Being White

Finding Our Place in a Multiethnic World

Paula Harris, Doug Schaupp

• Publisher: IVP
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780830832477
• eBook ISBN: 9780830874514
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

What does it mean to be white?When you encounter people from other races or ethnicities, you may become suddenly aware that being white means something. Those from other backgrounds may respond to you differently or suspiciously. You may feel ambivalence about your identity as a white person. Or you may feel frustrated when a friend of another ethnicity shakes his head and says, "You just don't get it because you're white."

• So, what does it mean to be white?
• How can you overcome the mistakes of the past?
• How can you build authentic relationships with people from other races and ethnicities?

In this groundbreaking book, Paula Harris and Doug Schaupp present a Christian model of what it means to be white. They wrestle through the history of how those in the majority have oppressed minority cultures, but they also show that whites also have a cultural and ethnic identity with its own distinctive traits and contributions. They demonstrate that white people have a key role to play in the work of racial reconciliation and the forging of a more just society. Filled with real-life stories, life-transforming insights and practical guidance, this book is for you if you are aware of racial inequality but have wondered, So what do I do? Discover here a vision for just communities where whites can partner with and empower those of other ethnicities.

Stumbling into Encounter

Doug Schaupp

In 1986 I went on a road trip with my best friends from high school to spend a week sleeping on the beach in Ensenada, Mexico. The first day in Mexico we woke up to the reality that we weren’t in the United States any longer. We went grocery shopping in a local market, and Mat was assigned the task of finding milk. Unable, he asked the stranger next to him for help. As he struggled for the right words, he remembered that the Spanish word for “milk” is spelled l-e-c-h-e. He made eye contact with a grandmother, gestured with his hands and asked, “Lesh?”

She looked back at him, puzzled. After a moment her eyes lit up. She pointed down the street: “Bocker-eye.”

Now Mat was stumped. He repeated to himself those two odd words until the light bulb went on: “Bakery!” He smiled at her, and we soon were successful in finding our leche at the bakery down the street.

This interaction in the store was an encounter moment for all of us. Encounter is coming into contact with a person or situation in a way that makes us feel our differences, where our rules for interaction do not fit and we feel out of our element. Seldom do we plan for encounter. Instead, encounters find us, and we suddenly find ourselves a little out of control.

Chances are that you have had your own encounters. They might be humorous, like searching for milk in Ensenada, or they might be serious and painful. In some parts of the world, cross-ethnic encounters are a normal part of daily life. In other parts of the world, encounter moments are more rare, coming through movies, books or music. When was the last time you remember having an interracial encounter?

3-D GLASSES PLEASE

I recently went to a 3-D movie with my wife and two sons. It was the first time in about ten years that I put on those funny-looking 3-D glasses. Even though I knew what to expect, I was again surprised at what a different viewing experience it is to have the movie characters jump up in my face. I wasn’t the only one who was surprised. About ten minutes into the movie, my fiveyear-old was ready to leave. This wasn’t the kind of movie experience he wanted to have—too real and too in his face.

For a white person it can be tempting to view the world through a 2-D lens. To make my world more safe and simple, I can consciously or unconsciously remove ethnic, cultural and racial realities from my view of life. I may try to avoid encounter moments because they can be uncomfortable. I may really dislike 3-D jump-up-in-my-face surprises.

We white people have the choice to walk through life with either 3-D or 2-D lenses on, either seeing the world with all its dynamic layers or reducing the world to a simple 2-D format. One of the things I have been working on is to study Scripture while asking, “What are the crosscultural dynamics in this book of the Bible?” As I ask that question, my vision slowly expands from 2-D to 3-D, and unexpected movements jump out at me. It is a delightful thing to see the world and Scripture through the 3-D lens they both require.

We have all had moments where we realize how different we are from someone else. Your story is different from Paula’s and mine, but we’ve all had experiences in the cross-ethnic journey of life. Otherwise I doubt you would have picked up this book.

STUMBLER OR SEEKER?

Jesus tells stories about different types of encounter experiences (see Mt 13:44-46). In one he talks about a guy who happens to be in a field, going about his own business, when he suddenly stumbles over something. On close inspection, he discovers that the thing that has tripped him up is a treasure chest holding riches beyond his wildest imagination. He dashes home to liquidate all his resources and buy the land. He is supremely happy with his accidental discovery. He is our prototype of an unintentional awakening to the excellence of Jesus and his kingdom.

Next we get the story of a collector of fine gems. He loves precious jewels and is on the lookout for the best in the world. When he comes upon a supreme jewel, he gladly hocks his entire collection of gems in order to get this one. He has been hoping for just such a perfect object all his life, and when he sees it, he knows this is what he was made for.

Jesus begins both of these stories by saying “The kingdom of heaven is like. . .” These two parables are excellent for describing the varied ways you and I come to fall in love with Jesus.1 I also find them helpful for how we come to discover and cherish particular facets of Jesus’ kingdom. Sometimes we search intentionally and find what we’re looking for, but other times we are not looking at all and yet our eyes are suddenly opened.

Paula and I represent these two distinct paths of discovery. As you will see, Paula has been more of a pearl expert and I have been a stumbler. Paula grew up knowing the value and beauty of crosscultural living. She has long known that this is a key priority of God’s, and she has grown steadily in these convictions. I, on the other hand, did not seek out this part of the kingdom of God. Instead God repeatedly nudged me to stumble over it, until I finally woke up and became a proactive seeker.

I stumbled into college. My first day at school was a bit of a shock. Lugging my bags, I found my dorm room and looked at the two names on the door. There was my name, but then there was another name that I could not pronounce. Encounter! My stomach tightened slightly.

As it turned out, I really enjoyed being roommates with Khalil Kareem. But if I had had a choice in the matter prior to meeting him, I probably would not have intentionally selected an African American roommate. I stumbled into this experience, and God used it to help stir an awakening in my life.

My stumbling continued. A few months later I joined a thriving InterVarsity chapter that highly valued ethnic reconciliation and the biblical texts about God’s heart for all people. This emphasis was not something I was seeking as a freshman. But God knew I needed it, and he guided me to trip over it.

My senior year, I fell in love with Sandy, with whom I co-led a small group Bible study. At the time I had no idea what a profound blessing her Korean American identity would be to me. I had simply stumbled into this cross-ethnic relationship. But during the ensuing years of marriage, Sandy and I have intentionally worked through layer after layer of crosscultural issues in our relationship. God has worked dramatically through Sandy to repeatedly open my eyes and regularly redirect my path. When Sandy and I got married, I did not anticipate how much God would work through her to profoundly shape my life.

The good news is that God is not picky. He will engage with you and me whether we are proactive or reactive about living out his priorities. Have you been a stumbler or a seeker regarding this part of God’s heart?

THE BOOK OF ACTS AS OUR LESSON BOOK

God is an expert in the art of nudging people like you and me into encounter moments. How do you help a group of people open their hearts and lives to those who are ethnically different? Let’s look at God’s work in the first church and learn how God likes to move. The book of Acts is a fabulous book for observing God’s values and how he guides his people to grow in these values.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus reiterates the vision he has for his people: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Opening their hearts to encounter people of other ethnic groups and countries is going to be a normal part of their future. Jesus’ kingdom is for everyone, and as the leaders of this Jesus movement, the disciples need to proactively go out of their way for all kinds of people. He wants this vision to be on their mind as they lead his community of followers. It is to be central to their priorities. They will need 3-D glasses to fulfill their mandate.

In Acts 2 Jesus brings his disciples into a profound encounter moment. An amazingly diverse gathering of Jews “from every nation under heaven” (2:5) is together for a Jewish festival in Jerusalem. God picks this moment to pour out his Spirit so that his Jerusalem community would carry this international flavor. By this genius move, God leads his people to stumble into becoming a community of encounter. The community is off to a brilliant beginning. There is sharing of all their resources, great joy in being together and people wanting to join their community daily (2:43-47; 4:32-37).

Luke’s narrative indicates that there are no noteworthy conflicts in the launching of this community. In chapter 2 Luke is very explicit about the community’s cultural makeup, making sure we get the point of its diversity. But then Luke is silent on crosscultural issues until chapter 6. Given his silence for three chapters, we could be tempted to assume that cultural and ethnic problems had been magically solved in the Jerusalem community, as if we can “all just get along” if we break some bread together. Since the church leaders have their hands full with the challenges of evangelistic growth on one hand and persecution and deception on the other, it seems that crosscultural dynamics have moved to the back burner for them; 2-D glasses are an easy default mode.

The next encounter moment comes in chapter 6. This time the encounter emerges within the community and does not involve outsiders. The apostles, whom Luke describes as superb leaders throughout the first five chapters of Acts, get surprised by an internal glitch. In chapter 2 the church members spontaneously developed the habit of selling their goods and sharing with those in need (2:45), an activity that did not appear to involve any structured distribution system. But by chapter 4 there is clearly a system in place: “They laid [their gift] at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need” (4:35). By this point the apostles have taken leadership over this very sensitive ministry of receiving large sums of money and distributing resources to the poor of the community; they are responsible to ensure that distribution is fair and just. In a community like theirs, you must use 3-D glasses to discern and anticipate the impact of crosscultural realities.

Unfortunately, the apostles are caught off-guard. “The Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food” (6:1). A division arises in the community because cultural outsiders (Hellenists were foreign-born Jews) are being systematically neglected by the insiders (Hebrews were those born in Israel). This is not a one-time mistake but a clear trend over time. Notice that it is not the widows complaining but rather the entire Hellenist population of the church. Is their complaint legitimate?

One confusing dynamic in interpreting chapter 6 is that no one set out to hurt the Hellenists. We could easily attribute the problem to the sheer size of this church community and conclude that it was just an inevitable byproduct of rapid growth. However, Luke’s meticulous narrative style forces us to look carefully at each word that he does and does not include in his account. In the wider Jerusalem society, how were Hellenists treated? As second-class citizens. And in the Christian community? Unfortunately, as second-class citizens. Luke makes the point that in this way the community of God resembled the surrounding world. While the community operated by a distinct set of kingdom priorities in all other areas, the leaders did not anticipate how the racism of the Hebrew majority would bias their church in regard to distribution of resources.

After the community gathers and resolves the crisis, Luke tells us that their solution of opening leadership to highly qualified Hellenists is excellent: “What they said pleased the whole community. . . . The word of God continued to spread” (6:5, 7). Because of this solution, it might be tempting to ignore the leadership failure prior to the groundswell of grumbling: the Jewish leaders got caught reverting to 2-D glasses. Their inadequate lenses blinded them to something they could have anticipated if they were looking at the...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• WHY THIS BOOK? A Road Map for the Journey (Paula and Doug)
• STAGE 1: ENCOUNTER
• STAGE 2: FRIENDSHIP
• STAGE 3: DISPLACEMENT
• STAGE 4: WHITE IDENTITY
• STAGE 5: THE JUST COMMUNITY
• Conclusion: The Way, the Truth and the Life (Paula)
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Praise for Being White
• About the Authors
• More Titles from InterVarsity Press
• Copyright