THE TRUTH ABOUT RACISM:
It’s origins, legacy and how God wants us
to deal with it
By Dr Philip G. Asante
Westbow Press. 164 pages. £9.14
ISBN 978 1 490 826 073
Have you experienced racism against you? If you have then you are more likely to overlook the various weaknesses of this book as the author struggles to deal with an extremely complex and painful subject.
Lena is a black African woman married to Andrew, a white European man. Lena has grown up experiencing occasional bouts of open racism and a near continual background atmosphere of suspicion towards her. Since marrying Lena, Andrew has received some nasty racist comments, but most of his understanding has come second hand. Racism and notions of innate supremacy quickly evoke very painful memories and strong emotions.
As we both read the book we realised what a difficult task the author was seeking to achieve. Hopefully this book will help those who have not personally faced racism to appreciate how centuries of history have produced such a charged and depressing reality. It is weaker at the start but does move on to highlight and develop many important things.
America
The book focuses on racism through the lens of black-white relationships in America. The author lays out the problem and describes the painful impact racism has had on him. He then gives a broad historical overview of how racist views of white supremacy developed through colonialism and transatlantic slavery. He moves on to describe the different attempts that were then made to justify white supremacy through both scientific racism and spurious biblical proof texting. Surprisingly, he does not fully explain the very real differences between most slavery mentioned in the Bible and the horrific chattel slavery of the 16th to 19th centuries.
He then examines ongoing racism amongst churches in America and discusses the rise in Black Theology as a result of generations of slavery and segregation. He rightly concludes that, while perhaps understandable, a separate theology for black people is no solution at all. We must preach and teach the Biblical truth that we are all one race and, in Christ, can become one again.
Needing to believe we’re better
The strongest point of the whole book is the assertion that while these historical events and white supremacy arguments have largely been condemned and rejected, the impressions and charged atmosphere they generated remain a real problem today. The author suggests: ‘Myths, fables, presuppositions, and misinterpretations (whether deliberate or not) are driven by the need for power and self-glorification and have led to the oppression and subjugation of black people’. Sadly, we have had too many conversations with people who, deep down, need to believe they are part of a better grouping of people. Oh, how subtle yet ugly the sin of pride is.
Sweeping statements
In our view, the main weakness with the book is its lack of precision. It contains a number of sweeping statements and unsupported assumptions. In dealing with such a complex, multi-faceted subject the author’s evident emotion appears to have at times disrupted his objectivity. Today, automatically equating all concern about immigration with racism is unhelpfully reductionist. However, so is claiming that all historical missionary endeavours were intended to establish white supremacy. He also seems to have focused more on the polemical debates of the past rather than the ongoing situation today.
Whilst few people today would describe themselves as racist, many still view ‘outsiders’ through some of the historical assumptions described in this book. Today subtle racist views remain – even amongst some professing evangelicals in the UK – although more through national and cultural racism rather than biological views of superiority.
Eye colour
In 1963 Haile Selassie spoke at the United Nations and longed for the day when ‘the colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes’. However, as racism is sin, we will sadly have to live with its effects until Christ returns and makes all things new. Yes, we are all naturally descendents of Adam but that also means we are all naturally sinners. Praise God that many of us – from all nations – have been born again in Christ!
When outwardly different sinful people are born again through the power of the gospel they have the resources in Christ to heal and overcome the sinful, prideful traits of racism. This is our personal experience and, we praise God, is the gradual on-going experience of our multi-ethnic local church.
