Reply #115: To the person who thinks "All Black Churches" are racist? [View All]

[musicblind]

Look, I'm white, and go to a church that just HAPPENS to have a load of white people in it. That does not mean our church is racist and wouldn't be thrilled if a black person wanted to join. Black churches are the same way. I have a professor who is very heavily involved in civil rights issues and cares deeply about the plight of black people across our nation. She is white, but she attends an all black church. They welcome her, they are nice to her, she tells me all of the time how much she loves their music. I had became an independent undergraduate research assitant with her, and she made a film about interracial marriage and used music from the church. The choir was more THRILLED to make the music for that film, and was nice to everyone involved be they black or white. Dr. Edwards is one of the nicest people I know, but she would have certainly let me know if they had not been welcoming to her.

Another example, when I was in high school I was friends with this boy named John. I thought John was so wonderful and we pretty much dated. John was very interested in civil rights (he was gay and closeted at the time which may have contributed to how much he identified with black causes). Therefore, John joined the all black club at the high school called New Horizons. They had NO PROBLEM AT ALL with him joining. Yes, the year book photo looks funny. He's this one white dot in a sea of black faces. But he's smiling, and everyone else is smiling and they were just happy to have one more person at the meetings who wanted to help make their ideas for the community a reality. Yes the club had only black people in it before John joined. It doesn't mean whites were not allowed! A lot of whites may have felt uncomfortable joining and not tried because they were AFRAID they wouldn't be allowed, but that is the fault of the people who let their discomfort keep them from participating.

I am sure that Obama's church would be just fine allowing white people to come and celebrate African culture with them. They would probably be excited to see someone like that show such an interest in a culture that was different than the one that person grew up in. They would love to share their experiences, tell their stories, and spread their beliefs to an outsider. I know I would.

I'm not going to pretend that there are not racist black people. There are. When I was at the North Carolina School of the Arts my best friend at the time was black. One year, over the summer, my family and I went on a cruise and wanted to take that friend with us. He was excited and wanted to go, I was excited about it to, however is parents weren't. They did not want him hanging out with a white kid and going with a white family on a cruise. Eventually he was allowed to go, but it was disenchanting. So yes, SOME black people are racist just like some white people, but to say it is racist to have a church that consists mostly of blacks and celebrates African culture is not 100% accurate at all.

:)