Race, Government, Economics, and the Church
I was recently talking with a European-American friend of mine who is also an evangelical. I am African-American and evangelical. We were talking about the tense debate going on right now about healthcare when he raised an interesting question about race. He told me that his big concern about the potential passing of a healthcare reform bill was a government run health care system, which would lead to bigger government. I responded by agreeing with his concerns, but stating that he should have been concerned about big government militarily during the George W. Bush years as well. I then asked the first question, “why do some conservatives so easily see the threat of big government when it has to do with healthcare, but can’t see big government when it’s running an expensive war in Iraq? Not many conservatives complained about how much money the war in Iraq was taking out of their pockets, but now they’re angry about how much the potential passing of a healthcare reform bill would. Both the management of war and healthcare are types of big government leading to spending money we don’t have as a country in debt.”
My friend responded by asking this question, “why do so many African-Americans trust government with healthcare? Why are so many not concerned about big government in this way?”
I thought this was a great question that gets to the racial divide around how some African-Americans and some European-Americans see government and corporate america from different perspectives. One of the reasons some European-Americans would rather see healthcare worked out in the private sector and not run by government has to do with how this country started. For many European-Americans there was a seeking of independence from European government systems and the pioneering of a new way of living based on democracy and maybe more importantly, the development of an economic system called capitalism. This makes sense why conservatives and many evangelicals today would be concerned about big government.
For African-Americans there is a history in this country which begins with slavery. The African-American begins their experience in the economic system of capitalism and free enterprise as the slave. From there, the experience with the economic system for many African-Americans is within a race-based, sub-system called, Jim Crow Segregation. What opens the door to freedom from slavery and Jim Crow Segregation comes mainly from government. The Civil War, the Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Act are all government led realities.
Could this be the foundation from which, in this society still influenced by race, that there are many European-Americans that are concerned about big government and many African-Americans that embrace it? I believe the church in the United States of America must rise out of being the most racially segregated institution in this nation so that it can lead conversations and forums on reconciliation. At the church where I serve as Senior Pastor, we have a class called, City Matters, which seeks to raise awareness and spark reconciling discussion. We’ve also hosted an initiative called, The Invitation to Racial Righteousness, developed by the Evangelical Covenant Church of which we are apart.
We need more churches to lead these types of initiatives. These conversations and forums could help us understand one another better. We need to move from demonizing those with different perspectives than ourselves and seek to understand the historical roots of our differences. It is possible to love God, follow Christ in a radical way, and have conversations about differing perspectives on how we view the role of government.
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Pastor Efrem, I’m chewing on your words here. To a certain extent, I see what you’re suggesting. I respectfully challenge some points you (and your Euro-American friend) make, though.
1. You say the Civil War, Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights act were gov’t LED realities. I challenge the word “led.” I suggest that the Civil War, the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act were gov’t APPROVED actions, not gov’t LED actions. My understanding is that the Civil War took place within a larger global Faith movement against slavery everywhere at the time. My understanding of the 40s, 50s and 60s here in America is that the Black Church, in cooperation with what most would call liberal streams of the White Church, and many socially conscious Jewish folks, were the ones driving the civil rights movement. In a word, People of Faith, PEOPLE OF FAITH, supported by certain streams of the Church, led Americans, and EVENTUALLY the gov’t, to what eventually became the civil rights legislation of the 60s. The gov’t followed THEIR lead…and reluctantly at that. (LBJ’s first words after he signed the Voting Rights Act was “I’m afraid we just lost the South.” And the Dems DID lose the South after that)
2. I suggest that the Church in America (in any kind of unified, national and mainstream sense) left the civil rights movement almost entirely TO the gov’t once civil rights legislation was passed. What became called the Moral Majority took over in the 70s, and became the “gov’t arm” of the Church, and has been ever since.
And yes, as you often point out, Pastor Efrem, the Church remains today the most segregated institution in America. The Church has historically been the driving force behind so many initiatives addressing oppression and racism. I think about the labor movement in the 30s also, and the womens’ suffrage movement in the 20s…the list goes on. Is it any accident that the Church…arguably the one institution that has initiated anything substantial about race and oppression in America…is the most racially segregated institution in America?
Regarding your Euro-American friend’s assumption that so many African Americans trust the gov’t. Being Euro-American myself, I hesitate to write this, but……I respectfully beg to differ with my Euro Brother. Yes, many African Americans support what conservatives are now calling the “big gov’t” plans of Barack Obama, but is it possible that this has more to do with trusting Barack Obama than trusting the gov’t?
I think about many of my African American in-laws back in Chicago, especially the elderly ones. Many of them don’t trust gov’t hospitals and clinics at all, and for good reason…many received horrible care, died and/or were even illegally experimented on in gov’t run hospitals and clinics.
And the gov’t decided that the best place to dump thousands of tons of Chicago’s hazardous waste was right across the Dan Ryan from the Altgeld Gardens, where all my in-laws come from. The cancer rate among people who grew up in the Gardens is like ten times the national average.
My wife grew up being taught to hold on tight to young children when white folks came around because they’re probably the County (gov’t) coming to take someone’s children…again, for good reason, because that DID happen frequently.
And it was the gov’t who approved the GI bill after WW2 that allowed white vets to buy houses in new suburban developments, and did NOT allow black vets the same option. (indeed, take the City Matters class and you’ll learn a whole lot more about this).
I’m not African American, but the majority of African American Sisters and Brothers I talk to every day can articulate a whole lotta very well thought out reasons for NOT trusting the government.
As always, I really enjoy wrestling with your words, Pastor Efrem. Here and elsewhere. You’re a great teacher and I hope my words here are taken with the Love and Respect they were written in.
Grace and Peace,
Mark
Great thoughts Efrem and Great thoughts Mark. I don’t have much to contribute, just really wondering if “The Invitation to Racial Righteousness” is scheduled for this year yet? I’d really love to go and want to put it on the calendar.
Great post, Efrem. And Mark, I agree that such changes may not have been exactly Govt-led, but they certainly were Govt.-actualized. I think the point is that no company or economic interest led these changes because they were the right thing to do. It takes a great move of history to move against economic interest.
Efrem, I’m leading a small neighborhood house church project in inner city Pittsburgh. I hope to see the kind of racial breakthroughs in church that you talk about, but I’ve found resistance on both sides. Still hopeful though…
I hope you were talking to my pastor.
While my church speaks passionately about race relations, my pastors have been silent about the healthcare debate. The “Conservative Christians” need to start being more consistent, in terms of what type of government they support. It appears that they have no problem supporting “big government”, when it comes to military spending and corporate welfare; however, when it comes to helping “our neighbors” there is vocal outrage. I often struggle to see “Christ” in their comments. It sounds like they would rather protect their “way of life”, than the message of Jesus. I’m glad that pastors, such as yourself, are discussing the healthcare debate with other Christian leaders. American pastors have been “silent” for too long about this matter. It is immoral that our country is the only “developed” nation that does not allow all people access to adequate health care. Jesus asked us to “love God” and “love our neighbors” – please keep teaching this point to your “peers”!
As a “white” American, I stand with you on this matter. If I trust the government to operate the military, maintain our roads, oversee the police and fire departments, provide our children with educations and offer us “fun things” like “free public libraries” – I am confident that they can ensure a system exists to affordably and adequately meet the health needs of all “my neighbors”. Besides, if the government “runs healthcare”, there will be no CEO salaries or bonuses to pay! Think about how much money would be diverted directly to the “sick” and “disabled”! Greed has become “god” in our society – we need vocal and courageous pastors to speak out on behalf of “the masses”.