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Opinion - Racism is pervasive, its effects subtle

2022-06-03  Reverend Jan Scholtz

Opinion - Racism is pervasive, its effects subtle

To some, the kindly old gentleman with a white beard and suit simply represents fried chicken or a shameless but harmless marketing device. 

To others, he symbolises white people’s love for their plantations past white privilege and black slaves. 

Before you write that off as silly, a truism about racism is that its effect is pervasive and the form in which the effect surfaces should not be discounted. 

A noted, self-assured black church leader remembers for years with distaste the white person who shook hands with him while seated, then get up to shake a white person’s hand. 

A half-Hispanic teenager whose white mother and step-dad showered him with familial affection says he feels the disapproving looks of others when he is out with the family. 

An adopted Asian woman recalls how her loving white family thought she must be exaggerating that she was the butt of racial jokes in high school, leaving her with no one to turn to for consolation. 

It bears repeating: persons on the power end of racism cannot really appreciate its effect on those who feel the brunt. 

In terms of the most intimate interracial relations, it is years since the state laws against mixed marriages were overturned. 

There are thousands of interracial married couples in Namibia, but white churches are still almost exclusively
white. 

Black congregations have only a smattering of whites on Sunday morning.

 We justify the separation as being what people of different music, cultures and languages want. But is that all there is to it?

Once one understands the scope of the problem, addressing the social evil of racism seems like a hopeless task. 

How can we ever hope to overcome centuries of experience and generations of social conditioning? 

One of the hopes is the churches by uniting in Christ through interfaith dialogue on issues that divide churches by ushering in a new era of cooperation.

By focusing their attention on the issue of racism, they must lay a foundation and have a critical road map for worshipping and working together, and one of the primary goals must be to co

It must offer the framework within which the church can create its own programs and practices. 

In this way, it encourages churches to identify how racism affects their particular community and seek solutions that are authentic and appropriate. 

Through that, they will be bridging differences in denominational practices and coming to a common understanding of worship. 

It will now be much easier to worship with our brothers and sisters of colour.

We must invest in training anti-racism facilitators, written anti-racism, Sunday school curriculum and designed worship materials that celebrate God’s gift of racial diversity. 

Combating racism requires more than glossy bulletin inserts and litanies of reconciliation. 

Combating racism is about overcoming inertia and inexperience. 

Any church can offer anti-racism training once a month, but if I wanted to integrate the Sunday Worship Service, there must be some real connections made across distance and denominations – not simply national movements or local programming.

The calling of the church is to hold up the radical inclusivity of the household of God in which all are invited to sit at the family table as equals. 

If we want reconciliation, we must weed out racism.


2022-06-03  Reverend Jan Scholtz

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