June 26, 2020
“Swimming in Privilege”
Since the weather has been so good lately, most
mornings I have been able to take long walks through Lincoln Park. Especially
during the pandemic, these (socially distant) walks have become an important
time for me to care for my body, mind, and spirit. Since I try to walk about
five miles, it’s a pretty good workout for a middle-aged guy like me! And, I
find that this time is helpful for prayer, and also just thinking through
whatever happens to be on my mind. Many of my sermons and weekly messages -
including this one – are born in the park.
I try to walk mindfully, looking at (and sometimes
taking pictures of) the sky and the trees and the flowering plants along the
way. This time of year, it’s a special pleasure to watch the birds, including an
energetic family of red-tailed hawks, go about their business. Usually I don’t
spend too much time looking into the murky and polluted water that flows in and
out of the Hackensack River, but over the past few days I’ve noticed lots of
little air bubbles sent to the surface by the fish who manage to make this less
than pristine waterway their home.
It’s said that fish do not realize that they spend
their whole lives swimming in water. I suppose that’s true. But, I imagine that
the rush of currents and the churning of storms give fish at least some sense
that they are subject to mostly unseen, yet very powerful, forces. And, I’m
willing to bet that when unlucky fish are suddenly hooked and pulled up from
the sea and into our environment, they know enough to recognize that they have
unwillingly entered a very different world.
In the same way, although we know that we live our
lives surrounded by air, we don’t usually give it much thought - unless there
is a strong wind, or if our lungs are so diseased that we struggle for breath,
or when we watch the unbearable video of George Floyd suffocating under the
knee of a police officer. Like fish swimming in the sea, we make our way
through the air, largely oblivious to our reality - until we are snapped to
attention.
Like a lot of other White people I know, over the
past few weeks, after learning of the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd,
Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, and far too many others – after the protests
across the country and around the world – after the renewed insistence that
“Black Lives Matter” and the call to redistribute resources from law
enforcement – after words of division and hate from some of our leaders - after
all of that and more, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to my own White
privilege.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve shared with you
memories from my teaching days: realizing that I was able to begin my classroom
career by walking through a door that probably would not have been open to a
young Black person with a resume as thin as mine. I recalled the Black teenage
girls at St. Vincent Academy shocking me with stories of being followed by suspicious
security guards as they shopped in Macy’s. And, I remembered a long-ago
encounter on Market Street in Newark when a Black woman looked me over with
disdain and said, “Well, here comes the White man!” – giving me just the
tiniest, but still very uncomfortable, taste of what it’s like to be judged
because of the color of my skin.
During this time of trouble in our country, when
powerful storms are churning the waters, when a strong wind is bringing change
that seemed nearly impossible just a few weeks ago, I can recognize more clearly
than ever that all along I’ve been swimming in the polluted water of White privilege.
It’s like I’ve been hooked and pulled out of my complacency, finally able to see
more clearly truths that I’ve known all along:
I’ve always been able to assume that most people will
give me the benefit of the doubt.
My mistakes are my own and are never thought to
reflect the supposed weaknesses of my race.
Suspicious security guards never follow me around a
department store. And, while my interactions with the police may not always be
pleasant, I’ve never worried that I’d be treated unfairly, and certainly never feared
for my life.
Because I’ve always assumed that people would
automatically recognize and respect my position and authority, I’ve had the
luxury of informality, telling people they can just call me by my name rather
than by my title.
More than seven years ago, I was chosen to minister
to our congregation – a beautifully diverse church with many Black members and
other people of color. Meanwhile, I think it’s safe to say that Black clergy
are rarely given the opportunity to lead diverse churches, and are almost never
chosen by churches that are predominately White.
I could go on… but the point is that I have lived my
life swimming in privilege, carried along by powerful though largely unseen
forces. Since those forces are now on full view, White people like me have
little choice but to see them and then decide what to do with this cleared-up
vision. I think the best way forward is to listen and talk to each other, to
hear and share our stories. But, that’s not enough. So, I hope that even more
of us will work with groups like Jersey City Together to help build a society
where all people can get a fair shake, a country that finally lives up to its
highest ideals of liberty and equality.
We have a long way to go, so there’s no time to
waste. That’s why I hope you (especially our White parishioners) will attend an
interdenominational panel discussion about racism, White privilege and power on
Monday evening at 7:00. Rev. Laurie and I will join with The Rev. Dr. Stanley
Hearst II of Mt. Pisgah AME Church and The Rev. Dr. Alonzo Perry, Sr. of New
Hope Missionary Baptist Church for what I’m sure will be a thoughtful
discussion, moderated by The Rev. Shyrone Richardson of the World Outreach
Christian Center. Log onto facebook.com/woccnj or visit www.woccnj.com.
Many of us have been suddenly pulled out of the
waters of complacency, finally able to see that we have been swimming in the
polluted waters of privilege. When a fish is caught and pulled up out of the water,
its fate is usually sealed. But, we’re different. In our case, I believe God is
using this shocking time to open our hearts and eyes, calling us to change our
ways, and giving us all the tools we need to build something better, a world
more like what God has intended from the start. As always, the rest is up to
us.
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