Dear friends at Epiphany,
I have been reading Robin DiAngelo’s book White Fragility in preparation for our gathering tonight (July 6), the first of six holy conversations about this book. You’ll find more information about tonight’s gathering, and reflection questions for the first two chapters, elsewhere in 3 Crowns.
As a white person, I am finding the book challenging, demanding, and illuminating. As a Christian, my reading brought to mind St. Paul’s appeal in his letter to the Romans: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God…” (Romans 12.2).
DiAngelo’s book can help those of us who are white to see how profoundly we have been conformed to a world in which whiteness is seen as normative and confers privilege. It is not something we intend as individuals; rather, as DiAngelo notes, it is because “racism is deeply embedded in the fabric of our society” (p. 22). To begin to grasp this is to have our eyes opened to how racism pervades our society and how we might make different choices in light of this. Or in Paul’s words, to grapple with systemic racism is to have our minds renewed so that we can more clearly discern and do the will of God, in whose Name we promised at our baptism to “respect the dignity of every human being.”
Reading White Fragility and reflecting on it is one way that God is transforming us, renewing our minds so that we can be conformed more and more to God’s will for us and for all people. That’s why these gatherings over the summer are holy conversations – they are about our life and witness as a church. This is slow, patient, hard work; transformation always is. Let’s see what God will do with these holy conversations.
Yours in Christ,
Sarah
