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2010-09-01 issue:

Giving up veto power

Racial healing from a dominant culture perspective

by Joanna Shenk

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This is uncomfortable. How do I as a person of the dominant, white culture seek racial healing? What does it mean to acknowledge and lament the injustices of the past and wrestle with the reality of continued racism?

It's hard sometimes for me to see the ways I perpetuate racism. It's not my intention.

As we on the Racial Healing Task Group shared meals and stories with members of the Intercultural Relations Reference Council (IRRC), we heard difficult things. We listened as our sisters and brothers told of their regular experiences of racism.

It was heavy to encounter skepticism about our work of racial healing. Upon further reflection, though, I realized the track record of the dominant culture has not been great when it comes to solidarity with our racial/ethnic sisters and brothers.

When our task group met together and discussed the input from the IRRC, we all felt overwhelmed. We felt inadequate for the task, though each of us also was committed to it. As we processed our thoughts and feelings we were reminded of the presence of God with us. Although this did not change the complexity and difficultly of working toward racial healing, it did assure us that God is not overwhelmed by what lies ahead.

We decided to focus our work on the passage from 2 Corinthians 5:16-20, which will be our Convention 2011 theme. Indeed, we can be reconciled to each other as we are made into a new creation. At the same time we also acknowledged that we aren't always vessels through which God can make an appeal. Therefore we affirmed a confessional approach to our work. Before God can make an appeal through us we must be aware of our complicity with oppression and be reconciled.

And what of this phrase "dominant culture"? Does it aid us in our work of reconciliation or does it create further divisions? After conversation around the table, we decided it names reality and therefore is an important term to use. At the same time it is uncomfortable to acknowledge that we are a part of it.

We are nice Mennonites, right? It’s not our intention to hurt anyone, especially when we think of our history and the ways Anabaptist-Menno­nites were persecuted. At the same time, racism is not just about personal relationships or being nice. It’s about living within a system set up to benefit some and devalue others.

We thought, We're really influenced by this system in ways we're not aware most of the time. In order to take a step outside of that, we asked the IRRC to hold us accountable. In our work we have given them veto power so that they ultimately decide the healthiest direction for racial healing.

We in the dominant culture are good at coming up with plans and agenda and goals and at times lose sight of the importance of the process. The learning happens in the process, not at the end, the IRRC reminded us again and again. When we said, "We don't want to make a mistake," the response was, "You will, but don't let it stop you."

Aha, we thought. This is different. This is uncomfortable. And this is not about being right. It's about learning to see in a new way. It's about learning to listen. It’s about moving slowly and acknowledging our repeated failures. Reconciliation is a long road, a lifelong road and a road filled with the deepest kind of joy as we become a new creation in Christ.

Joanna Shenk is associate director of interchurch relations for Executive Leadership of Mennonite Church USA.

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