Bringing the Gospel to Racial Tensions in St. Louis

Here's a post I found saved on my PC from a few years ago.  I still see similar subtleties of racism in my heart, even though my scenery for work has changed quite a bit.  I invite you to enter this reflection and ask the Lord Jesus to peer into your heart, too, showing you what's under the surface.

May He cause His glory to break in to our hearts and make us One in Him, that the world might know we are His.

Racial Tensions and the Gospel

I was confronted with my own subtle racism this past week as I read through an education article.  (See below for the bibliographic information.)  The author said that there was a good deal of research evidence showing that white teachers often expect lower performance and poorer behavior from black students than their other students (p.355).  Even more than that, white teachers are more likely to treat black students less positively in the classroom (p.356).  I teach social studies in a school that has a very high majority of black students, and I came to love each student that I had this year.  As I read this article, though, I thought, “Wow.  I do that.”  I do hold lower expectations for my black students as a whole than I do for students of other schools.  It was like a punch in my gut that took my breath away.  In some small ways, I still react to false black stereotypes.

This subtle and yet powerful racial tension is not just in my heart, but it’s also in our city.  Let me invite you to take an observational drive North up Kingshighway sometime.  When you cross over highway 64-40, you will see some nice construction, and then you’ll notice a very nice hospital, park, and some very fancy hotels and other various buildings.  It’s a nice part of town.  You’ll notice, too, that there are few African-Americans amongst the doctors, college students, and other professionals that often walk or run along the streets there.  If you keep driving further North, though, you will begin to see some buildings that look dramatically simpler and much less maintained.  You will soon cross over Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, which is a notorious street in St. Louis for homicides.  You will also notice that most of the citizens in this area are African-American.  It is amazing to me that fifty years after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., marched throughout Alabama to end segregation in our laws, we still see it in our city.  It’s not in the laws, but it is in the streets.

So, there’s a problem in my heart and in our city.  What do we do about it?  Well, we quit dancing around it.  We talk about why black people and white people have disproportionate levels of people in jails today.  We talk about why we as individuals are more inclined to treat some people one way and other people another way.  I talk about the expectations that I hold for my black students, honestly, and what I should expect from them.  That’s a start.

But that’s not enough, because we still have to deal with the root of racism, which is sin.  Racism is not mainly an institutional, legal problem, but it’s a problem that rises out of each individual – white and black and every other people group – that spills over into society.  We are broken people, and we need someone to heal us.  We are a broken city, and we need a Savior to put us back together.  What if Jesus really got a hold of the churches in St. Louis and started to build a city that really showed the “people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” that Jesus has purchased with His blood (Rev. 5:9-10)?  We are a multi-ethnic church in Bevo, and we’re praying that Jesus strikes down our racisms.  I say “racisms” because it’s not just white and black, either.  Every people group has their own “lesser-group,” so there’s a lot of racism to strike down.  Praise our Lord that He’s big enough to tackle it all.  Trusting the one who died for our sin and helps us live free from it will not immediately solve the problem of racism, but He will free us up to talk about it and to explore practical solutions together.  Let’s pray.  Let’s love.  Let’s be open to and yearning for Jesus’ healing of our city.  Let’s rejoice together as He continues to work to build His truly multi-ethnic, truly united church to His glory.

Works Cited:

Stevenson, Howard C. “Fluttering Around the Racial Tension of Trust: Proximal Approaches to Suspended Black Student-Teacher Relationships.” School Psychology Review, 2008, Vol. 37 (3), pp.354-358.