White Supremacy is Beyond the Limit

 

Civility

I have been reading and writing about civility in these unsettling times.  I give a robust definition to civility as making room for others in our lives and hearts—particularly making room for those with whom we disagree. 

 Civility is a discipline whereby we create a place in our lives where others can be heard, appreciated, and shown dignity and understanding.  We stake out this space through curious empathy, which fuels civility.  We do this because God has done that with each of us. Mirsolav Wolf writes: “God’s reception of hostile humanity into divine communication is a model for how human beings should relate to one another” (Exclusion & Embrace—A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation, 98).

 This “room-making” enterprise is grounded in the dignity due all human beings, each of whom is created in the Image of God (Gen. 1:27).  This dignity is not conditional. It is not dependent. It is not negotiable.  People do not earn it; it is not the product of merit or accomplishment. It adheres to all people in all situations.  This image of God within may be hard to discern sometimes, as the poet wrote “buried deep with the old man’s lined face was the heart of a child.”  Civility honors this organic dignity inherited from God the Creator.

Respect, on the other hand, is earned writes David Brubaker (When the Center Does Not Hold—Leading in an Age of Polarization, 38).  Respect flows from the content of one’s character and from acts of love and righteousness and justice.

Civility is not in every case the highest value. It does not require us to endure every outrage in silence, accommodate every abomination contentedly, or accept every obscenity without protest.  Jesus extended dignity to all people, but in some cases he subjugated civility to higher priorities. 

In Matthew chapter 23, Jesus sees the religious leaders exploiting and misleading the less initiated and powerful (vv. 4, 13, 15, and 23).  He calls the leaders “hypocrites, snakes, and a brood of vipers”—not very civil language. 

In another place, Jesus clears the temple area in Jerusalem in a not-so-civil way and accuses the leaders of making it a den of thieves (Mark 11:15—17).  The next day he points out how the temple system was, arguably, exploiting a poor widow (Mark 14:41—44).

In a third example, Jesus says that to enter the Kingdom of God, one must become like a little child.  He goes to say whoever misleads one of these “little ones” and causes them to sin would better to have a millstone hung around their neck and be thrown into the sea (Matt 18:5--6).  That is not a very civil image to paint.

In each case, Jesus is confronted with powerful people misleading or abusing less powerful people.  For Jesus, the instinct to protect the powerless and vulnerable takes precedent over showing civility to the powerful and influential who are misusing or misleading them.

White Supremacy

I believe White supremacy is one of those areas where higher values than civility reign supreme.

White supremacy (also called White nationalism) leads to injustice, poverty, violence toward, and even the death of, people who are Black, Brown, or of a faith other than Christian.  We live in a nation still marred by the vestiges of White supremacy; it is baked into our national life with devastating consequences for people of color.

White supremacy in its explicit formulation is, however, more than these damaging consequences.  It is an anthropological categorization of human beings.  It is about who is considered fully and supremely human and who is not.  There are key humanizing characteristics that are found only in White Christians, assert White supremacists.  This is something more sinister than prejudice and racism, and discrimination.

The American Defamation League summarizes the agenda of White supremacists in this way:

White supremacy is a term used to characterize various belief systems central to which are one or more of the following key tenets: 1) whites should have dominance over people of other backgrounds, especially where they may co-exist; 2) whites should live by themselves in a whites-only society; 3) white people have their own "culture" that is superior to other cultures; 4) white people are genetically superior to other people. As a full-fledged ideology, white supremacy is far more encompassing than simple racism or bigotry. Most white supremacists today further believe that the white race is in danger of extinction due to a rising “flood” of non-whites, who are controlled and manipulated by Jews, and that imminent action is need to “save” the white race.

White supremacists can go under a number of names.  The Southern Poverty Law Center includes a variety of other designations as well: the Ku Klux Klan, neo-confederate, racist skin heads, neo-Nazi, and Christian Identity movement.

Self-described White supremacists are advocating something more than simply passively letting the effects of racism continue unaddressed.  They want to bring change inspired by the four clearest historical examples of unrestrained White supremacy ideology in practice:  the American institution of slavery; the Jim Crow regime; Nazi Germany; and South African Apartheid.  They are divided over whether violence is desirable or at least necessary to achieve their goals.

When it comes to White supremacy, I believe there is a higher value at stake than civility.  To borrow form the writer of Ecclesiastes, there is a time to be civil, and there is a time when the demands of decency and justice overrule civil dialogue and curious engagement.

To seek mutual understanding and respect in the face of rhetoric or actions that are repulsive, devastating to communities, and lethal to innocent human beings is beyond the bounds of civility.  I believe White supremacy lies in those bounds.  The only responsible response to White supremacy is condemnation and a call to repentance.

Within the Bounds of Loving Our Neighbor

Loving white Supremacists is within the arena of loving our neighbor.  They are made in the Image of God.  They are due the dignity instilled within them by their Creator.  We are to love them as our neighbor, even if they position themselves as our enemies.

 Here is an opportunity for followers of Jesus Christ to grow ever more into the image of the One who said “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Loving White supremacists, while not tolerating for a moment their actions or crediting their views, is our formidable task.   Believers must resist arrogance and a sense of superiority.  We must labor to see White supremacists as brothers and sisters who, like us, are in need of God’s grace and forgiveness.  This the challenge of the Gospel in our lives in these days 

We must not, however, give an inch to their beliefs and agenda.  White supremacy is a direct assault on God’s “very good” (Gen. 1:31) crowning achievement in creation.  It is a denigration of the Creator.

 Jim Kelsey

Executive Minister of American Baptist Churches of New York State