a wonderfully articulate letter from a friend going on a trip to South Africa to serve with a team doing a listening tour on racial reconciliation

I think that it is important for me to briefly articulate how humbled and thrilled I am at the opportunity to be going to South Africa with all of you and take part in a delegation committed to listening and learning about their tumultuous and redemptive narrative. For too long I've avoided or have simply become neutral regarding the important conversations dealing with the realities of living in a racialized society. This has been in part because of the fabric of the majority culture's systems and institutions that run so rampant that it can go undetected to someone like myself who has been covertly taught that if gone unchallenged I'll remain “on top” as a white male. Justo Gonzalez, a proponent of liberation theology, suggests that “We have not been told because we did not wish to be told.”

I'm realizing that the more I read the gospels and fall in love with Jesus Christ, the kingdom that he came to establish didn't look anything like the one that was expected or anticipated. If I desire to "bring the kingdom" that Christ taught his disciples, I must know, resonate with, and earn the right to be in solidarity with the oppressed, the marginalized and the "other." I see this opportunity of going to South Africa as a way of moving toward a greater consciousness of issues that I know I must become more aware of in order to have a better understanding and language to boldly speak out on behalf of those whose voice is not always honored or welcomed at the table. Bishop Desmond Tutu reminds me that the work of reconciliation is one of action: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

-Paul B