I took careful real-time notes via Twitter during the keynotes by Dear White Christians* author Jennifer Harvey at the 2018 Forma Conference in Charleston, SC.
I also screwed up the threading, so it’s not easy to read them all in a row on Twitter. So I’m embedding them below. Hope they’re helpful.
*Full disclosure: Affiliate link.
This talk also inspired me to write a prayer for parents breaking white silence.
‘Paradigm of reconciliation’ has dominated mainline protestant discourse/thinking.
This paradigm has failed communities of color.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Even when we add discussions of privilege & justice, reconciliation paradigm assumes moral & spiritual parallels that distort reality.
It rests on a whitewashed, settler colonialist narrative.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
We’re facing a critical moment. Can we participate in turning vague anti-Trump sentiment into an anti-White-Supremecist, pro-Black, pro-Brown, pro-Muslim, pro-Native, … movement.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Too many reconciliation paradigm actions treated Black & white churches the same. Too many orgs had a good record on civil rights & a lousy record supporting economic justice & Black Power.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
If white churches rejected Black Power, they “positively excoriated” the Black Manifesto.https://t.co/7Jb91RFYLy
(copy I found)It left Black and white Christians more alienated than before civil rights.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Of all the Christian ed materials @revdrjenharvey reviewed ONLY ONE included Black Power’s critique of Beloved Community.
(Written by Presbyterian POC.)#forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
The above analysis calls for not a reconciliation paradigm but a reparations paradigm.
Not “sit down and reconcile” but “repent and repair.” Respond to violent hierarchical White Supremacist society.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
This take on the story has been a Black/white narrative. But we could tell the story from a Latinx perspective, a Native perspective, etc.
E.g., “we didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us.”
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Similarly the link between creation care / climate change and Native reparations.
All of these examples reflect history of material interrelationship.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Note: The reparations paradigm represents less ambiguous and more realistic and actionable paths forward.
Also note: reparations paradigm is morally coherent and thoroughly Biblical.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
“If we long for racial reconciliation, we’ve got to stop making reconciliation itself the work. Honor the under-told stories, repent and repair. Reconciliation can only, possibly, spring from that.”
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Picking up this “notes” thread from last night. An imperfect but I hope reasonably thorough and systematic summary of the arg as I heard it.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Story 1:
Mom: Was worried they might sugar-coat MLK teachings in daughter’s class. She came home with great things to say.
And then she said: “I’m so glad we’re white!”
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
To be clear: Race impacts all kids’ development.
POC have no choice to teach abt race explicitly and early. Happens at rate 2-5x higher than in white families, many of which never have convos about race.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Agenda for this am is to speak about danger of white silence.
It’s an urgent formation conversation.
We start w present social situation and move to theological reflection.
(Editorial comment: this is good practice theology practice.)
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Story 2:
Mom: Taught my kids kindness. They had diverse friends. Never talked abt race until after MLK Day teaching. Then they talked abt it all the time. Problem, no?
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
☝🏻 Sure, this could backfire.
But it will DEF backfire in environment of white silence / “everybody’s equal” families.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Ideology of “everyone’s equal” does nothing to counteract racism.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Diversity paradigm is better but still flawed. Fails to acknowledge unequal power and resource distribution, aka racism.
It’s “its own form of silence.”
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Lots of adults factor into raising of each kid. What they hear from us has everything to do with our own formation in this area.
(Editorial comment: Teacher educators like @RuizSealey doing great work in this area under heading of “racial literacy.”)
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
By age 4-5, kids can see racial disparities and know “they’re not supposed to talk about it with adults.”
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Story: Kids playing. 4yo appropriating social messages abt race & American identity. Doesn’t happen bc of “few” bad apple role models.
Racism is like smog. Silence is the absence of a gas mask.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
#religiousscholarmomfeministfail wasn’t one. It’s the effect of smog, in this case about gender roles and values.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Kids will create their own (understandable) explanations if we don’t help them form more explicit, critical, anti-racist ones.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
(1) Young white ppl don’t know if acknowledging they’re white means they are racist.
(2) They tend to understand whiteness as a bland lack of coolness.
(It’s a setup for white resentment.)
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Imagine what white kids in this situation feel when they’re suddenly in proximity to more overt white supremacist voices.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Need to work with kids, yes, and with parents, grandparent, godparents, etc.: Help them provide more adequate and actionable support.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Step 1: Create race & justice conscious schemas.
Eg, kids with two moms explicitly have schema that a family can look like that.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
We need kids to form schemas that acknowledges reality, says racism can be resisted, rejects colorblind ideologies, etc.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Most white people weren’t raised like this, note. I sure wasn’t.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Step 2: Work on our kids’ racial scripts.
These scripts mediate our collective relationships. Our kids won’t be immune.
Eg, white kids need to *also* know that police are complicated, not unambiguously safe.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Principle: explore tense situations with curious questions. Don’t worry about not having perfect language, explanations. #staycurious
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Don’t underestimate kids. Manage your own anxiety. Do your own personal work elsewhere.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Step 3: Give kids explicitly anti-racist strategies from a young age.
Eg, 5yo: “I think another white kid should tell that kid what they did isn’t OK.”
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
☝🏻This wouldn’t happen if the kids had just been taught “love everyone the same.”
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Also, we don’t do white kids any favors by trying to spare them the pain of telling them about these situations for which they need to practice strategizing.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Step 4: Remember race is in our bodies.
“I noticed pronounced physical tension and avoidance” in mostly white Chuck E Cheese (sp?) in which a group of Black children were also playing.
Break cycles of tense avoidance.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
“We have to risk talking about how race shows up in our bodies.” And we have to risk taking action when we notice it.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
“We [white] adults have to model different and disruptive behaviors when we encounter racial bubbles in spaces with our children.”
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Step 5 [“this is the hard one”]:
“Be willing to break our children’s hearts.”
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
☝🏻”There’s nothing innocent about white innocence.”
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Always be on the lookout for…
(Editorial: Let’s call them “engageable” moments, rather than “reachable” moments. Can that take off some of the pressure and perfectionism?)
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Put your kids into situations where they can learn that they have agency.
“Black live mater [sic]. They mater the same as white. People who are Black are [names of friends]”
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
☝🏻A well supported white kid (5? 7?) wrote that sign.
She couldn’t without a broken heart.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
This work is the only way white kids can stay human enough to fight for lives of ppl whose lives genuinely are at risk.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
“Theology alone isn’t going to get us where we need to go.”
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Resource: #forma18 pic.twitter.com/CJA0NxhMTK
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
We worry overmuch about making white kids feel bad about white people’s actions in the past (and present).
Groups of white kids that hear whiteness named show some white guilt (needs to be moved thru) but have more anti-racist views.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Yes, these things happened. But that’s why our job now is to join work to repair.
@revdrjenharvey #forma18
— Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) January 25, 2018
Here’s a link* to that second book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum.
And to pre-order* Harvey’s upcoming Raising White Kids.
*Again, an affiliate links.
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