Not So Black and White and Joy of All Nations
In Not So Black and White: A History of Race From White Supremacy to Identity Politics, Kenan Malik wants to “turn the common sense argument” around racism “on its head.”[1] Instead of the commonly held perspective of racial inequality as treating people “unequally because they belong to, or are seen as belonging to, distinct races,”[2] Malik instead argues, “Race did not give birth to racism. Racism gave birth to race.”[3] Malik explains how the modern concept of race and the racial theories that surround it emerged during the Enlightenment, paradoxically at the same time modern ideas around equality were born. Malik then describes how “the struggles of those denied equality and liberty by the elites in Europe and America,” gave meaning to “ideas of universalism.”[4] Whereas “the demise of that radical universalist tradition…has shaped much of what we now call identity politics.”[5]
The book unpacks a complex history at the intersection of race, racism, identitarianism, and identity politics.
There are echoes of Yascha Mounk’s The Identity Trap in the book, too. Mounk, like Malik, is a proponent for the return of philosophical liberalism, where “universal values and neutral rules like free speech and equal opportunity”[6] abound. Malik wants his readers to understand “why racists and identitarians often end up in the same place.”[7] However, unlike Mounk who leaves his readers with steps that can be taken individually and organizationally to counter what he calls the “identity synthesis,”[8] Malik does not offer a step-by-step solution.[9] Rather, he wants his readers to understand how things got to where they are today. Without a step-by-step roadmap for change, Malik does believe that change can happen, but it will require a collective effort – a social “movement that not only disavows racial categories but aims to dismantle, too, the social practice of racism.”[10]
Where Malik resists to go into the specifics of how such a movement should operate (though he does believe that for radical universal values to take place you have to have societal transformation[11]) perhaps this is an opportunity for the local church to fill in some gaps. Where Malik espouses a “more universal sense of being human,” as the impetus for meaning in our “local rooted identities,”[12] perhaps this is where local churches can provide a context and connection for local people to make sense of their world AND experience change, even if the changes are simply signposts that point to the kingdom of God.
One of those contexts is where we live.
I read Malik’s book through the spectacles of one who currently lives in the southeastern part of the U.S., and as one who has watched significant demographic, cultural, religious, and political changes take place in our not-so-sleepy Atlanta suburb. These changes were ensconced in my mind as my wife and I worshiped with Joy of All Nations (JOAN) Church on January 28. That day, the church held its one-year celebration service as a mission church in the northern Atlanta suburb of South Forsyth County. Launched in 2023, JOAN is the first multi-ethnic presbyterian church planted by a South Asian / Indian American church planter and pastor in the northern suburbs of Atlanta.
Once a primarily white county with deeply entrenched racism only a few decades ago, today the county is not only the fastest growing county in metro Atlanta, it contains the fastest-growing Asian population in the United States,[13] in addition to its growing Hispanic and African American populations. The Asian population here is primarily South Asian. The nearby public high school that our three children attended is now majority Indian / South Asian American, as are other schools in the surrounding area. It has been nearly 20 years since we moved here from the Midwest, and it has not been until now that we’ve witnessed a church like JOAN be planted here (Indian-led, multi-ethnic, with whites as a minority in the congregation).
This is the community and context where my wife and I, transplants from Missouri, live. It is where our children grew up. And it continues to change at warp speed.
(I received permission from the pastor to share the following)…
At the worship service on Jan. 28, the pastor painted a compelling vision to the new congregation: “(In planting this church) I believed as a testament to the power of the Gospel that unites different people TO one another, that a multi-ethnic church (be) healthy and our calling and burden…” The pastor later proclaimed, speaking primarily to the Indians at a certain point in the service, “(And) while it’s good to have a love for other Indians (a slight majority of the church is Indian) to come to know Jesus…it is just as important for us to be in loving relationship with people outside your culture as well.” In fact, one of the pastor’s points stated: “We believe as God reaches more ‘outsiders’ it will stir the spiritual jealousy of ‘insiders’ to return to the Lord…leading all of us to exalt Jesus together in unity.”[14] The pastor went on to exhort the congregation, “And so, church, know that we’ll minister to one another in this church…without partiality…every person who comes into our door from any ethnicity – Indian, Korean, Chinese, African-American, Hispanic, Turkish, Pakistani – EVERYONE…will be loved, pastored, ministered to, treated with dignity and respect – neither the ‘insider’ or the ‘outsider’ will be valued differently because EACH person is valued infinitely by Christ.”
Perhaps this approach will provide a roadmap that embodies the DNA of a revolution that Malik longs for – “To transcend the concept of race requires not just an intellectual revolution, but a social one, too,”[15] and in this case a social one with a new community of redeemed people loving and serving one another and their neighbors with a kingdom-of-God ethic: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:27-29)
[1] Malik, Kenan. Not So Black and White: A History of Race From White Supremacy to Identity Politics. London: Hurst and Company, 2023, Kindle version, 23 of 486.
[2] Ibid., 23 of 486.
[3] Ibid., 23 of 486.
[4] Ibid., 14 of 486.
[5] Ibid., 14 fo 486.
[6] Yascha Mounk, The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time, New York: Penguin Press, 2023, 11.
[7] Malik, 12 of 486.
[8] In The Identity Trap, Mounk explains, “The identity synthesis is concerned with many different kinds of groups, including (but not limited to) those based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and disability. It is the product of a rich set of intellectual influences, including postmodernism, postcolonialism, and critical race theory. It can be pressed into the service of diverse political causes from a radical rejection of capitalism to a tacit alliance with corporate America.” (Mounk, 9) According to Mounk, those stuck in the identity trap believe “the key to understanding the world is to examine it through the prism of group identities like race, gender, and sexual orientation.” (Mounk, 243) Mounk provides a section near the end of the book under the heading “How to Argue Against The Identity Trap” in his conclusion titled “How to Escape the Identity Trap” on pages 265 – 286.
[9] Malik writes, “The more we despise racial thinking, the more we cling to it. It is like an ideological version of Stockholm syndrome. Not So Black and White does not provide a ready-made cure for the syndrome.” (Malik, 20 of 486)
[10] Malik, 363 of 486.
[11] See an interview with Malik here, specially starting at the 26:15 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vajeuKADyc.
[12] Malik, 364 of 486.
[13] https://www.ajc.com/news/local/forsyth-county-has-fastest-growing-asian-population/ZPRrCJl8FcmtkevRUXQryI/
[14] The pastor explained it this way, while referencing Romans 11:11-12: “Well the hope for our White Americans that we love may be this – that when the immigrant “outsiders” hear the Gospel and are saved and in love with Jesus…my hope and prayer is the Indian, the Pakistani, the Chinese 1st generation believer will (share the gospel) with their secular, post-Christian White American neighbor…and bring them back to the first love of Jesus that (many of) their forefathers once had.”
[15] Malik, 365 of 486.
About the Author
Travis Vaughn
8 responses to “Not So Black and White and Joy of All Nations”
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Travis, I agree that the hope of an answer to this is found in the church. I can’t think of another group that is so well positioned to do so.
And I so appreciate you including what the Pastor said. Though in a different context, I have the exact same vision. YET, I haven’t articulated it well. I just kind of expect that most people would know that is our heart as it’s expressed in a hundred different ways around our church.
However, this inspires me to share explicitly what has been an implicit part of our ministry vision for 10 years.
Tim, I’d love to hear your vision for your church, contextualized for the people and community you serve. Seriously — and I’d be curious if/how our doctoral studies have contributed to your vision’s language in some way.
My friend Tony, the church planting pastor I wrote about in the post, did a great job charting a path forward for this new church. I really do think that his vision, rooted in Christ and informing/re-framing the identities of everyone who was in the room, was compelling…it made folks like my wife and me want to be a part of the mission of this new church (our home church, where Tony served as a church planting resident, is planting this church). I really do think that churches like JOAN — and yours — can help fill in the gaps where Malik stopped short of strategy.
Travis- I really appreciate your overview of Malik’s work. Also, the story you tell about the JOAN church in your area is inspirational. I am sure you will stay connected with this congregation to track their progress.
Your observation Malik does not really offer a roadmap to his desired future state. Did you notice in the podcast that Dr Clark assigned, that when asked for solutions, Malik pivoted to a rallying cry for labor unions? I am curious about this view.
Jen, I did listen to much/most of the podcast with Malik, but I obviously need to go back and listen to it again. I vaguely remember his reference to labor unions (I listened to it several weeks ago). Vaguely is the key word there. I do wish that he would have included an epilogue that would have perhaps at least listed some questions to think about or a few steps to consider. However, after reading Todd’s post, perhaps a strategy isn’t needed so much in this case. Perhaps simply listening to what Malik articulated / wrote about, maybe like a song of lament, is what is needed.
And yes, I do plan to track the progress of JOAN. For one reason, our home church is helping to plant JOAN. I connect with the planting pastor every few weeks and we talk about how things are going and how this or that is working.
Travis,
Thank you for sharing your experience at JOAN church. I also appreciated the development of the historical context but didn’t see a roadmap for change. As I listened to the podcast, I gathered that Malik was calling on labor unions to be a part of the social revolution/change for the social inequalities noted within racism (I see Jennifer heard that too). Always the question . . . how to love others better.
Yes, that is indeed the question…In light of what we read, how does this move us to love and care for our neighbors. And yet, like I mentioned to Jen and after having read Todd’s post, perhaps the “next step” is to think more deeply and more carefully about the challenge and history that Malik unpacked, without needing to provide steps toward societal transformation/change. I need to let the weight of that sit more, I think.
Hello Travis,
I wanted to share with you a group called Immigrant Ministry Connection https://www.immigrantministry.com/
I have been tracking John Yoder’s take on cross cultural churches. He has done some extensive work with immigrant churches and their interaction with white American churches.
John Yoder at Immigrant Ministry Connections <john@immigrantministry.com
Let me know what you think.
Shalom..
Thanks Travis….I’m likewise hopeful that God’s people can live out the new Kingdom values and, in so doing, act as a sign-post to a divided world that reconciliation and peace is available in Christ (and His church). Let it me so Lord! And help! Just this past week I spoke from Eph 6 concerning Paul’s instruction to ‘slaves and masters’ and I took some time to paint a picture of how radical it would have been for a Roman freeman to ‘put himself under’ a slave who is using their spiritual gift in the church community–totally upside down for that time! One of my side-points was simply this: not matter how ‘jarring’ Paul’s instructions to the church are to us (I’m thinking about the gospel-informed household codes and the verse you quoted above), they were way more radical to his first century audience. While they certainly didn’t do it perfectly (thus the New Testament!)….they did somehow do it–one body united under Christ. If they did it…we ought to be able to as well under the empowerment of the Spirit.