When I Learned that Structural Racism is a Figment of My Imagination.
As a young adult, I spent several years working for a well-respected and well-known Christian organization on the East Coast. On an individual basis, my majority-culture colleagues were overtly pleasant for the most part.
However, in a subtle but haunting way, the organizational culture marginalized, befuddled and oppressed the ethnic minorities in the group. The evaluation and promotion policies, social structure and even the ways that they talked about faith worked to accommodate people from majority culture and alienate people who were different.
As a result, the people of color in the organization were plagued with loneliness, plundered identities and perpetual stress. Indeed, at least one person of color was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, a diagnosis that was directly linked to the way that the organization oppressed people of color.
When I brought my concerns to the president of the organization, he became fiercely defensive, accused me of inventing stories, and denied that structural racism was at work.
I moved on after a few years. But as far as I know, the organization remains unchanged.
The church taught me that my experience of racism is only real if the majority culture says it is.
These stories are just a fraction of the many stories I could tell about my personal experiences of racism in the church and, frankly, they bring up painful memories that I would prefer to keep dormant.
But I share them to:
a. affirm the voices and stories of those of us who have been on the receiving end of racism in the church (you are not crazy and you are not alone!)
b. invade everyone else’s consciousness with this reminder that the church continues to be a powerful agent of racism in our world.
