My Black Family, My White Privilege: A White Man’s Journey Through the Nation’s Racial Minefield

And brown was good in our eyes. We wanted to be like our brothers, not different from them. Then we moved from Arkansas to a North Carolina mountain town, which was predominately white. Seven were black and then there was me. I learned so much during that transformative year from my roommate Sheletha.

After college, God gave me another opportunity to be a white minority by living in the beautiful homogenous land of China. Involved in education, my husband and I raised our three biological children there, who can identify with the image of an egg: Last year a Chinese American friend asked me how our boys were doing in American public school, dealing with race issues. My flippant comment later made me realize how much I still live in my white privileged world.

Another Asian friend at that time encouraged me to join a transracial adoption group to learn more about how race issues affect my children every day. Society will treat them differently. It will benefit them more than you know it. Growing up as a white girl with brothers of color, and now mothering two sons of color, I am saddened to realize that I still can be sheltered under my white privilege umbrella.

I have come to see that attempting to better understand the effects of racism on my family and friends will be a lifelong choice. And we can grow deeper in our conviction that all people are wonderfully and fearfully made, handcrafted by God. Intentionally passing that belief on to the next generation, we never lose hope that—united across the racial divide—we can make a difference in this world. Not that they have substantial unity with God, but that every man has a capacity to have fellowship with God.

And this gives him a uniqueness, it gives him worth, it gives him dignity. And we must never forget this as a nation: There are no gradations in the image of God. One day we will learn that. We will know one day that God made us to live together as brothers and to respect the dignity and worth of every man. That is why we must fight segregation with all of our nonviolent might. The reality is that people born into a life of white privilege will never experience the kind of fear and anger and discrimination directed toward those born with black, brown, or yellow skin.

And even though it would be easy to do, I strongly believe that privileged white people cannot shut the door, turn the other way, and ignore what is happening right now all around us. We must join together to fight against injustice. Fight for those who face mistreatment every single day of their lives. Mistreatment simply because of the color of their skin. The people suffering from injustice are our brothers and sisters. Our sons and daughters. How can we celebrate the diversity of colors and see past the skin to what is in the heart?

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As a mom, I juggle two different kinds of parenting — long-distance to our 3 adult kids who are white on the outside but very Chinese on the inside and our two adopted Chinese boys at home who have special needs. I am also on Instagram and Facebook. Consider joining the Facebook group Be the Bridge to Racial Unity to learn more about how God is moving in this sphere.

If you are a writer, consider using the hashtag WOCwithpens to showcase the writing of our black and brown sisters of faith every Wednesday specifically, but anytime as well! You can find the explanation for the hashtag here. A few years ago I started listening to a podcast called Seminary Dropout. The host was thoughtful and the guests were usually influential authors and interesting voices in Christian circles.

Season 2 was released in December of Could you tell us a bit more about yourselves? Where do you live? Who are your people? Well, my name is Kerri Fisher. I live in Waco, Texas.

I work at Baylor University as a full-time lecturer in the school of social work. Hmmmm, members of the Branch Church in Abilene and Doxology Church in Austin both now defunct in the literal sense but alive in the supernatural sense. I live in Austin, Texas. We met and became good friends in college, and have been ever since. Through my other podcast, Seminary Dropout I had some eye opening conversations with people who are, in my opinion, some of the greatest thinkers in the area of race and racial justice.

Meanwhile I think Kerri had also been working through some issues on race through her own family history and her career in social work. At some point the idea popped into my head and I asked Kerri if she would do a podcast with me on race through the lens of our Christian faith. The rest is history. For those of us who have no idea what goes into producing a podcast, what is the process involved in creating it? It is hilarious for me to answer this question first. Shane can now explain everything cool and technological that I actively avoid learning. The planning part is one of the most important steps.

Beyond that, the technological stuff is pretty boring, but basically I set up the mics, mixer, and recorder, do some sound editing, write show notes, and upload the audio file. Actually the first one stands out to me. In general my honest answer is that I always get a kick out of the ones where we get a little giggly, it reminds me of our college glory days and its sweet to have that recorded.

It made me feel warm. And I hope it did for others too.

I would say for me generally the hardest episodes are when I am sharing personal things about what it means to be a person of color rather than academic considerations. My childhood self is very shocked and appalled at how frequently I am telling the truth about the challenges of oppression and privilege—she was very happy to ignore race and its consequences, so sometimes that still creeps up in episodes like the one from season two about being a black woman in white evangelical spaces.

In the moment of the actual recording though, the hardest episode for me was the final episode in season 1 where Shane and I processed our own relational and podcast related hiccups related to our own identity-related behaviors. Even though those hiccups were very minor, I still felt shaky as we discussed the impacts of privilege and oppression in our own very real relationship.

The episodes that require the most vulnerability are always hard. I see my role in this podcast as one that is first one of a listening posture. As a biracial woman, Kerri has the lived experience of having racism directed at her as all people of color do. As a white guy, my lived experience is one of privilege.

I love this question. I always love recommending books because they say it so much better than I ever could. For me these books make up my required reading list when it comes to matters of race in no particular order:. I also really have been touched by at least portions of each of the following:. Have you gotten any push-back or criticism from listeners? What kinds of things? I have been really surprised, relieved and grateful for how kind and supportive our listeners have been to us.

We are very interested in what our listeners are interested in. The criticism we have received has been scattered. Cat marked it as to-read Aug 12, LaToya marked it as to-read Dec 21, Richard marked it as to-read Mar 01, Kristin marked it as to-read Mar 19, Molly marked it as to-read Apr 13, Daphne Walker marked it as to-read Mar 21, Nicole marked it as to-read Sep 06, Sarah Hawkins is currently reading it Nov 02, Sheryl Lidzy added it Nov 09, Breanna marked it as to-read Apr 18, Brian marked it as to-read Jun 22, Djaz marked it as to-read Jul 21, Linda Dawson marked it as to-read Nov 16, Danielle Earls marked it as to-read Nov 29, Magdalena Hernandez marked it as to-read Nov 30, Erin Olson marked it as to-read Dec 14, Merrie marked it as to-read Dec 19, Kristy marked it as to-read Dec 19, Juliana marked it as to-read Dec 22, Kristal Taylor marked it as to-read Apr 19, K added it Jun 14, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.

Books by Michael R. He is married, with three children, four grandchildren, and a great grandchild. Would you like to tell us about a lower price? If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support? From their union, Michael Wenger has three children, four grandchildren, and one great grandchild.

Wenger served as Deputy Director for Outreach and Program Development for President Clinton's Initiative on Race, an opportunity that confirmed for him the conscious and unconscious bias that people of color confront daily in the United States. Both personally and professionally, Mr. Wenger has peered into a world far beyond the comprehension of most white people in our society. His book, deeply moving and tenderly written, shares the discoveries he's made.

He masterfully weaves his personal and professional journeys and helps readers of all races to become more aware of the pain that well-meaning white Americans inflict on people of color, often without knowing it, and to recognize the richness that awaits those with the courage to embrace our nation's growing diversity. Wenger's remarkable and inspirational story will, at times, move you to tears while occasionally triggering a knowing laugh as he recounts the struggles and triumphs of his journey.

It will awaken you to the stark realities of life for some in America today, while fostering hope for and a commitment to a more racially equitable and harmonious future for all. Read more Read less. Customers who bought this item also bought.

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