As I examine the problems of the world, I have concluded that there is a very simple solution. First, white people need to stop being WHITE. At first blush, most non-white people will get this immediately. However, most people who consider themselves white will not understand it. After all, how do you explain to a fish that it is wet? For aquatic animals, this is a straightforward conversation. Water is a fundamental part of their environment and is a scientific fact. You take them out of the water, and they can immediately distinguish the difference. Place them back in the water and return them to a familiar physical environment.
Whiteness is a social construct. It is not real. Quite frankly, in the last few years, it has been raised to the level of being delusional. Whiteness was codified in US law following Bacon’s Rebellion when white indentured servants joined free and enslaved Africans to rebel against the colonial powers, which kept them in bondage. Before this moment in history, most New World laws were codified to grant citizenship to the land possessing Christian men of the country. Since many slave owners believed conversion of the enslaved to Christianity made them less likely to rebel, many of the enslaved received the Gospel of Christ and were converted.
With this conversion, they were on the path to citizenship by law. To provide an incentive to keep the indentured European
servants separate from the Africans, laws were changed to remove the designation Christian from qualifying citizenship description and, in its place, use the single designation of WHITE, with no religious designation whatsoever.
Race is another social construct created by European “scholars” to subjectively differentiate segments of an ethnically and culturally diverse humanity. However, the scale was not based on differences in perceived superior and inferior traits and characteristics.
Did I say it was subjective? The purpose of establishing racial differences was to justify the inhumane treatment of fellow humans under a false pretense of benign patronization. “We know what is best for these savages.”
In an antebellum south where the formerly enslaved population was now the majority, laws codifying white power were enacted to keep the new majority powerless and “in their place.” In opposition to the expression of individual rights and freedoms of the formerly enslaved, Southern Black Codes were laws enacted that repressed, suppressed, and re-enslaved a population through criminal justice, economic, political, and social means.
While the federal government passed laws to provide economic opportunity to the formerly enslaved; the provision that it would be carried out at the discretion of state and local governments ensured the beneficial impact extended no further than the city limits of Washington D. C. While we in America have viewed this cancer of “whiteness” for over 400 years, it has been an infection that has spread across the globe for centuries longer. South America, Africa, India, Australia, and Asia have all suffered from the outbreak for centuries.
When WHITE becomes the epitome of a privileged, entitled and self-serving citizenship, BLACK becomes the antithesis as people of color assert their rights and freedoms as contributing members of society. So how do white people stop being WHITE? First, learn your history and not the whitewashed mythology you have been spoon-fed from birth. Once you know the good, the bad, and the ugly, you can make better choices. On second thought, the first thing you should do is learn to think for yourself. When you think for yourself, you come to your own conclusion and are less reliant on others to tell you what you should think.
Once you can think for yourself, perhaps you can access the history of the US and the World, not based on being on the “winning team,” but based on what is done for the greater good of humanity. When you view history through the lens of heritage, you see most conflicts between countries, tribes, and ethnicities as power grabs by petty personalities that eschew peace and prosperity for political power and popularity. What does a non-white society look like? Your guess is as good as mine. First, Christianity would have to make a major shift. A number of churches and conventions would need to atone for the sins of their past, beginning with an apology and then making amends to the progeny of their victims. Churches and conventions which supported slavery, segregation, redlining, political gerrymandering, and laws that made being black a crime; need to stand up and admit their part in these processes and policies. An example of a start is the Pope going to Canada and apologizing to the native population for its part in the assimilation of native children and the decimation of their culture at the hands of the church.
However, unless I missed something, no amends were made to the native people for the damage done. As the body of Jesus Christ, the Christian churches are held to a higher standard, and we cannot falter now.
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much [James 5:16]. The Message Bible paraphrases it as follows: Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. While we each have our unique geo-political DNA heritage, our identity as US citizens has a much richer and more diverse history. When we can accept the entire scope of United States history, we can begin to grow beyond our past to a better future. Finally, a key aspect of a non-white society is you must look at people who don’t look like you as different. PERIOD Not better, not worse, just different.
At this point, perhaps we will meet Jesus’ imperative prognostication from John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another.
By Rev. Ronald D. Sampson Sr
