The Identification and Solution of White Privilege and Systemic Racism

One of the frustrating things about the current social climate is the cult-like atmosphere of having to hold certain mantras. It reminds me of watching Mormon speakers and hearing, “I believe in the Book of Mormon and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God,” or the Muslim mantra “Allah is God and Mohammed is his prophet.” In the same way, one must affirm the truth of phrases like “white privilege” or “systemic racism” in order to be seen as a good and decent human being worthy to be received by the ruling mob.

I personally believe that this movement is filled with misidentifications of the problem, and therefore, misidentifications of the solution but I do want to note that I do believe that white privilege and systemic racism exist. They’re just not as cut and dry as most people think they are.

For one, the real issue with privilege is actually classism. Race comes in only when a particular race is in the majority and decides to keep other races out of its elite classes, but this in no way means that everyone of that race is in the elite class, has power therefore to keep races out of it, or even benefits from it. I have a feeling, affirmed by having multiple people explain white privilege and systemic racism to me, that what most people are picturing when they say “white” is actually “upper class white.” No one is looking at the homeless guy who inherited a long history of poverty from his impoverished family line as having white privilege, nor could one make the argument that his life is somehow slightly better as a white homeless man that it would have been had he been a black homeless man. Is it really appropriate to compare the white homeless man to a rich black congressman and say that the rich black congressman would have been richer had he been white and the white homeless man would have been even worse off had he been black, and therefore, the white guy has privilege the rich black congressman doesn’t?

Likewise, systemic racism doesn’t involve all people, but only the elite class of white people in the West. I absolutely agree that any culture where one race is dominant there tends to be privilege given to that dominant race by the dominant race, but such privilege tends to be granted by the upper class in that society where the lower classes have little to no ability to grant access or deny it to anyone. Do you think that white people get the same opportunity for employment in places dominated by other races in other countries?

I grant that the West is a bit unique in that it has become made up of multiple races, and because of this, the injustices of privilege are going to be more pronounced than in many countries that simply have one race (although you can see the same injustices applied in these countries based on tribal affiliation, religion, etc.).

So I think it is absolutely true that there is systemic racism that has prevented black people from entering into the upper classes so that they had to work extra hard and jump numerous obstacles their white counterparts did not have to in order to get a leg up. Going from slavery to the upper class was a much longer road than anyone else of another race had to take in our culture. Hence, white elite class privilege existed and exists if those elite whites are still elite as a result of their ancestry. It no longer exists if they have no such inheritance.

Of course, there is also much confusion over the idea that all elite white people became elite from slavery. This actually isn’t true. People were rich long before they came to America. Many became rich apart from the slave trade or owning any slaves at all. Some were always opposed to it. Some just had nothing to do with it. Most of those actually guilty were either killed or impoverished in that big war we had between the North and the South. If it is simply a matter of guilt by benefiting from another person’s evil then everyone in the world is guilty of all sorts of crimes committed by others throughout history, but God does not tally sins in such ways unless those sins are continued by the individuals who benefit from them. Indeed, such would make even black people guilty having been ancestors of black people who kidnapped and sold other black people into slavery, and thus, having benefited from the wealth made by slavery with the rest of America, they would become guilty as well. Other races who were involved in the slave trade and have benefited from it in the butterfly effects of the modern-day would also be guilty.

But let’s say for a moment that it really is every white person alone in the world who has privilege. What does justice look like now? Does justice mean that they should be given less favor in order for the disadvantaged to be given more? Does it mean we take away what belongs to them in order to give it to others with less privilege? The Bible would argue that this is actually unjust and something the wicked do.

You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit. (Exod 23:2-3)

I find this verse rather interesting since we are being led along by mob justice these days. As long as the mob agrees justice is taking away from those who have, as long as they’re a particular color, in order to give to those who do not, again, as long as they’re a particular color, then suddenly it is. 

You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly. (Leviticus 19:15)

This verse in particular is talking about a fellow Christian. Now we are talking about doing what is unjust to a fellow believer because of his class. Notice, some people had the tendency to hate the rich and be in favor of the poor instead. Others gave favor to the rich and so did wrong by them. God tells His people that they are to do neither. They are not to be partial which means that they are not to take into consideration factors of class when they are judging one another.

Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. (Deut 1:17)

Again, “small and great” refer to those who have no privilege and those who do. You are to hear both out fairly and not be bullied into favoring one over the other.

Micah 2:6-9 is particularly interesting because many people thought they had the right to take away the privilege inherited by the rich. Yet, God sees this as their covetous depravity.

“Do not prophesy,” their prophets say. “Do not prophesy about these things; disgrace will not overtake us.”

You descendants of Jacob, should it be said, “Does the LORD become impatient? Does he do such things?” “Do not my words do good to the one whose ways are upright?

Lately my people have risen up like an enemy. You strip off the rich robe from those who pass by without a care, like men returning from battle.

You drive the women of my people from their wealthy homes. You take away my blessing from their children forever.

What this passage actually tells us is that what the upper class have has been given to them by God through inheritance. Notice, again, the fear of being bullied and so their false prophets tell them not to speak against these acts. Justice isn't righting all of the wrongs of the past and making everyone the same class with the same privilege, but being fair to everyone, rich or poor, by allowing them to keep what God has allotted to them. This means they should not be unfairly treated by the law, nor have any possessions that belong to them taken from them, nor be shorted in anything that is owed to them.

The wrench in all of this is the fact that it is not simply a matter of privilege due to merely being the majority race in our country, but a history of racial injustice beginning by buying black (kidnapped) slaves, something expressly forbidden and carrying with it the death penalty in Scripture (Exod 21:16) and placing them in conditions where thriving was next to impossible. 

What should be done here to right this wrong? First, nothing can be done to right the wrong apart from Christ’s death or the death of those guilty because nothing can be done to right any wrong like those that have been committed but death. Blacking out one's FB profile, getting on one's knees, or marching and breaking things for justice sake isn't the penalty in the law for these crimes. Death is. Yet, the people who did this and who the Bible would consider guilty are dead already and the Bible forbids that any man should be put to death for the sins of his ancestors when he has divorced himself from them and has not repeated them himself (Deut 24:16; Ezekiel 18). This means that no one, as long as he has not continued the racist acts of years gone by, is guilty before God of these acts, and to claim that they are is to speak against God, bear false witness against your neighbor, and to do the very injustice once delivered upon a people merely because of the color of their skin. As the wise priest in the Count of Monte Christo once said, "Do not become guilty of the crime for which you now serve the sentence."

What is the way forward then? For Christians, the cross is the only way forward. All injustice has been settled there in the blood of Christ for all who believe and if any current racism in the church is to be destroyed it must be destroyed there. Christians should help Christians wherever they can regardless of race because blood is thicker than skin color and we are one Body with one another.

For the unbeliever, he will defy God’s Word, bear false witness against those who are not guilty according to God, seek out unjust vengeance upon those who are not guilty, and end his world in death and destruction of the innocent. He will rob and deal unfairly with the privileged because there is no just rationality in the wicked mind. Men will continue to be tyrants one way or another. They will commit atrocities against one another and find multiple ways (color, class, tribe, team, gang, etc.) of justifying their bloodlust. And they will do this because the real problem isn’t racism, class, or gender. The real problem is that man is evil from his earliest days on. The only remedy, therefore, is a transformation of nature through the gospel of Christ and all who come to Him, of every nation, tribe and language, will forever sit enthroned over all creation. And that is a privilege every Christian seeks to have and keep.