the
organization that Evans and McFadden formed, Unity Men’s Group, an
effort that began with their own church (a black church) and led to reaching
out to a white mega-church to see if they could build a relationship between White
and Black Christians. As they reveal, this was difficult, especially since most
White Christians are not used to being part of efforts they don’t lead.
The final chapter (Chapter 7) is
titled “Healthy Micro-Level Worlds and God’s Love Offensive.” In this chapter,
the authors focus on the most basic relationships. This is the level at which
we engage with family and friends. This requires that we fully understand the
nature of love as Christians. In their view, “love is obedience to Christ’s
teachings and sacrifice for others” (p. 160). As such, this micro-level isn’t
“me-centered,” it is others-centered. As they point out, the difficulty here is
not knowing what to do, but actually doing it.
We are witnessing a significant
backlash against the kinds of efforts the three authors detail. Racial change
is difficult. It can make us uncomfortable. It may reveal things about our
nation and even our churches that we would rather ignore. So, efforts are underway
to “whitewash” our history and even our present, but the truths will not go
away. Inequality linked to race and ethnicity has long been part of our
realities. If we’re honest, we will recognize this truth. It would be nice if
books like Kingdom Racial Change weren’t necessary. Unfortunately, we
don’t live in a world where such books are unnecessary. Although I didn’t detail
the life stories told by the three authors, they provide an essential lens into
our racial realities. They may seem anecdotal, but the data, as Michael Emerson’s
work demonstrates, proves that they are not unique stories. If we are going to
make the kind of macro-changes necessary so that we can celebrate our diversity
as a nation and make sure everyone is included, then we’ll have to take difficult
steps to build into our realities efforts that overcome the inequities present
in our context. Evans, McFadden, and Emerson offer us the kind of guidance,
rooted in faith (an evangelical faith), we need to make those changes.
Copies of Kingdom Racial Change can be purchased at most outlets, including my Amazon affiliate and my Bookshop.org affiliate.
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