Conversations on race are uncomfortable, said President Matthew Scogin, who served as moderator for “Race, Racism, and Antiracism: A Dialogue on How Christians Should Think About Race.” However, we desperately need models of healthy, civil dialogue on this important issue, even if this conversation would only feature two perspectives out of many. Dialogue is not the same as action, but both are necessary, and Hope is striving to do both.
Dr. Kevin Kambo
With that introduction, President Scogin asked the two panelists to introduce themselves. Dr. Kevin Kambo, assistant professor of philosophy, hails from Kenya. He shared that he never had to confront the issue of race until he arrived in the United States. In fact, it was only when he came to the U.S. that he realized he was Black. He said that he would bring this unusual perspective, as well as his work in ancient philosophy, to bear on the modern problem of racism.
Dr. Matt Jantzen, director of the Emmaus Scholars Program and visiting assistant professor of ministry studies, brought a theological and activist perspective to the conversation. Moving from Vermont, one of the whitest states in the union, to North Carolina for graduate studies, he was forced to confront racial issues and became a community organizer in the fight for justice.
President Scogin got the conversation going with a foundational question: What is race, and what is racism? According to Dr. Kambo, racism is the application of an unjust double standard based on race or ancestry. Race itself is a lie, an idol that blinds us to injustice. It deafens us to the suffering of others, and it makes us dumb—both in the sense of preventing us from speaking when we should, and causing us to say dumb things.
Dr. Matt Jantzen
Dr. Jantzen agreed that race is a lie and elaborated further, identifying it as a social construct originating with European Christians in the early modern period. To justify their rule of other peoples, they constructed an idea that made themselves, rather than Christ, the center and ruler of creation. Whiteness is an idol, a profoundly anti-Christian worldview that is broader than individual acts or even systems.
When asked about antiracism, Dr. Jantzen said that it is in flux. Antiracism is increasingly popular, but much of what is being done is superficial, performative, and hypocritical. Truly useful antiracism will involve costly conversion leading to meaningful actions on the personal and cultural levels.
Dr. Kambo proposed that since racism is a rationalization for oppression, antiracism must be an effort to foster unity by dismantling oppression. Our enemies, he stressed, are principalities and powers, not other individuals or races.
President Matthew Scogin
President Scogin outlined the scriptural narrative of God reconciling the nations to himself from Babel to the New Jerusalem and asked whether antiracism is congruent with Christ’s work of breaking down the dividing wall of enmity between peoples. Dr. Jantzen talked about how whiteness is a rejection of the biblical story of the Gentiles being grafted onto God’s people Israel. White people instead identify themselves as the chosen race, thereby rejecting the Jews and other ethnic groups.
Dr. Kambo reflected on the difficulty of precisely defining “whiteness” and the need to smash the idol of racism. Instead, the focus should be on the icon—each and every human being, regardless of ethnicity, who is made in the image of God.
The panelists answered questions from members of the audience.
While answering questions from the audience, both panelists further articulated their thoughts on race. Dr. Kambo asserted that policing blackness and defining white culture are both impossible tasks, and that it would be better to acknowledge and embrace the diversity within racial groups. Dr. Jantzen stressed that we must deal with the history of racism before we can achieve unity, and that we cannot jump over this step and arrive at cheap and easy reconciliation. He also emphasized that skin color is not a natural and neutral category; there was a time before race, and we can look forward to a time after race. Dr. Kambo further sharpened his definition of race by saying that it is a social construct that introduces a destructive disorder into society.
Dr. Kambo and Dr. Jantzen shook hands at the end of the dialogue.
Finally, President Scogin asked both professors to identify what members of the Hope College community can do about the issue of racism. Dr. Kambo advised us to seek the truth, to purify ourselves through prayer and fasting, and to face other people as individuals rather than representatives of a race. Dr. Jantzen was emphatic that progress will only come when large numbers of ordinary people organize and force those in power to act. He told students to be active citizens and community organizers.
To conclude, the president reminded everyone that we are united in Christ, even (or perhaps especially) when we are having difficult conversations. May Christ keep us united as members of his Body as we seek to confront injustice in our community.