The God Who Riots by Damon Garcia

Author:Damon Garcia [Garcia, Damon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL012110 RELIGION / Christian Living / Social Issues, REL067120 RELIGION / Christian Theology / Liberation, POL035010 POLITICAL SCIENCE / Human Rights
Publisher: Broadleaf Books

Transformation Requires Reparations

We cannot talk about repair without addressing the call for economic reparations for Black Americans for the legacy of chattel slavery in the United States. Christians are called to commit to fulfilling this form of reparation as well, but it’s an uncomfortable conversation because we’ve been trained to accept the phony type of reconciliation in which we pretend nothing happened. This is obviously a much easier task for the most privileged of society than the underprivileged.

It is a lot easier for the descendants of those who have always been in privileged positions in society to ignore everyday signs of brokenness than it is for the descendants of those who have been historically underprivileged because the signs of brokenness are reflected in their life conditions.

When people demand reparations, those who don’t have a material need for reparations cannot immediately comprehend the needs of others. So often those with more privilege than others become angry and combative when people suggest any form of reparations because they foolishly believe they’re the ones being oppressed when others are finally given the same privileges they’ve always enjoyed.

This plays out in the rest of the parable as well. The father’s other son, the prodigal son’s older brother, stayed with his father while his younger brother was absent. The story continues:

Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”15

Any form of reparations feels unfair to white people who can’t see what has always been theirs. In a society that has historically favored white people, they must recognize that people of color are often fighting to have access to the same opportunities and freedoms that white people have always had access to. White privilege doesn’t mean that every single white person is born with more wealth and resources than every single nonwhite person. We all struggle, including white working-class people. White privilege just means that white people’s skin color isn’t one of the factors that contribute to their struggle to survive in this society that dehumanizes all of us.

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