Something is being snatched from them and it’s not just money or jobs or security or even the White House. The common refrain is a fear of an America where white privilege is challenged and whiteness as the gold standard of beauty or power or value or provenance is no longer the automatic default.
Michele L. Norris, Washngton Post
The rioting in the Capitol building was not a surprise, though the lack of security was. The mob that breached security, trashed the halls of Congress, and brought death was not a surprise given the virulent White supremacy that has supported Donald Trump and has been incited by him. That there was a noticeable “Jesus Saves” sign among protesters was not a surprise either, given the blending of White nationalist values and culture with Christian rhetoric. If we let go of our rhetoric and actually follow Jesus, we may recognize our nation’s similarities to the Roman empire that crucified Jesus. As with the Roman empire of Jesus’ time, America’s empire-building tentacles reach out globally. America’s way of doing peace (maintaining order in the empire) is not so different from the “Pax Romana.” The followers of Jesus are called to proclaim God’s reign over against the empires of this world.
Much has been made of White grievance in the news, often without unpacking the nature of the grievance. Are we surprised by the ferocity of it? Are we blind to White supremacy, not merely as an ideology, but as an attitude, expectation, and aspect of White culture? As our nation becomes more diverse on its way to becoming a nation of minorities, are we surprised by the increasing backlash, given our racist ways?
White Americans do not have to claim White supremacy or understand themselves in those terms to be supremacist. All we have to do is to think that our view of ourselves, our nation, its history, and its values are who we are as a nation. When we are able to think of this nation as our nation without really thinking about anybody else but ourselves, we are White supremacists and are likely to think of ourselves as the real Americans. Then the history of this nation that we tell is the history of our ancestors—a White history of a White nation. The history that Native Americans and African Americans tell is quite different from the history of those of us who are of European descent, and yet it is real American history. And it fills in what a White-centered history leaves out. I grew up learning from history books that were grossly incomplete and slanted. Only in receiving the history of others have I found a corrective. We must provide our children with a true and diverse history of our nation, not downplaying its sin and brutality, while, at the same time, lifting up the powerful movements for justice that largely have come from those who have been oppressed.
I remind those who call themselves Christians and who are caught up in a White nationalism: Jesus came from a subjugated and minority people in the Roman empire, and he sided with outcasts. He did not attempt to be seen as one of the “winners.” He did not side with the elite, whether their elite status was in wealth or position or in an ethnic group (being Roman). He calls all to come down from whatever perch we have put ourselves on. He tells us to lose our lives, to let go, and to follow him as he leads us out of our false allegiances to live under God’s reign and be light in the world and to love others (even our enemies) with the love of God.
Those who stormed the Capitol had no real mission or purpose. They did not come with a vision for a “more perfect union.” They came to take back America for themselves. You could hear it in their words, “This is our house.” Never mind that representatives of a great diversity of United States citizens were gathered in that place.
St. Paul wrote of grief that is godly. Some grief or grievance is ungodly. Grief that is godly, is grief that brings repentance and change. It turns away from what demeans and destroys others and works for loving transformation. It does justice, loves mercy, and walks humbly with God.