{"id":285,"date":"2020-06-29T13:00:49","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T18:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/seminary\/?p=285"},"modified":"2020-06-29T13:00:49","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T18:00:49","slug":"racial-reconciliation-1-america-2-experiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/seminary\/racial-reconciliation-1-america-2-experiences\/","title":{"rendered":"Racial Reconciliation: 1 America; 2 Experiences"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A Word from Bob: <\/strong>I\u2019ve taken my thoughts from chapter 10 of my book<\/span> Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

2 Competing Narratives of the American Experience<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

As I talk to friends about the ongoing racial tensions in the US, many are perplexed. A Caucasian friend recently shared with me:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re talking a different language when we talk across racial lines.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Not long after that conversation, an African American friend shared:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I talk about race with my White friends, it\u2019s like we\u2019re from two different planets. It\u2019s like we\u2019re aliens to each other in need of a universal translator.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

My friends are onto something. And it\u2019s not just a recent development. From the very founding of America, Blacks and Whites have maintained two drastically different views of the American Experience. In today\u2019s post, I\u2019m hoping to help us understand each other better by helping us to understand our long-standing different perspectives on life in America.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Free Northern European White Male American Experience: \u201cThe Promised Land\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The idea of an American \u201cnational narrative\u201d drawn from Scripture is not new. When European Christians immigrated to America, they chose a dominant biblical lens through which to view themselves corporately. They were, according to Puritan John Winthrop:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA city upon a hill.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As God\u2019s new chosen people fleeing the religious tyranny of Europe, if they (White Europeans) obeyed God they would:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFind that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies.\u201d<\/span>[i]<\/a><\/p>\n

From the earliest period of their migration to the New World, European colonists spoke of their journey as the:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNew Exodus of a New Israel from bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land of milk and honey.\u201d<\/span>[ii]<\/a><\/p>\n

For these early European Americans, America already was<\/em><\/strong> the Promised Land.<\/span><\/p>\n

White Europeans left Europe in an exodus due to persecution, finding religious and political freedom and likening it to the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many would be shocked to realize that anyone has ever seen it any differently. Or, perhaps we should say, many free northern European middle-class and upper-class white males would be shocked to realize that anyone has ever seen it any differently.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Enslaved African American Experience: \u201cBound for the Promised Land\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Consider contrast #1:<\/span><\/p>\n