The Institute (協会)

Sadly, racism is still an issue in many places in this country. But, I'm not sure how someone like me is supposed to live out the things you're suggesting. Norman, OK is the most ethnically diverse place in the state, but there is still only 1 African American person on my street. My wife (a Filipino who comprises the other minority person on our street) and I didn't seek this out but instead just looked for a neighborhood close to campus (we both work at OU) that is quiet and will be easy to sell once I'm done with school. I wouldn't think any of those reasons are bad either individually or collectively.

Are you suggesting that if we want to live out the gospel then we should've instead bought a home in an area that is more ethnically diverse even if that means we would have had to ignore these other things we are interested in? I'm sympathetic to what you're saying here, but honestly don't know how we could go about our part of changing 'conservative evangelicalism'.

Paul raises a valid question, though it angered me at first.

What are we supposed to do?

Become missional. Embrace the mandate of Christ for Christians to be the force for social justice in the world. In short, accept the reality that the state is entirely ineffective at overcoming social injustice, and assume full responsibility.

That doesn't mean drop what you are doing and move to the hood. It means take time for some introspection, and ask God what He is doing and how you can participate. It means being teachable.

And when constructing your vision, consider the impact of intentional action.

Juris said(?), "That doesn't mean drop what you are doing and move to the hood"

Again, maybe this is part of the problem. "Black" and "hood" are not synonyms. I grew up in a predominantly (now nearly 100% percent) black neighborhood that was NOT "the hood".

ONLY 20% of blacks in America live in "the hood"

We were the first black family on our street in 1972, and within weeks, the white flight started, literally.

The black family across had a family construction business and the dad drove a Jaguar (whenever it wasn't broken). It was not da hood and people didn't have to move away.

Here's a website listing houses in a BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD.

The homes start around $350,000. There are MANY black neighborhoods in cities like Atlanta, for example, that you can't even get into under $250,000.

Where does this odd mythology emerge that paints blacks as "hood dwellers" when 80% of blacks DO NOT live in inner cities.

Being missional for some upper class whites might mean being the only whites in a gated community of all blacks.

You don't have to "drop anything."

Why is there the assumption that living near blacks or Latinos means living a lower standard of living?

Anthony,
I hope that assumption didn't come across in my post, it surely wasn't intended. My main question is should we as Christians when considering where to live seek out neighborhoods that feature families with different ethnic backgrounds than our own, or is it okay to seek neighborhoods with other benefits/advantages? If it is acceptable to do the latter, then in my neck of the woods that will often (not always) mean living in an area that is predominately white.

On a different note, you say "80% of blacks do not live in inner cities," but do you know what percentage of the inner city is black? I'd guess it's a high number, but that's just off what I've experienced here in OK (but not what I experienced in certain parts of Dallas and L.A.). If it is high, do you think that could explain the myth (a myth still, but one with an explanation)?

I blame the myth on media depictions of black life in America that many adopt as normative without testing. Inner cities with concentrated populations may not mean high raw numbers. In the southeast, where nearly 50% of all blacks live, many live in rural areas (it's the forgotten dimension of black life in america).

Leaving the gorilla conversation aside, I'm not clear on what the problem is with the kids who assumed the black kids were there to fix something. It might have been more polite for them to ask, "May I help you with something?" but that would just have been an external change. Inside, the thought would still have crossed their minds that maybe these black people were here to fix something. And how can we say that they were wrong (whether statistically or morally) to draw that inference? They were simply mistaken, but that doesn't make their inference morally wrong. Have I missed the point?

"Have I missed the point?"

Hmmm...yeah, you probably have. Have one of your black friends explain it to you. Maybe that would help.

Anthony, curt answers don't suit you.

"Anthony, curt answers don't suit you."

Ahhh, on a blog they do. I've got other stuff to do dude which is exactly why "curt's" probably the only thing one's gonna get out of me here. Sorry.

Anthony, you just don't get it. To about 80% of white folks, all people like you and me will ever be are apes and niggers. That's the reality, bro. Deal with it.

What, precisely, is a "white folk?" Being somewhat pinkish--and quite a neon red when I've been out in the sun too long--I'm not sure what you mean by that phrase "white folk."

On second thought, I suppose that it could mean "chicken." But what I can't figure out is why you didn't just say chicken? I mean, if I were gonna talk about fowl-play, I'd just come out and say it. Then again with those PETA people, you're probably right not to mention it.

Paul asked: "Are you suggesting that if we want to live out the gospel then we should've instead bought a home in an area that is more ethnically diverse even if that means we would have had to ignore these other things we are interested in?"

I don't know if Anthony was suggesting that, but I would suggest something like that. Dude, it's not your responsibility to change conservative evangelicalism. But it is your responsibility to live out the gospel faithfully, even if that goes against the grain of conservative evangelical culture, and even if that makes your life more difficult.

Agkyra: c'mon man, the problem wasn't so much with the kids (at least not yet) it was with the parents. The whole point of Anthony's post was that this "Christian" dude who referred to people as "gorillas" must have been taught that mindset by his parents and other cultural authority figures. Even if these kids' parents had no malicious intentions, they are allowing their kids to grow up in a world where black folks are not peers with their white parents. They are hired hands at best. That's a big problem.

Nick, thanks for that clarification. I suspect that at least two ideas are being conflated in this post but need to be teased out and analyzed separately: the way people form/maintain stereotypes, and the reasons people segregate. I'll try to carve out time to post on this later. For now, let me just ask why we should think of it as a big problem that the whites assumed the blacks were there to fix something. We should start by affirming that there's no lack of dignity in being a repair person, so I want to challenge your assumption that their guess entails that they thought the black people were less than peers of their parents. We don't know anything about their parents and nothing about how the kids esteem repair people. All we know is that something out of their experiences with black people led to a situation in which "repair person" was a reasonable guess. At least that's what I'm assuming. Perhaps the kids said that with a sneering and condescending tone. All I can do is work with the scanty details available, and so far I see nothing here that leads me to believe there is a problem.

(sorry for the length, it's hard to convey my thoughts on this subject without sounding insincere)

Nick,
So you're telling me that the gospel instructs me to live a good half hour from where me and my wife work so I can be around a more diverse group of people? Wow, I had no idea it was that precise. It's seems like there is a false dichotomy in this. Either you live in an area that is ethnically diverse or you aren't being faithful to the gospel. Couldn't I be faithful to the gospel in the neighborhood in which I currently live (don't forget, white people need Jesus too)?

What seems weird to me is that some of what was intimated by Nick (in his response to Agkyra) is that people like me should seek out individuals with different ethnic backgrounds because of those backgrounds. That seems more offensive than what I'm doing now. "Hello, Mr. African-American my name is Paul and because you're black, I'd like to be your friend."

It just seems more honest and gospel-centric to befriend those that you come into contact with. For example, when I met Anthony at an Acton conference, I didn't seek to develop a friendship with him because of his skin color. I thought he was a great guy that is doing great and interesting work for the kingdom. Looking to increase my 'minority scorecard' seems awful.

Here's what has bothered me the most. Much of what has been suggested here is pointed at people like me in my situation. The problem is I don't think I could change what I'm doing or my situation without ceasing to be honest and sincere.

Paul, you're exactly right. I posted on this topic a few minutes ago.

Paul,

If I thought someone was telling me to "increase my minority scorecard," I would be as repulsed by that idea as you seem to be.

What I was really saying, though, is that there are gospel-driven reasons for doing things and there are non-gospel driven reasons for doing things. For instance, while increasing one's minority scorecard is not a gospel-driven reason for doing something, neither are comfort (living close to work) or security ("quiet" neighborhood with good resale value). In fact, the gospel usually calls us to places that aren't comfortable and secure, because that's what it did for Jesus, and no disciple is above his Master.

Now, that doesn't mean that you can't move to a neighborhood that is close to work or to a quiet neighborhood with good resale value. If you believe you have a calling to bring the gospel to your neighbors, and if you believe that living close to campus allows you to have a more fruitful ministry there, then by all means keep doing what you're doing. And if you believe you have that calling, then you don't have to get worried or defensive when Anthony writes a blog post about the ongoing problem of racial segregation in our country. Yes, white people need Jesus too. (Although I would prefer to frame the argument as the body needing hands and feet and eyes and ears and etc. The kingdom needs all kinds of people in all kinds of places ministering to all kinds of people. You can faithfully pursue your ministry while encouraging and supporting others to do their ministry.)

The problem, however, is that there have been generations of American Christians who have defended their housing choices by saying that wanting to live in a "nice" area isn't wrong, when the reality was that they didn't want to live near poor people or black people or whoever. Instead, the gospel ought to drive Christians to break down the divisions between people that are ultimately caused by sin. So, if my reasons for buying a house are 1)cultural diversity; 2)comfort; or 3)security; then what I'm saying is that cultural diversity is closer to a gospel-driven reason. Because, while I know of nothing in the gospel that calls us to comfort or security, the Bible is full of examples and admonitions to move across cultural barriers for the sake of the gospel.

Nick, yep, that's it!! Thanks!

Nick, I appreciate what you're saying but would like to challenge you in a few areas. The way I read your comment, the gospel-driven default would be for a Christian to choose to live among people of a different culture (e.g., poor culture, black culture), because of the various biblical examples of such, and in fact, he would need some sense of ministerial calling to white people to justify choosing a house in a white neighborhood. All the general principles you lay out for us can be true (gospel-driven vs. non-gospel driven motivations, the servant's not being above his master, the gospel's power to break down social barriers, etc.), without cross-cultural living being a gospel mandate. Yes, missionaries and evangelists take the gospel across cultures, and yes, Jews and gentiles, slave and free are one in Christ, but I can't think of any Scriptural principle that would make cross-cultural living a Christian norm. If I'm forgetting any, I hope you'll point them out.

Also, there might be good reasons not to want to live near some people. I think that poverty and race are straw men and that when people seem to be making housing decisions based on poverty or race, they're often, in fact, making the decision based on something else that they believe (rightly or wrongly) accompanies poverty or race. I know plenty of monks under a vow of poverty, and I would have no problem living next door to them, whether they were all black or whatever. When I chose not to live in the Dominican neighborhood a few blocks away from me, it wasn't because of their race, although to a naive observer it might have looked that way. It was because of the noise and the litter--differences between our cultures that I don't appreciate but that nevertheless do not impede my fellowship with Christian Dominicans or my ability to love and evangelize non-Christian Dominicans. The fact that sin results in separations does not mean that all separations are sinful.

Nick, Those are helpful comments and I think I better understand your position. I'm not convinced you're right yet (because that would mean I'm wrong, and it just can't be the case that I'm ever wrong!...haha), but you've given me some food for thought.

Everyone else, this has been a very fruitful discussion for me and I appreciate the candor & respect shown. Thanks. I'd like to continue the discussion, but need a bit to chew on some of Nick's comments and Agkyra's response.

Paul,
Please know, I'm preaching as much to myself as anyone else. I certainly don't have it all figured out and I'm certainly not faithful even to my own vision of gospel-driven living, let alone the perfect call and standard of Christ. Thank God we all live by grace!

Agkyra,
I have responses, but no time to write them out at the moment. I'll try to do so in the next day or so, either here or at your post related to this discussion.

Agkyra=racist

Just come out and admit you don't like niggers. Confession is good for the sole.

Would that be the left sole or the right one?

Perhaps I am a racist. It all depends on what you mean by it. But, if a racist is someone who doesn't like niggers, then no, I am not one.

Nick, take your time. I'll keep checking back here periodically.

Phil, I apologize. I shouldn't have made fun of your spelling. If you want to make a contribution and have a serious talk rather than just throw insults around, why don't you tell me what you mean by "racist," and even more importantly, why don't you point out what you disagree with me about and explain why. If you think I'm wrong about something, especially if it's something important, then you will be doing me a service by correcting me.