Reflections on Institutional Racism

Racism is a big deal. It has broken hearts, hurt souls, and destroyed lives. Racism is still a massive problem today, although it is not talked about the way it was thirty and forty years ago.

This week, a group in class presented on institutional racism in the United Methodist Church. The first person of the group gave us the history of racism in general in the United States and what the UMC’s actions (or rather, lack thereof) were during this period. I was left truly appalled. I have studied this period before, so I know what went on. His presentation really struck a chord, though. He used images to depict the horrors that were inflicted on African Americans during the first 65 years of the 20^th century. The following is one of them.

This image disturbed me more than any other, although the brutalities inflicted on other people were far worse. Why? Look at the crowd. Not only does it consist of men and women, but they are smiling. They’re happy. The lynching of African Americans by white people was something to be celebrated.

The Methodist Church did nothing to stop this. The Central Jurisdiction was formed in 1939 as a way of keeping the peace once the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church South reunited. Now, African American pastors would only pastor the African American churches within the Central Conference. “Separate but equal” was the thinking behind this decision, but it was institutional racism. It may have kept the peace between the MEC and MECS, but it did so at the expense of their African American brothers and sisters.

Although the Central Jurisdiction was dissolved in 1972, institutional racism still occurs. Many times today, it is disguised in the form of trying to ensure that everyone has a voice. This is why we will have the token African American on committees. Also, this can happen towards others. It seems that in our efforts to ensure that those who are not white, middle-aged men have a voice, we may be oppressing the white, middle-aged man. In following the Twitter feed for #gc2012, many snide comments were made toward white male tweeters, saying things along the lines of, “Of course you think that. You’re a white man.” This is not okay, either. We have to find the balance between lifting up the voices of the marginalized without sacrificing the voices that have been dominant.