"Antiracism" by Carroll Makemson

Confession: I am living a life of continual awakenings. I spent my early years in integrated schools even before Brown vs. Board of Education ruled that racial segregation was illegal. Every year through college, my classes were integrated, and so was my dorm. In graduate school, I marched with people of color for living wages. As an educator, I worked with people of color, and my libraries served students of color.  I said, “I’m colorblind” or “I’m not racist” and believed it. I really thought I was ok because I treated others kindly and with respect no matter the color of their skin. For years, I lived with these beliefs. Then, the awakenings began.

After NPR interviewed Isabelle Wilkinson about her award-winning book The Warmth of Other Suns, I read it and thus began my awakening that I was not OK. The U.S. history that I learned in school was not her U.S. history. Now, I knew my country was not OK. At that time, things were fairly quiet on the racial scene in our country, which let my concerns and new knowledge lie dormant until my next awakening.

A few years later, my friend Mary Margaret Oberkrom (MMO) encouraged, maybe nagged, me to read Waking Up White. I checked the library often, but after months of waiting, I bought a copy. It lay around the house, and I am grateful that I eventually read it while MMO was still living. What a final gift she gave me! Its subtitle is “Finding Myself in the Story of Race,” and that’s exactly where I landed. My next awakening had begun when my white privilege hit me right between the eyes.  I convinced my book club to read, Waking up White, and the conversation was robust. We followed with Becoming by Michelle Obama, and the discrimination described in Warmth of Other Suns now had her father’s face. 

My reading journey about privilege and race continued. I’m Still Here, and White Fragility caused me to think and examine my response to race and racism. Then came my GREAT awakening when I began reading How To Be an Antiracist. With relief, I can say, I really am not racist. I am an imperfect antiracist who lives in a country with systemic racism. I am trying, but my voice is not persistent on issues, my calls to legislators too infrequent, my “buycotting” inconsistent, my excuses for inaction weak. Another great awakening: Being antiracist is hard, but necessary work!

Why is this journey of awakening necessary? Why is the work of antiracism necessary? We heard it in Sunday’s sermon: in Hebrew “Ahavah;” in Aramaic “rakhmah;” in Greek “agape;” in English “love your neighbor.” From the Torah through the Gospels to the Epistles, this is God’s command. Love your God and love your neighbors no matter the color of their skin. The Psalmist declares that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made—all of us of every race.  C.S. Lewis uses the word agape in The Four Loves to describe a “selfless love that is passionately committed to the well-being of others,”[i] and I think he meant no matter the color of their skin. Awakening must continue! The work must continue! Jesus commands!

[i] Center for Global Impact, “Love Redefined.”

Pictured: Carroll and Tom Makemson, Ellen Gregory at Pray on Troost Juneteenth Rally