Why Ain't We Unified (Continued Revelations from Disunity in Christ)

Please watch this. (Saw it online and it gets to the heart of my struggles with Disunity in Christ)

I have be struggling with Clevelands book. Mostly because I think she leaves out some pretty significant background information in an effort to not offend or hurt White Christians about the implications of their Whiteness on the disunity that actually exist in Christ.

The example, that bothered me the most, was her conversation about the racial segregation of Chicago. That example bothers me so much because it completely ignores the city's horrifying history of housing segregation and racialized population control and pooling. For instance, she discusses how most Black folks in Chicago are White Socks fans and the White folks are Cubs... well the Black folk in the city were legally forced to live in the Bronzeville or south side area of the city. This area is closest to the White Socks stadium. This is where Cabrini Green, the most unfortunate housing project to be built in the Midwest (the model for the show GOOD TIMES), was constructed. Bronzeville was constructed with the intention of keeping Negros away from the city. They engineered the neighborhoods in a way that there were a series of dead end streets and that major thoroughfares and interstates completely bypassed the area. The Cabrini Green projects were constructed as high rises with floor to ceiling fences around them. They literally where caged high rises for Black folks.

Upwardly mobile Black folks attempted to move into other areas of the city but found that legally they were not allowed to rent, lease, or purchase homes elsewhere. Mortgages included clauses that restricted all future owners of property from selling homes to Black folks. So they were forced back to the South side of Chicago.

So now you have a segment of the city, built like a mouse trap, with subpar housing option, under-resourced schools, no industry, underrepresented food options (food desert), a GRoWING population living below poverty (in many cases)- this is how Chicago, the "Black on Black Crime" (undercover racists) news sound bites Dream.  (Sidenote-so when Donald Trump, who has experience with housing discrimination, uses Chicago in a debate about Black on Black Crime and then wants to say it needs law and order, you hopefully now understand how truly disgusting that is. )

Most recently, there was drama between Black folks and the White Socks. The White Socks wanted a new stadium. They wanted to move it deeper into the newly gentrifying Bronzeville neighborhood. Unfortunately for them, Black folks still occupied those homes. So, the White Socks developed a foundation and that foundation struck deals with those Black families so that they would release the land. The Black families upheld their end of the bargain, the moved out. Their homes were demolished and the stadium was constructed. BUT when it was time for the foundation to cut those families checks for the land that the stadium now occupied, the White Socks foundation filed Bankruptcy and refused to pay. Those who could afford took legal action and sued the White Socks franchise that claimed no fault in the matter (stating the foundation was a separate entity). The families largely won and the settlement pays have just begun to be issued.

All of this to say, yes Chicago is racially segmented... and there is a reason for that, and it's a nasty racist reason behind why.

This is also why our Christian churches are segmented. Yes because our neighborhoods still bare the architecture of their creation. We live where we were designed to live. We worship, typically where it was SAFE to worship. Maybe people of color (more than 1 or 2 families) don't worship in your community or live in your community because they haven't been given the all clear. AND when they do come, maybe they experienced what People of Color and PWIs experience. Tokenization (Will you sing in our choir), Otherness (So glad to have you here, your people are always welcome to OUR church), MicroAgressions of various type and kind.

I also struggle with the idea that bringing in a couple families of color makes a church "Multicultural", especially if the faith tradition and worship (beyond a jazzed up choir) still predominantly reflects White Christian traditions.




Watch the video here.  How Housing Discrimination Works