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“God’s plan has always been diversity. Every tribe, tongue, and nation are part of his family and the Bible does not differentiate people based on race.”
This is a simplified version of his book— How to Fight Racism— released January 2021 and is written for children ages 8-12.
I have not read the adult edition of this book but I have read Tisby’s book The Color of Compromise.
Because I haven’t read the adult version, it’s possible some of the comments or questions I have regarding this edition may have been better explained in the adult edition. However, I found Neil Shenvi’s review of that book quite similar to the perceptions and notes I had for this edition, and was helpful as I processed what I read.
Providing a guide for young readers about racism is a worthwhile venture. To this end, he gives a comprehensive historical summary of race in America, and I believe he did a good job charging readers to treat people with respect and stand up for justice. I thought his emphasis on all people being created in the image of God— where our worth and rights find their basis— was strong. His ‘ARC’ acronym integrating Awareness, Relationships, and Commitment is a helpful model to think about in terms of fighting injustices.
The downside for me was similar to my impressions about his book The Color of Compromise— he seems to predicate the material of this book from the assumption that racism is everywhere if we just look hard enough, uses some ambiguous terminology, makes some unsupported claims, downplays the gospel, and communicates in a way that could perpetuate a self-fulfilling prophecy of hopelessness.
I will break it down a little more and let you be the judge of whether you feel this would be a good book for your child to read.
Geared Towards a Young Audience
The topic of racism is an increasingly complicated sphere so I commend his efforts in producing a book geared toward younger students and understand the difficulties of that. There’s only so much context and background you can provide and still keep the book short and simple enough.
One way he meets the needs of his younger audience is by pulling out the big words into ‘glossary boxes’ in the margins. A full glossary is also included at the end.
To keep the readers engaged in the material and remember the main points of each chapter/section, he includes a few questions at the end. I thought this was a good idea to break up the material and keep the kids involved with it.
He tries to include student-relatable experiences when describing certain terms, situations, or feelings. I loved his reminders for readers to stand up for their classmates who are being mistreated and to speak up when kids say inappropriate ‘jokes.’
He also gives some good activities for them to do— a little like homework: research a historical event to learn more, interview a person of another race to hear their experiences, be involved with student government or attend school board meetings where policies and decisions are made, start a book club with people of all races to discuss topics and hear different perspectives, visit cultural fairs and events, etc.
I felt like most of his suggestions were easy enough for any kid to carry out if they wanted to.
The Strength
The strength of this book is two-fold: educating the kids on the history of racism and things that happened that they might not know about (though I would guess it’s more likely to be taught in schools now) and the emphasis of diversity being God’s design from the beginning.
He says,
“The goal for everyone is to have a positive view of their racial or ethnic identity, one that does not require them to fit in with or reject the dominant culture or experiences, and one that values the diversity of other people.”
I like that he is teaching the kids to feel good about how God created them and that we treat others with love because we are all God’s creation. I am pro-positive-view. I am pro-diversity. I also like that that he said people shouldn’t be required to fit in with the dominant culture OR reject the dominant culture. That message isn’t heard as often.
I remember reading The Color of Compromise and hearing some of the historical events and stories for the first time and it is a shocking and uncomfortable feeling— hearing that many Christians believed the Bible supported slavery and the acts they committed in its name are atrocious.
Tisby didn’t include the most graphic stories but he didn’t sugarcoat it either and it will be shocking and uncomfortable for some students to read some of the things that happened to people in our past. I think some of this is a good thing. Might be too much for 8 yos, but 10-12 yos would probably handle it better.
Racial Identity
“Some white people can go their whole lives without ever having an encounter that causes them to think about race. This leads to a shallow relationship with an aspect of who they are.”
Tisby writes a chapter called ‘The Science of Race’ where he points out that ‘race’ is not a scientific term but a social one. Race is just varying melanin levels in the skin as people groups adapted to the sunlight in their geographic location.
“Although race is something imagined (or constructed),” he says, “its effects are real. From lifespan to salary to where you live, race has a measurable impact on a person’s quality of life.”
It felt like he contradicted himself on this point throughout the book. He wants people to recognize that God created people differently and that diversity should be celebrated, that race is an arbitrary exhibiting of melanin in our skin not a depiction of differing worth, but then proceeds to encourage people to research their race and attach significant meaning to that result as part of their identity.
It felt like he is telling his black readership— if you don’t know and “feel in your bones” the history of racism based on the color of your skin, you need to go research it until you do. It’s like he is telling his white readership— if you don’t understand how terrible white people were to black people in history, you need to go research it until you recognize your own part in this tragedy and work to make amends.
If race is not an aspect of who you claim yourself to be, he suggests this is evidence of the harmful practice of “colorblindness” where we fail to celebrate God’s created diversity. But this emphasis on a racial identity seems to be elevated over our identity in Christ where our sinful depravity levels the playing field of transgressions and the power of Christ’s mercy and grace saves, transforms, and unifies us.
Children are doing a lot of work on figuring out who they are and I have concerns about Tisby’s emphasis of a racial identity and attaching historical burdens to kids and telling them it should shape how they view themselves rather than offering spiritual freedoms to define them.
The Questionable
The thing about writing a book for kids ages 8-12 is that they are still developing critical thinking skills. They still view all adults as people of authority and tend to accept everything they say at face value. This gives adults a lot of power to influence the thinking of children and can become a dangerous tool that is wielded.
I feel Jemar Tisby presented some things definitively as common fact or in a more simplistic way that does not account for all the information. He makes certain statements and claims that I think students won’t think to question.
“No matter their level of achievement, people of African descent in the United States, especially those with darker skin, are always placed in the outermost ring of American social circles.”
“Racism today comes in the forms of mass incarceration and police brutality towards people of color. You can find it in the ongoing and widening racial wealth gap…”
“Since white people are in charge of how society is organized, they have a way of making the rules so they always get the best options and opportunities. Maybe this isn’t always intentional, but the results are usually the same.”
“Though Christianity is supposed to bring people together in love, we live in a world where black Christians who stand against police brutality under the banner of #blacklivesmatter are dismissed as radicals by white Christians who justify such police tactics as necessary to keeping the police.”
Though he doesn’t use these exact words, he seems to support Ibram X. Kendi’s words: “When I see disparities, I see discrimination.” He seems to support Robin DiAngelo’s telling people to ask the question ‘How is this racism?’ rather than ‘Is this racism?’
He commemorates every black person who has died at the other end of a police officer’s gun without providing adequate context for each occurrence. Police brutality happens, but I wouldn’t say it’s the ‘norm’ or characteristic of police and it’s helpful to research the statistics on this. We should be wary of making some interactions definitive of all interactions.
He does not provide the statistics that while white people may have greater wealth than black people, white people actually rank 16th in median household income by selected ancestry groups.
One of the major dangers of his emphasis on presenting the notion that America is an elaborate system rigged against black people, where white people will always prevail over them, where black people don’t have the tools they need to succeed, where their future is one of lesser pay, worse jobs, and discrimination, is that it’s likely to cause people to stop trying. After all, what’s the point?
While we always fight injustice, Tisby’s tone and presentation seems likely to perpetuate a self-fulfilling prophecy where black people do not see the value or hope in trying. Tisby ignores the psychology that- You tell a child they are kind, they are smart, they are hard-working, that they can try hard things and they will live up to the picture of them you present— they will be kind and more confident academically. If you tell them they are lacking something, disadvantaged, and their country is actively against them, they will believe it and act accordingly.
I must advocate for two really good, relevant, must-read books here:
The Coddling of the American Mind
Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth
I think these two books are essential to considering Tisby’s presentation of his ambiguously defined term ‘racial justice.’
Orienting Our Lives to Racial Justice
He advocates that fighting for racial justice is an ongoing battle and true commitment will focus on it daily or orient their lives to it.
“One of the most important racial justice practices is to keep race at the top of your mind even when you have the option of not doing so.”
My concern with this charge is that he’s dangerously close to making racial justice a bigger priority than the gospel. We don’t orient our lives to anything other than the Lord.
Living out of the gospel should spur us to seek justice, but racial justice is not the gospel. The gospel is the Good News that Jesus has died for the sins of the world (of which racism is one) and defeated death and our bondage to our sin so we could experience true life and freedom in him. We do not earn this gift by accomplishing racial justice. If we get this wrong, we have lost the gospel of grace.
The importance and power of the gospel is highly lacking in this book.
Monique Duson shares part of her story in Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth and says this:
“According to historic Christianity, salvation is the good news of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection so sinners of all colors can be saved by a free act of divine grace. [Critical Race Theory] had pulled me away from that good news into a social justice gospel in which the finished work of Jesus wasn’t enough. Activism to end “oppression” as redefined by CRT became a gospel essential... According to CRT, humanity’s fundamental problems are whiteness and oppression. The beliefs of CRT weren’t ‘part of the gospel;’ they formed a different gospel altogether.”
To be clear: Tisby does not explicitly advocate or even mention critical race theory, nor does he explicitly say racial justice is a gospel issue. But this idea is worth thinking about because Tisby’s book hints at this belief. He seems to downplay the power of the gospel in seeing true change in the world and promotes activism more heavily.
Another example of Tisby's misleading ‘factual’ phrasings is this discussion question he included at the end of a section where he talked about Quaker Oats’ Aunt Jemima logo:
“What are some ways white people have sought to make less of black people through images and advertising?”
He states this as if advertisers are overtly seeking to hurt black people and asking kids to look for examples. There may be some examples we can prove the motivations of a company in the content they put out, but we have to be very careful when we judge motives. The wording of this question is problematic to me.
Tisby also stated that we need to look at impact not intent when considering evidence of racism. This is a very harmful practice to encourage. Both impact AND intent are important if we want to care about people and if we ignore either one the results will be damaging. (The Coddling of the American Mind discusses this phrase of impact vs intent)
Black vs White Culture
Tisby mentioned several times how the dominant culture is white and that black people have often been forced to change their culture to assimilate into the dominant culture.
This idea of ‘black culture’ and ‘white culture’ is not something I deny exists, but it’s something I was struggling to picture. I wish he would have been more descriptive on what ‘black culture’ is and what ‘white culture’ is. A quick look of google search results is just more ambiguity.
What aspects of black culture are being rejected, looked down on, or demeaned?
He did give the example of hairstyles— that black students are being suspended at schools because their hairstyles didn’t align with the school’s dress codes or ideas of what ‘normal’ or appropriate is. I was shocked to hear this would happen but I can confirm situations in both Texas and Florida where this occurred. Rightly, many states are passing laws that keep schools from using disciplinary actions because of hairstyles.
This is one example, but I think it would be beneficial for everyone to have more clarity on what he means here.
If he wants black culture to stop being suppressed then help us understand how to identify it and how to allow multiple cultures to coexist respectfully.
Tisby’s Solutions
“The bridge between a desire and a destination is a plan.”
“White people are in power because the system has been set up to favor them and something must be done to set historic injustices right.”
“Many people, particularly those in the racial majority, come at the issue of race like it’s something to understand mentally. They think solutions come from good ideas and that people can fix things just by thinking about them more deeply. They don’t realize that race is something other people feel in the bones.”
Based on Shenvi’s review linked above, I think he must use the term reparations in the adult version. He doesn’t refer to that in this book but he likens racism in America to a broken part of a used car you purchased from someone else. It may not be a problem you caused, but you are still responsible to fix it.
We do, as followers of Christ, have the responsibility to pursue justice, to treat others well, and to be generous.
Tisby offers some practical relational and school-related ideas for the students to do to work towards justice, but he still alludes to the bigger picture of correcting the systems that are rigged against black people and doesn’t give many specifics on what those are or how to repair them.
The historic redlining that pushed black people into specific neighborhoods did a lot of economic damage to be sure. School district lines can distribute financial resources unequally between school districts. Criminal sentencing for drug charges for white vs black people shows real disparity.
These are concrete things that I can see at work that disadvantage minorities compared to white people. Besides those, I didn’t feel like Tisby provided many details on what systems he specifically wants to see changed or solutions to do it. That’s probably out of the scope and purpose of this book, but something I thought would have been helpful.
Where Do We Go From Here?
“Whatever your reason for reading, my hope is that you’ll come away with a better understanding of where we’ve been as a nation, a deeper knowledge of who you are as a person, a vibrant connection to people of all backgrounds, and a stronger sense of purpose to fix what needs to be fixed in our broken world.”
This is somewhat his thesis. The first and third in the list are the strengths of this book and the second and fourth are the discussion points.
We all can agree that racism is sinful and should be treated as such. Injustices are wrong and should be fought against. Racism and injustices exist in the world and we need to see that the effects and damages of sin are widespread and long-lasting.
I agree with Tisby on the basis of our equality as humanity, our worth as image bearers, and God’s design of diversity not uniformity. We worship God when we love his creation and exhibit the fruits of the Spirit to our neighbors.
My hangups occur when I think about his perception of systemic racism, racial minorities not having the tools they need to succeed, the emphasis on racial identity, and sparse gospel-as-a-world-changer statements. It makes this an inadequate book for me to present to my child.
Maybe it’s less of a ‘don’t read this book' recommendation and more of a ‘you could probably read this book, but please supplement with some other viewpoints’ type of situation!
Visit my blog www.shelfreflection.com and explore some others!
“God’s plan has always been diversity. Every tribe, tongue, and nation are part of his family and the Bible does not differentiate people based on race.”
This is a simplified version of his book— How to Fight Racism— released January 2021 and is written for children ages 8-12.
I have not read the adult edition of this book but I have read Tisby’s book The Color of Compromise.
Because I haven’t read the adult version, it’s possible some of the comments or questions I have regarding this edition may have been better explained in the adult edition. However, I found Neil Shenvi’s review of that book quite similar to the perceptions and notes I had for this edition, and was helpful as I processed what I read.
Providing a guide for young readers about racism is a worthwhile venture. To this end, he gives a comprehensive historical summary of race in America, and I believe he did a good job charging readers to treat people with respect and stand up for justice. I thought his emphasis on all people being created in the image of God— where our worth and rights find their basis— was strong. His ‘ARC’ acronym integrating Awareness, Relationships, and Commitment is a helpful model to think about in terms of fighting injustices.
The downside for me was similar to my impressions about his book The Color of Compromise— he seems to predicate the material of this book from the assumption that racism is everywhere if we just look hard enough, uses some ambiguous terminology, makes some unsupported claims, downplays the gospel, and communicates in a way that could perpetuate a self-fulfilling prophecy of hopelessness.
I will break it down a little more and let you be the judge of whether you feel this would be a good book for your child to read.
Geared Towards a Young Audience
The topic of racism is an increasingly complicated sphere so I commend his efforts in producing a book geared toward younger students and understand the difficulties of that. There’s only so much context and background you can provide and still keep the book short and simple enough.
One way he meets the needs of his younger audience is by pulling out the big words into ‘glossary boxes’ in the margins. A full glossary is also included at the end.
To keep the readers engaged in the material and remember the main points of each chapter/section, he includes a few questions at the end. I thought this was a good idea to break up the material and keep the kids involved with it.
He tries to include student-relatable experiences when describing certain terms, situations, or feelings. I loved his reminders for readers to stand up for their classmates who are being mistreated and to speak up when kids say inappropriate ‘jokes.’
He also gives some good activities for them to do— a little like homework: research a historical event to learn more, interview a person of another race to hear their experiences, be involved with student government or attend school board meetings where policies and decisions are made, start a book club with people of all races to discuss topics and hear different perspectives, visit cultural fairs and events, etc.
I felt like most of his suggestions were easy enough for any kid to carry out if they wanted to.
The Strength
The strength of this book is two-fold: educating the kids on the history of racism and things that happened that they might not know about (though I would guess it’s more likely to be taught in schools now) and the emphasis of diversity being God’s design from the beginning.
He says,
“The goal for everyone is to have a positive view of their racial or ethnic identity, one that does not require them to fit in with or reject the dominant culture or experiences, and one that values the diversity of other people.”
I like that he is teaching the kids to feel good about how God created them and that we treat others with love because we are all God’s creation. I am pro-positive-view. I am pro-diversity. I also like that that he said people shouldn’t be required to fit in with the dominant culture OR reject the dominant culture. That message isn’t heard as often.
I remember reading The Color of Compromise and hearing some of the historical events and stories for the first time and it is a shocking and uncomfortable feeling— hearing that many Christians believed the Bible supported slavery and the acts they committed in its name are atrocious.
Tisby didn’t include the most graphic stories but he didn’t sugarcoat it either and it will be shocking and uncomfortable for some students to read some of the things that happened to people in our past. I think some of this is a good thing. Might be too much for 8 yos, but 10-12 yos would probably handle it better.
Racial Identity
“Some white people can go their whole lives without ever having an encounter that causes them to think about race. This leads to a shallow relationship with an aspect of who they are.”
Tisby writes a chapter called ‘The Science of Race’ where he points out that ‘race’ is not a scientific term but a social one. Race is just varying melanin levels in the skin as people groups adapted to the sunlight in their geographic location.
“Although race is something imagined (or constructed),” he says, “its effects are real. From lifespan to salary to where you live, race has a measurable impact on a person’s quality of life.”
It felt like he contradicted himself on this point throughout the book. He wants people to recognize that God created people differently and that diversity should be celebrated, that race is an arbitrary exhibiting of melanin in our skin not a depiction of differing worth, but then proceeds to encourage people to research their race and attach significant meaning to that result as part of their identity.
It felt like he is telling his black readership— if you don’t know and “feel in your bones” the history of racism based on the color of your skin, you need to go research it until you do. It’s like he is telling his white readership— if you don’t understand how terrible white people were to black people in history, you need to go research it until you recognize your own part in this tragedy and work to make amends.
If race is not an aspect of who you claim yourself to be, he suggests this is evidence of the harmful practice of “colorblindness” where we fail to celebrate God’s created diversity. But this emphasis on a racial identity seems to be elevated over our identity in Christ where our sinful depravity levels the playing field of transgressions and the power of Christ’s mercy and grace saves, transforms, and unifies us.
Children are doing a lot of work on figuring out who they are and I have concerns about Tisby’s emphasis of a racial identity and attaching historical burdens to kids and telling them it should shape how they view themselves rather than offering spiritual freedoms to define them.
The Questionable
The thing about writing a book for kids ages 8-12 is that they are still developing critical thinking skills. They still view all adults as people of authority and tend to accept everything they say at face value. This gives adults a lot of power to influence the thinking of children and can become a dangerous tool that is wielded.
I feel Jemar Tisby presented some things definitively as common fact or in a more simplistic way that does not account for all the information. He makes certain statements and claims that I think students won’t think to question.
“No matter their level of achievement, people of African descent in the United States, especially those with darker skin, are always placed in the outermost ring of American social circles.”
“Racism today comes in the forms of mass incarceration and police brutality towards people of color. You can find it in the ongoing and widening racial wealth gap…”
“Since white people are in charge of how society is organized, they have a way of making the rules so they always get the best options and opportunities. Maybe this isn’t always intentional, but the results are usually the same.”
“Though Christianity is supposed to bring people together in love, we live in a world where black Christians who stand against police brutality under the banner of #blacklivesmatter are dismissed as radicals by white Christians who justify such police tactics as necessary to keeping the police.”
Though he doesn’t use these exact words, he seems to support Ibram X. Kendi’s words: “When I see disparities, I see discrimination.” He seems to support Robin DiAngelo’s telling people to ask the question ‘How is this racism?’ rather than ‘Is this racism?’
He commemorates every black person who has died at the other end of a police officer’s gun without providing adequate context for each occurrence. Police brutality happens, but I wouldn’t say it’s the ‘norm’ or characteristic of police and it’s helpful to research the statistics on this. We should be wary of making some interactions definitive of all interactions.
He does not provide the statistics that while white people may have greater wealth than black people, white people actually rank 16th in median household income by selected ancestry groups.
One of the major dangers of his emphasis on presenting the notion that America is an elaborate system rigged against black people, where white people will always prevail over them, where black people don’t have the tools they need to succeed, where their future is one of lesser pay, worse jobs, and discrimination, is that it’s likely to cause people to stop trying. After all, what’s the point?
While we always fight injustice, Tisby’s tone and presentation seems likely to perpetuate a self-fulfilling prophecy where black people do not see the value or hope in trying. Tisby ignores the psychology that- You tell a child they are kind, they are smart, they are hard-working, that they can try hard things and they will live up to the picture of them you present— they will be kind and more confident academically. If you tell them they are lacking something, disadvantaged, and their country is actively against them, they will believe it and act accordingly.
I must advocate for two really good, relevant, must-read books here:
The Coddling of the American Mind
Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth
I think these two books are essential to considering Tisby’s presentation of his ambiguously defined term ‘racial justice.’
Orienting Our Lives to Racial Justice
He advocates that fighting for racial justice is an ongoing battle and true commitment will focus on it daily or orient their lives to it.
“One of the most important racial justice practices is to keep race at the top of your mind even when you have the option of not doing so.”
My concern with this charge is that he’s dangerously close to making racial justice a bigger priority than the gospel. We don’t orient our lives to anything other than the Lord.
Living out of the gospel should spur us to seek justice, but racial justice is not the gospel. The gospel is the Good News that Jesus has died for the sins of the world (of which racism is one) and defeated death and our bondage to our sin so we could experience true life and freedom in him. We do not earn this gift by accomplishing racial justice. If we get this wrong, we have lost the gospel of grace.
The importance and power of the gospel is highly lacking in this book.
Monique Duson shares part of her story in Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth and says this:
“According to historic Christianity, salvation is the good news of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection so sinners of all colors can be saved by a free act of divine grace. [Critical Race Theory] had pulled me away from that good news into a social justice gospel in which the finished work of Jesus wasn’t enough. Activism to end “oppression” as redefined by CRT became a gospel essential... According to CRT, humanity’s fundamental problems are whiteness and oppression. The beliefs of CRT weren’t ‘part of the gospel;’ they formed a different gospel altogether.”
To be clear: Tisby does not explicitly advocate or even mention critical race theory, nor does he explicitly say racial justice is a gospel issue. But this idea is worth thinking about because Tisby’s book hints at this belief. He seems to downplay the power of the gospel in seeing true change in the world and promotes activism more heavily.
Another example of Tisby's misleading ‘factual’ phrasings is this discussion question he included at the end of a section where he talked about Quaker Oats’ Aunt Jemima logo:
“What are some ways white people have sought to make less of black people through images and advertising?”
He states this as if advertisers are overtly seeking to hurt black people and asking kids to look for examples. There may be some examples we can prove the motivations of a company in the content they put out, but we have to be very careful when we judge motives. The wording of this question is problematic to me.
Tisby also stated that we need to look at impact not intent when considering evidence of racism. This is a very harmful practice to encourage. Both impact AND intent are important if we want to care about people and if we ignore either one the results will be damaging. (The Coddling of the American Mind discusses this phrase of impact vs intent)
Black vs White Culture
Tisby mentioned several times how the dominant culture is white and that black people have often been forced to change their culture to assimilate into the dominant culture.
This idea of ‘black culture’ and ‘white culture’ is not something I deny exists, but it’s something I was struggling to picture. I wish he would have been more descriptive on what ‘black culture’ is and what ‘white culture’ is. A quick look of google search results is just more ambiguity.
What aspects of black culture are being rejected, looked down on, or demeaned?
He did give the example of hairstyles— that black students are being suspended at schools because their hairstyles didn’t align with the school’s dress codes or ideas of what ‘normal’ or appropriate is. I was shocked to hear this would happen but I can confirm situations in both Texas and Florida where this occurred. Rightly, many states are passing laws that keep schools from using disciplinary actions because of hairstyles.
This is one example, but I think it would be beneficial for everyone to have more clarity on what he means here.
If he wants black culture to stop being suppressed then help us understand how to identify it and how to allow multiple cultures to coexist respectfully.
Tisby’s Solutions
“The bridge between a desire and a destination is a plan.”
“White people are in power because the system has been set up to favor them and something must be done to set historic injustices right.”
“Many people, particularly those in the racial majority, come at the issue of race like it’s something to understand mentally. They think solutions come from good ideas and that people can fix things just by thinking about them more deeply. They don’t realize that race is something other people feel in the bones.”
Based on Shenvi’s review linked above, I think he must use the term reparations in the adult version. He doesn’t refer to that in this book but he likens racism in America to a broken part of a used car you purchased from someone else. It may not be a problem you caused, but you are still responsible to fix it.
We do, as followers of Christ, have the responsibility to pursue justice, to treat others well, and to be generous.
Tisby offers some practical relational and school-related ideas for the students to do to work towards justice, but he still alludes to the bigger picture of correcting the systems that are rigged against black people and doesn’t give many specifics on what those are or how to repair them.
The historic redlining that pushed black people into specific neighborhoods did a lot of economic damage to be sure. School district lines can distribute financial resources unequally between school districts. Criminal sentencing for drug charges for white vs black people shows real disparity.
These are concrete things that I can see at work that disadvantage minorities compared to white people. Besides those, I didn’t feel like Tisby provided many details on what systems he specifically wants to see changed or solutions to do it. That’s probably out of the scope and purpose of this book, but something I thought would have been helpful.
Where Do We Go From Here?
“Whatever your reason for reading, my hope is that you’ll come away with a better understanding of where we’ve been as a nation, a deeper knowledge of who you are as a person, a vibrant connection to people of all backgrounds, and a stronger sense of purpose to fix what needs to be fixed in our broken world.”
This is somewhat his thesis. The first and third in the list are the strengths of this book and the second and fourth are the discussion points.
We all can agree that racism is sinful and should be treated as such. Injustices are wrong and should be fought against. Racism and injustices exist in the world and we need to see that the effects and damages of sin are widespread and long-lasting.
I agree with Tisby on the basis of our equality as humanity, our worth as image bearers, and God’s design of diversity not uniformity. We worship God when we love his creation and exhibit the fruits of the Spirit to our neighbors.
My hangups occur when I think about his perception of systemic racism, racial minorities not having the tools they need to succeed, the emphasis on racial identity, and sparse gospel-as-a-world-changer statements. It makes this an inadequate book for me to present to my child.
Maybe it’s less of a ‘don’t read this book' recommendation and more of a ‘you could probably read this book, but please supplement with some other viewpoints’ type of situation!
Visit my blog www.shelfreflection.com and explore some others!