I'M CONFUSED

“The European American Lutheran Association (EALA) will hold its first biennial meeting Oct. 28-30 at the Wyndham Milwaukee Hotel and Conference Center, Milwaukee. The EALA is the newest and one of six ethnic associations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).” 

In a denomination that is about 95% European American, I can’t help but wonder about the need for an association for European Americans Lutherans. Why would they need to have a separate group when most Lutheran Churches are full of European Americans?  I understand the value of the other ethnic associations: African American Lutheran Association, American Indian and Alaska Native Lutheran Association, Association of Lutherans of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage, Association of Asian and Pacific Islanders, and the Latino Lutheran Association. I am puzzled about the European American association.

The purpose of the group seems rather different from the other ethnic associations. The article I’ve quoted from continues: “‘The purpose of the EALA is to dismantle racism, white privilege and white power by recognizing and confessing our individual and corporate sin and addressing institutional racism in the church,’” said Kathy B. Long, EALA president, Redmond, Wash.” Dismantling racism is a noble goal, but when that includes “addressing institutional racism in the church,” I am forced to wonder why that isn’t a goal of the whole church. Maybe it is, but why then do we need a special association to do that, especially when it is a group that identifies itself as separate from all the other ethnic associations which probably includes most of the groups who have suffered from racism.
                       
Maybe the explanation to all of this is about “confessing our individual and corporate sin.” I don’t think that refers the general confession we use most Sundays. It refers to the specific sin of racism. Confession of racism is a good thing. The problem is that it can be difficult for people to see that they are guilty of racism. There are a lot of people who are prejudiced, but lack the power to act on that prejudice in a way that could be considered racist. They don’t employ people, they don’t rent property, they don’t run public accommodations, etc. The power issue is important to look at. The way to combat racism is to keep an eye on misuse of power. It can be very, very difficult to change attitudes.  Focusing on racism’s use of power can bring about real change. Look at what was accomplished by the U.S. Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts.

Ah, but there is something else to confess, “white privilege.”  My pea-brain has more trouble understanding this one. I don’t deny that many, many “white people” have advantages that others do not have. I also think it is important for us European Americans to see where we have had these advantages simply because of our ethnicity. I want to be careful, however, in equating these advantages with sin that ought to be confessed. There is a complexity that needs to be considered.
   
The essential problem I have with “white privilege” is  the assumption that some people are getting advantages they do not deserve. What I see is rather that some people are being deprived of rights or opportunities or freedoms that they should have. That is racism. That is the sin.

Allow an example. I have talked with several African Americans who tell of going to schools where they always received old, used text books. Years later they discovered that students in white schools received new text books and it was their used books that were being passed on. That is plainly the result of racist school policies. It was wrong, wrong, wrong. But what about the white students who received the new books. Did they do anything wrong by receiving them? No. They should acknowledge that an injustice was done toward the African-American students, but those white students had no power to control that situation.  And I ask the question, was the injustice that some students received a privilege they did not deserve, or was the injustice that some students were denied what they had a right to expect? And what would have been a just remedy–taking away the white students' new books or making sure all students had new books?

I also have to bring up again the issue of class. How much of apparent privilege is due to class differences rather than race? When I was growing up in Chicago, there was no question that a person had more opportunities if they went to one of the suburban high schools like Maine Township East (where Hillary Rodham Clinton attended) than at a city school.  There was a lot more money for schools in the suburbs. On the other hand my grandmother would have been surprised to be told how privileged she was as a European American since her family was so poor she was taken from school while in fifth-grade and sent to work as a servant.

I am concerned that making people feel guilty about privilege substitutes for the needed work of fixing problems. How do we overcome the racism that still holds so many back? How do we fix problems that keep the poor in poverty? What do we do for kids in families where the parents are drug addicts?  What happens to kids at 18 who age out of the foster care system and have no adults to guide them? What do we do for the 1,700 homeless kids who live in my county? Some of these problems involve race, and some cut across racial lines.

I’d like to see a lot less shoveling on guilt and a lot more solving problems. If someone would like to send me a check equivalent to the money spent on 60 people attending the EALA meeting at the Wyndham Milwaukee Hotel ($293 X 60= $17,580) I’d be glad to send it on to Food4Kids. Around 700 European American, African American, Latino, Native American, Arab, and Asian children could have something to eat every weekend this month. 

May the Lord bless you on your journey and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne









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