A project of Professor Charles Green and Race in America students at Hope College. "Racial justice is the path to racial progress."
The following essay appeared in the Holland Sentinel on January 29, 2023. I wrote it in response to several actions taken by our local county commission after a new “Ottawa Impact” majority was sworn in the first of the year. Their words and deeds both indicate they are following a Christian Nationalist worldview as they …
Continue reading “Christian Nationalism on Full Display—Right Here in My Home County”
I had an appointment with a professional person in town recently. He brought up his military service and mentioned being stationed at Ft. Lee. I asked which Lee the station was named for, and he said Robert E. Perhaps I looked a bit uncomfortable because he went on to defend Gen. Lee, emphasizing his good …
Continue reading “Relics of Slavery and Jim Crow: Fighting over History, Fighting over the Future”
The first Thanksgiving in Massachusetts was 400 years ago this year in 1621. I like Thanksgiving. I like the fact that sitting down to virtually the same meal I had as a kid brings back all kinds of memories: my childhood, my children’s childhoods, now my grandchildren’s childhoods. I envision the childhoods of my parents …
Without understanding anti-Asian racism in at least some depth, it’s difficult to know how best to address it. (See Part 1 and Part 2.) But understanding by itself isn’t enough, of course. Here are some possible ways to address Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) hate. At least one of them should be a good …
Continue reading “A Pet and a Threat, Part 3: What Can We Do?”
In Part 1, we examined the rise of overt bigotry against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) during the pandemic, including terrible, terrible violence, often aimed at women and older people. In Part 2, we will examine why. The answer begins in our history, in the role people of Asian descent have played in this …
Continue reading “A Pet and a Threat, Part 2: Stereotypes at the Ready”
Anti-Asian hate crimes have been all over the news for a year now and, if anything, seem to be getting worse. They’re not new, of course, but they are on the rise, driven, almost certainly, by the pandemic and the pre-existing condition of racism. Why is that? And what does it tell us about race …
Continue reading “A Pet and a Threat, Part 1: Anti-Asian Violence During the Pandemic”
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun There is a lot of resistance to the idea that we should tell the truth about the racism embedded in our nation’s history. Part of that resistance is motivated by a desire to deny the power of racism today. Just …
Continue reading “The Past is Always Present: How Jim Crow Helped Shape My Life”
I read a couple of books this weekend, spent a little time online, watched a bit of TV, and went on a walk with my wife. Except for the walk, there was definitely a common thread. Some excerpts . . . From Zach Beauchamp, in Vox: “The Golden Calf is one of the most …
Continue reading “The (literal) Idolotry of White Supremacy: A Golden Calf for our Time”
I learned some years back about land acknowledgements from Lowa Beebe and Chip Colwell. I never thought much about whose land I lived on until I worked with a group of Native Americans on a series of pow wows from 2005 – 2009. One of them had a dream—a literal dream—of offering a pow …
Continue reading “Acknowledge the land. Acknowledge the facts.”
One of our students told me recently that she is reading Isaiah 1 in light of the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Here are some selected verses from that chapter, from a section entitled “The Wickedness of Judah” in the New Revised Standard Version. 2 Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth; for the Lord has …