{"id":471,"date":"2014-08-24T00:22:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-24T00:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/white-christians-its-time-to-stand-in-solidarity-with-your-black-brothers-and-sisters.html"},"modified":"2014-08-24T00:22:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-24T00:22:00","slug":"white-christians-its-time-to-stand-in-solidarity-with-your-black-brothers-and-sisters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/08\/white-christians-its-time-to-stand-in-solidarity-with-your-black-brothers-and-sisters.html","title":{"rendered":"White Christians: It’s Time to Stand in Solidarity With Your Black Brothers and Sisters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
In 1894, black racial justice activist Ida B. Wells sounded the alarm on racial injustice, imploring white Christians to put a stop to the lynching of black people. She spoke out saying, \u201cOur American Christians are too busy saving the souls of white Christians from burning in hell-fire to save the lives of black ones from present burning in fires kindled by white Christians.\u201d[i]<\/a>\u00a0Alas, white Christians continued their preoccupation with fire-and-brimstone sermons and their disregard for black lives. Their \u201cwhites only\u201d version of the gospel compelled them to ignore the perspectives of black people, refuse to address lynching, and deny the value of black lives.<\/span><\/div>\n
The lynching of black people continued for 60 more years.<\/span><\/div>\n
In 1963, in his\u00a0Letter from Birmingham Jail<\/em>, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. also sounded the alarm, calling upon white Christians to stop criticizing the black civil rights movement and instead begin investigating the racist conditions that produced it. He wrote, \u201cIt is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city\u2019s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.\u201d[ii]<\/a>\u00a0By and large, white Christians ignored his plea. Their \u201cwhites only\u201d version of the gospel didn\u2019t require them listen to the perspectives of black people or defend the lives and dignity of their black brothers and sisters.<\/span><\/div>\n
Five months later, white supremacists bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham \u2013 and 4 little black girls were killed.<\/span><\/div>\n
Just last summer, after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the death of Trayvon Martin,\u00a0many<\/em>\u00a0black Christian leaders did triple-duty. In addition to leading activism efforts in our local communities and providing pastoral care to those devastated by the verdict, we also took to Twitter, blogs, pulpits and conference podiums to call upon white Christians to wake up to the reality of racism in America. I wrote a widely-read\u00a0piece<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0Christianity Today<\/em>, asking white Christians to examine their privilege, recognize that racism persists, humbly listen to black perspectives on race, and follow Jesus\u2019 footsteps by standing in cross-cultural solidarity with black people. A number of white Christians responded to the alarm, but prominent Christian justice leaders of diverse cultures and denominations perceived a general lack of engagement from white Christians.[iii]<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1894, black racial justice activist Ida B. Wells sounded the alarm on racial injustice, imploring white Christians to put a stop to the lynching of black people. She spoke out saying, \u201cOur American Christians are too busy saving the souls of white Christians from burning in hell-fire to save the lives of black ones […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhite Christians: It's Time to Stand in Solidarity With Your Black Brothers and Sisters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 1894, black racial justice activist Ida B. 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