Dear White Pastor,

Greetings! My name is Christina Hibbard and though I haven't necessarily been to your church, I want to thank you so much for your teaching, how you walk humbly, and your desire to shepherd the church. Currently I am in South Carolina, preparing to move overseas for teaching and ministry. While here, I feel compelled to share a piece of my response to the general white church, of which I am a part. 

As I listened with anticipation to your sermon this father's day, I felt hurt and unknown for how you addressed the massacre in Charleston. Though I am not a person of color, I try to make choices and act as an ally. For a practice in this allyship, I frequently examine issues and listen with ears not only mine but those from other groups: be it race, religion, sexuality, etc. I'd like to elaborate on why I felt so hurt, please, and I thank you for your reading and patience. 

What hurt is that the core issue of the shooting at the Emanuel AME Church has not been addressed by you: racism. This issue, though not pleasant, is, in one way or another, a daily reality for every black person in the U.S. To not address it as the cause for the massacre is to not address this reality for people of color--specifically the black community. When race is left out of the conversation where it needs to be, identity, culture, and history are left out for anyone who does not identify or look like the majority white. 

The forgiveness shown by the families of the victims was beautiful and I praise God that He can make good out of evil. This is a beautiful part of the event to share, and I am glad you mentioned this piece of redemption. Yet then you brought this ability to forgive to your congregation. You challenged the church to imagine their response if someone of another race had come and shot in your house of worship. When you said this, the race issue was normalized and minimized. The racist component--the core part of this situation-- was left out of the conversation. Racism cannot happen against us white folk. Prejudice, yes. But racism, in its nature, requires not only prejudice but also power. 

I grew up in Pella, Iowa. And Pella, you see, is a small, predominately white (specifically, Dutch) town surrounded by rural farms. When I was in Pella, traveled from Pella, and eventually moved out of Pella, I carried with me a white superiority complex. As you know, this is generational sin and this is systemic. I work daily to surrender and retrain my thoughts. During my 18 years in Pella, I never heard race discussed except as a concept in history. I believe there is deep truth in Desmond Tutu's words: "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." The realities of racism were not discussed when I went to school, to church, or at home. Or, if they were, there was no sense urgency or need for change. My formative years in Pella were neutral regarding the injustice of racism and my white superiority was solidified more and more. 

With a lack of diversity, I can understand this shortcoming in my upbringing and perhaps the shortcomings in your own church. All excuses must be thrown to the side now, though. Black Lives Matter is making voices heard through the systemic injustice to anywhere with internet. Furthermore, the violence has reached the Church and there is no excuse. (Why did it have to directly affect the Body of Christ before we listened? Are not any acts of violence a hurt to the Body?) 

This has to be addressed. Our black brothers and sisters in Christ are dying in the House of God. How can we remain silent? How can we not pray and ask God to show our own prejudices within?

In the last two weeks, there have been eight churches burned. Eight. All eight being black churches. I'd ask, please, that race is brought into the picture and mentioned from the pulpit. I ask that you would lead the church in prayer and in a humble response of listening. I pray against fear.

I really appreciate what Rev. Sekou, Jo Ann Hardesty of the NAACP, and Eric Knox of Imago Dei Community shared regarding responses of white Christians in this interview. It is deeply convicting to me and I continue to pray for all my white brothers and sisters regarding this.

I thank you for taking the time to read this and, again, for your leadership in the church. I thank you in advance for how you will continue to pray about this issue and for our black brothers and sisters. 

In peace and with hope for reconciliation, 
Christina Grace Hibbard