Faith and #BlackLivesMatter

Future Directions and Current Directives for White Folk

Authors

  • Cynthia D. Moe-Lobeda Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and Church Divinity School of the Pacific

Abstract

According to James Baldwin’s wisdom: “…nothing can be changed until it is faced,” and “…ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” White people’s ignorance of the daily dangers, death-traps, terrors, and traumas experienced by Black people has been a “ferocious enemy” of racial justice in the United States. Perhaps that ignorance (aptly known as white blindness) is beginning to be cracked by the raw and holy fury and truth-telling unleashed in this land. That is an important step toward overcoming structural racism. However, while cracking through white blindness is necessary, alone it is inadequate for the leap – by White people -- into anti-racist living as a necessary and inherent aspect of God’s call to practice justice-seeking love for self and others when that call resounds in a racist society.  In this context, this article poses and pursues a question:  What are some future directions and current directives for White U.S. citizens of relative economic privilege if by our lives we are to assert that Black lives do matter? 

Author Biography

Cynthia D. Moe-Lobeda, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and Church Divinity School of the Pacific

Professor of Theological and Social Ethics

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Published

2021-12-15