On Martin Luther King Day: Questions for Evangelicals

“You can take the day off. I completely understand.” My boss was the principal and I was seated in his office for some reason that I suddenly couldn’t remember. I had not asked for the day off from our Christian elementary school. All over town, schools would be closed on Monday. Except for us… and the nearby Christian college. This was the Friday before the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, and I increasingly wondered, “Why aren’t we all taking the day off?” I am a pastor who doubled as a teacher in order to make ends meet. I was the only African American teacher whose daughter, Charity, was the only African American student. I never asked that the school recognize the holiday. Dropping frequent hints about many issues, I was a quiet presence, convinced that my white Evangelical friends would quickly come around. Was I wrong to expect more of Christians than Americans in general?

Therapists, and often pastors work with households where someone, a spouse or child was being severely mistreated. In many cases there is at least one party who covers for another. I have concluded that America’s Evangelical church covers up America’s structural racism, helps to hide it, and is thereby complicit in the abuse. I feel like the child who tells mommy what daddy is doing to me but her faith is in the decency of this good man, except in this case the “good man” is my country. When well-meaning people claim that I “hate America” and ask, “is there some other country that will treat you better?” I am that child, again, violated but told that I have a good home.

I have shared my stories with Evangelicals, some quite famous and influential, occasionally eliciting empathy. But when were they going to say anything?

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