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A review by leswag97
The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby
4.0
I voraciously tore through Jemar Tisby’s “The Color of Compromise,” underlining, note-taking, and writing down my own thoughts in the margins. Like the Letter of James in the New Testament, this book at times feels like a punch in the gut or a rude awakening, albeit necessary. It is necessary to wake up, and it is necessary at times to have the wind taken out of you, so that you may be filled up with something new, and that a new understanding of the past, present, and future may appear before your eyes.
In Tisby’s historical survey of the American Church’s complicity in racism, he highlights monumental moments in America’s history where the Church has failed in its call and commission to love God and to love one’s neighbor, and has instead joined herself to prejudice, white supremacy, power, and wealth.
While many American Christians know of and have studied at least in part the horrors of slavery in America, as well as the Civil War, Jim Crow laws, and the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century, few of us who are white or who are in positions of privilege or power (and are therefore not as touched by the lasting effects of centuries of bigotry and racism) have dwelt on our bloody pasts, lamenting what has taken place and asking for forgiveness (from both God and our brothers and sisters we have oppressed, or at least, allowed to suffer). The importance of taking a look at the past is that it informs the present situation, illuminates the struggles, contexts, and backgrounds of one’s neighbors, and it provides guidance and wisdom for the future. My prayer is that whoever reads “The Color of Compromise”—including myself—would utilize it as a tool and a map: a tool for building up, rather than breaking down, each other, as well as a tool for breaking down, rather than building up, the dividing wall of hostility (Eph. 2:14); and a map to lead us into a bright and beautiful future, where we have learned from past mistakes, and can build on new foundations of love and justice.
For many white American Christians, a book such as this might not be at the top of the list; perhaps, because one might view reliving the past is painful; also perhaps, because one may see these as historical problems of the past, and as being no longer problematic for today; or perhaps, because one may not see the issue of racial justice and equality as being orthodox or Gospel-centered. Even in the midst of these initial objections, I encourage you to pick this book up and to dive into its pages, and to see what it may teach you, how it may convict you, and where it might lead you.
In Tisby’s historical survey of the American Church’s complicity in racism, he highlights monumental moments in America’s history where the Church has failed in its call and commission to love God and to love one’s neighbor, and has instead joined herself to prejudice, white supremacy, power, and wealth.
While many American Christians know of and have studied at least in part the horrors of slavery in America, as well as the Civil War, Jim Crow laws, and the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century, few of us who are white or who are in positions of privilege or power (and are therefore not as touched by the lasting effects of centuries of bigotry and racism) have dwelt on our bloody pasts, lamenting what has taken place and asking for forgiveness (from both God and our brothers and sisters we have oppressed, or at least, allowed to suffer). The importance of taking a look at the past is that it informs the present situation, illuminates the struggles, contexts, and backgrounds of one’s neighbors, and it provides guidance and wisdom for the future. My prayer is that whoever reads “The Color of Compromise”—including myself—would utilize it as a tool and a map: a tool for building up, rather than breaking down, each other, as well as a tool for breaking down, rather than building up, the dividing wall of hostility (Eph. 2:14); and a map to lead us into a bright and beautiful future, where we have learned from past mistakes, and can build on new foundations of love and justice.
For many white American Christians, a book such as this might not be at the top of the list; perhaps, because one might view reliving the past is painful; also perhaps, because one may see these as historical problems of the past, and as being no longer problematic for today; or perhaps, because one may not see the issue of racial justice and equality as being orthodox or Gospel-centered. Even in the midst of these initial objections, I encourage you to pick this book up and to dive into its pages, and to see what it may teach you, how it may convict you, and where it might lead you.