Because it is the truth that will set us free.
Sadly, too many of us in the church don't live like we believe this. We live as if we are afraid acknowledging the past will tighten the chains of injustice rather than break them. We live as if the ghosts of the past will snatch us if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. So instead we walk around the valley, talk around the valley. We speak of the valley with cute euphemisms:
"We just have so many divisions in this country."
"If we could just get better at diversity, we'd be so much better off."
"We are experiencing some cultural change."
Our only chance at dismantling racial injustice is being more curious about its origins than we are worried about our comfort. It's not a comfortable conversation for any of us. It is risky and messy. It is haunting work to recall the sins of our past. But is this not the work we have been called to anyway? Is this not the work of the Holy Spirit to illuminate truth and inspire transformation?
― Austin Channing Brown,
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
