I enjoyed John Mcwhorter’s 29 October New York Times opinion piece, I’m With Condoleeza Rice About White Guilt. I’ve been thinking through the issue for quite some time, and every so often, something like this comes along to help me clarify things (I can only hope that the cumulative effects of all that is being written brings better results for everyone over the years).
We really should admit – guilt isn’t what it used to be, and pressure like this isn’t helping. It’s one thing to feel guilty for a wrong you’ve done – that’s (usually) natural. But to be constantly told that you should feel guilty – and that about things you haven’t done – only leads to resentment and, more than likely, a “guilt by obligation.” What good will come of that?
Mcwhorter astutely observes in his article that “guilt” really requires little of its subject. Sure, one can feel “guilty,” but is it enough to lead them to meaningful action? Not really. It could just lead them to a secret self-satisfaction with an insincere apology. Especially when they think they’re not even apologizing for their own actions. “OK, I’m sorry, but what do you want me to do about it?” While someone may go as far as to ask that question, they really don’t expect that anyone would require them to actually pay for anything.
Words like “white guilt,” “white fragility,” and “white privilege” are bandied about mercilessly in some circles. But how about “white defensiveness?” In these days, that too damages the cause. You don’t make a lot of allies through accusations and name-calling.
But this isn’t really about responding to the tensions caused by our words. At the bottom of my thoughts are what I know is a better way. The Bible goes right to it with a great passage in Paul’s letter to the Galatians: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” And by definition, no resentment. No defensiveness. When one is governed by a spirit of love, they go out of their way. They won’t stand idly by when an injustice is being done. Real love produces positive action, not resentment.
Still, even failing that, is it too much to ask that we all at least see others as human beings who deserve being treated with dignity? Sadly, it is within human nature for some to cling to their prejudices and sinfulness. But honestly, these are not the people you’d be winning over with relentless accusations either.
We should simply remind others of this – that we love one another; that we love others as we would love ourselves; that we love our enemies. It’s not surprising that all of these are among the commands of Jesus. This gets to the true heart of it. If there is to be any shame, it should be in that we haven’t loved enough, not that we aren’t contrite enough (how would you measure “contriteness” anyway?). We can see someone’s love in their actions.
There have been times I’ve forgotten this. I’ll get to despairing a bit, thinking, “there’s just no way out of this.” But then I remember, there is a way, from the very one who told us so. From the very one who said it was he himself. And then the question turns from “how can we solve this problem?” to “how can we get people to love Jesus?” It’s in doing the latter that we get the answer to former.