Profane Faith with Dr. Daniel White Hodge

SEASON TWO - EPISODE 19: PROFANE FAITH WITH DR. DANIEL WHITE HODGE

In this episode, I have the privilege of speaking with Dr. Daniel White Hodge, Professor of Intercultural Communication and Department Chair of the Communication Arts Department at North Park University in Chicago. 

He is the author of 5 books, including The Soul of Hip Hop, Heaven Has a Ghetto, Hip Hop’s Hostile Gospel, Homeland Insecurity, and his most recent, Baptized in Dirty Water: Reimagining the Gospel According to Tupac Amaru Shakur. He also hosts the podcast Profane Faith, which I am loving right now! 

We talk about systemic racism, the ongoing black experience in our culture, a bit about how the president has changed communication and the presidency, as well as what white people do to screw up this work. 

Dr. Hodge is real, says it how it is, and is not afraid to speak truth even when it stings.

A few resources that Dr. Hodge recommended include Color of Fear Film and White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Be sure to check out his website and follow him on Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook.

As you continue to do this important and essential work, even when it stings, may you have peace, may you have calm, may you have happiness.

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The Return of Darren Calhoun

SEASON TWO - EPISODE 18: THE RETURN OF DARREN CALHOUN

Four years ago, July 18th 2016, Darren Calhoun appeared on the first season of The Why Behind the What.

In that episode, we talked about racial justice, intersectionality, and our response to the killing of Philando Castille, Alton Sterling, and the mass shooting of 49 people at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.

Four years later, we are having the same conversation.

We talk, again, about racial justice, the need for intersectionality as we dismantle systemic racism, and our response to living through a pandemic, engaging in protests, and the self-care needed to endure it all.

Has anything changed? Is it different this time around? Darren and I both seem glimmers of hope, but we realize there is so much more work to do.

Hopefully, Darren and I will not need to have a similar conversation four years from now. If we do, things really got screwed up.

Darren is a worship leader, a justice advocate, and a photographer based out of the great city of Chicago. He is also a member of the band, The Many, which is creating some beautiful music and resources.

Darren is truly one of the best human beings I have ever met.

I hope you enjoy this podcast interview and gives you the hope that there continue to be people who are doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God. For more information about Darren, check out his website. You can also follow Darren on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. You can support Darren and his work on Venmo and CashApp.

And so friends, as you continue to do the work of racial justice, as you discover compassion even amongst the depth of unjust systems, and as you find joy even when things become exhausting, may you have peace, may you have calm, may you have happiness.

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Rediscipling the White Church with David Swanson

SEASON TWO - EPISODE 16: REDISCIPLING THE WHITE CHURCH WITH REV. DAVID SWANSON

What if the answer to the racial segregation within our churches is not diversity, but discipleship? And, what if our church’s methods of discipleship have actually contributed to our racial segregation? 

In this time of racial violence and protests, what if our role, as white people, is not to become woke, but to become dismantlers, repairers, and reformers? 

In this episode, I interview David Swanson, pastor of New Community Covenant Church in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago and the author of Rediscipling the White Church: From Cheap Diversity to True Solidary.

In this conversation, we talk about the how white people are often complicit to racist systems, that the answer to racial segregation in our churches is not diversity but is actually discipleship, we talk about unlearning the narrative we have come to believe in order to relearn the truth of our history so that we can begin the work to repair and reform not only the church but our society.

If you are white and someone who is a part of the Christian tradition, I think not only should you listen to this episode, and probably listen to it a couple times, but also immediately go out and buy David’s book. 

I believe David is a voice that every White Christian needs to listen to. He is pastoral and prophetic, and I think he will be one of the key leaders helping White people unlearn and relearn their history as well as work to become dismantlers of white supremacy.

You can learn more about David on his website and follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Resources that David recommends in this episode include: Be the Bridge, White Awake, Trouble I’ve Seen, Roadmap to Reconciliation, Divided by Faith, and every essay and book by James Baldwin.

As you move from cheap diversity to true solidarity, being discipled so you might become dismantlers of white supremacy and systemic racism, may you have peace, may you have calm, may you have happiness.

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Digging Up the Roots of Racism Podcast

SEASON TWO - EPISODE 15: DIGGING UP THE ROOTS OF RACISM

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about digging up racism. I had written this almost two weeks before George Floyd’s brutal murder.

I can’t stop thinking about this metaphor, even though, like all metaphors, it can only go so far. In light of everything happening now in our country, I felt the need to share a longer version of it on my podcast.

Now, I’m one of those over-achieving-planners. I had 10 other podcast episodes recorded and scheduled for the rest of the summer. But, I’m putting all of those on hold for a bit.

Instead, I want to spend some time on the podcast talking about whiteness, our racial biases and privilege, dismantling white supremacy and systemic injustice, as well as resource us while amplifying important voices and crucial work. 

So for the next few weeks, I am going to spend some time talking about this and interviewing a few friends and colleagues.

In this episode, I share a story, give you some resources, and end with a contemplative prayer that lasts 8:46 - the same amount of time that George Floyd spent gasping for breath as a police officer kneeled on his neck.

I think the upcoming episodes will be crucial for us white people who rarely think about our race, worry about police brutality, are unaware of our privilege, or refuse to face the evil and racist systems in our culture.

We need to learn our history, acknowledge the reality, speak up and out, repent, and apologize. We need to name it. We need to call it out. We need to repent. And then, we need to shut up for a while in order to listen and learn. As we do this, we need to find the roots of racism within our own hearts and lives.

Instead of just trying to become woke, we need to become the fixers and repairers.

Instead of unknowingly benefiting from racist systems, we need to become the dismantlers of racist systems. 

We need to uproot the entire system and fix it, because we created it.

We need to become anti-racist who are working to create anti-racist policies, systems, culture, and the world. 

As I mention in this episode, I have a bunch of resources for you.

If you love podcasts as I do, I recommend: Code Switch, Existential, Momentum, Pass the Mic, Profane Faith, Speaking of Racism, and White Homework.

There are so many incredible books out there. Some of the most impactful to me have been the following: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Just Mercy, How to be an Anti-Racist, Stamped from the Beginning, Antiracist Baby, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You.

I think you should read everything by Ta-Nehisi Coates: Between the World and Me, We Were Eight Years in Power, The Case for Reparations, The Beautiful Struggle, and The Water Dancer. The Cross and the Lynchburg Tree and God of the Oppressed by James Cone are essential.

The Warmth of Other Suns, Slavery by Another Name, The Color of Law, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, Tears We Cannot Stop, and Trouble I’ve Seen are all incredible books worth your time.

And for those of us who are white, here are some specific books on whiteness that I recommend: White Fragility, White Like Me, Waking up White, White Awake, Raising White Kids, and Rediscipling the White Church. 

I’ve also created a Let’s Get to Work Resource List, which you can download as a PDF. (Oh, and if you subscribe to my newsletter, you’ll get other perks like this once and a while)

It’s time to stand up, declare Black lives matter, grab a shovel, and start digging up the roots of racism because we are 400 years behind on this important work.

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Uprooting Racism While Gardening

I’ve been spending a significant amount of time digging up roots and weeds in my yard.

It’s been occupying my evenings and weekends. Surprisingly, it is a nice change of pace from working from home. For as much uprooting I’ve done, I’m not very good at it nor do I think it’s very enjoyable. But, I do it and am usually sore the next day.

One thing I’ve been amazed at is the strength and depth of roots. Some dandelion roots have been over a foot long. Vine roots are incredibly long and are just under the surface of the dirt. Some bushes I had to dig up had roots a few feet deep.

In our backyard is a tree that was once covered in vines. Around the base of the tree are huge vine roots that had been cut down but never uprooted. My wife and I decided to dig them so we could lay mulch around the tree. The more we started digging, yanking, and pulling the more we realized it was going to be a more difficult job than anticipated.

We started with a hand shovel thinking we could easily yank them up. Quickly, we realized we needed a shovel to dig deeper and wider. We discovered what seemed like full vine stumps underground. As we ripped up the roots, dirt flew everywhere; on our clothes, on our faces, in our mouths. A few times, I yank a root so hard that when it snapped off I fell to the ground with it.

Our son kept yelling at us, “Are you ripping up the tree roots? Are you going to dig up the whole tree? Don’t kill the tree.” We kept reassuring him that we were taking up the vines that were inhibiting the tree from growing. “We’re trying to save the tree” we kept saying.

It was hard, difficult, messy, and even painful work.

I think this is an apt metaphor for the work white people need to do concerning racism and white privilege.

Racism has deep and strong roots in our history and culture. There is an entire system that is full of injustice, deep and long just under the green grass, that is inhibiting growth. Yet, for most of us, we don’t see it. Or should I say, we refuse to see it.

There are racist roots in our culture, permeating many of our systems, and deep within our own hearts. And if we continue to let it, such roots will overtake and wreak havoc on every aspect of the garden.

We need to dig them up. We need to uproot them. This is our problem, my fellow white people. It’s our problem to name, uproot, and fix.

It’s going to be hard, messy, and painful work. The more we dig up, the more ugliness will we find. We will get covered in dirt. We will fall down as we rip things up. We will probably be sore the next day. And when we start naming and uprooting the weeds, people will yell at us, “Are you ripping up the tree roots? Don’t kill the tree. Why are you making this a race issue? I’m not racist. I didn’t own slaves.”

We need to learn our history, acknowledge the reality, speak up and out, repent, and apologize. We need to name it. We need to call it out. We need to repent. We need to find the roots of racism within our own hearts and lives.

But more than that, we need to uproot the entire system and fix it. Get your gloves and shovels. We’ve got work to do.

And while you’re at it, a few great books for you:
White Privilege: Let’s Talk UCC Curriculum
The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo
So You Want To Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy, Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Case for Reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates
Stamped From The Beginning, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
How To Be An Antiracst, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, Austin Channing Brown
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, Richard Rothstein