Kerry Connelly - Wait—Is This Racist?: A Guide to Becoming an Anti-racist Church

In WaitIs This Racist? A Guide to Becoming an Antiracist Church, you have before you a guidebook, a survival guide, a deconstruction chisel, and a faithful interpretation of the reign of God that is at hand. This book made me think critically about my own blind spots while also acknowledging the potential areas of growth that could happen in my personal and professional life. The book masterfully offers a clarion call to embrace a God who unites rather than the idol of white supremacy that divides. You would be wise to sit with this bookit will change you.

Robert W. Lee, pastor and author of A Sin by Any Other Name: Reckoning with Racism and the Heritage of the South

WaitIs This Racist? is a practical guide to the work that so many white Christians feel paralyzed by in our churches: how to examine the lingering presence of white supremacy culture in our ministry practices and where to turn for tangible ways of untangling ourselves from it. The authors draw on a wealth of experience to help churches prepare for and navigate the journey toward freedom from the lie of whiteness, and their wisdom is essential guidance for those of us who are looking for a way forward.

Chris Furr, author of Straight White Male: A Faith-Based Guide to Deconstructing Your Privilege and Living with Integrity

Wow. Read this book right now and tell everyone involved in church to read this book. Then use it as the thorough-yet-concise, accessible, practical handbook that it is to help your church not only do anti-racism work but become anti-racist. The book is a perfect combination of theory and practice, and it manages to do in one volume what previously has required using multiple resources and piecing something together to move forward. Theres nothing else out there quite like it. This book has the power to change us for good.

Jaime Clark-Soles, Professor of New Testament, Perkins School of Theology

Whether you are contemplating or are already in the process of making systemic changes toward racial equity in your church, this book is for you. Transparent, engaging, and at times disruptive, WaitIs This Racist? is a practical guide that helps you and your leadership team ask all the right questions about every aspect of your church, moving you beyond performative allyship to genuine transformation.

Sari Ateek, rector, St. Johns Episcopal Church, Norwood Parish, Chevy Chase, Maryland

The white Christian church in America has blood on her hands for conflating white supremacy with the churcha violent truth many churches arent willing to face and one that didnt happen only in the past but that continues today. WaitIs this Racist? is a necessary stop in any white congregations road in the soul work of anti-racism.

Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft, executive minister, Middle Collegiate Church, New York City, and founder of Raising Imagination

The progressive church preaches and performs anti-racism. However, its incredibly rare to find the church that invests in being anti-racist and divesting their privilege. WaitIs This Racist? is a powerful, uncomfortable, and necessary challenge to dismantle the systems of whiteness in our churches. Its the perfect guide for those who are ready to get serious about embodying an anti-racist gospel.

Jonathan Williams, author of Shes My Dad: A Fathers Transition and a Sons Redemption and founder of Forefront Brooklyn

WaitIs This Racist? A Guide to Becoming an Anti-Racist Church is an incredibly powerful tool and a work of collaborative art. The teaching, suggested practices, and deep wisdom in these pages are tailor-made for all churches that want to be a part of this work of anti-racismthis work that is so vital to the good news that the incarnate Jesus brings to us today. As a pastor committed to leading an anti-racist church, I am eager to begin using this resource in my own community. I cant recommend it any more highly to fellow church leaders and clergy.

Amanda Rigby, Associate Pastor for Discipleship and Youth, The Peak Church, Apex, North Carolina

WaitIs This Racist?

WaitIs This Racist?

A Guide to Becoming
an Anti-Racist Church

K ERRY C ONNELLY

with

Bryana Clover

and

Josh Riddick

2022 Kerry Connelly, Bryana Clover, and Josh Riddick

First edition

Published by Westminster John Knox Press

Louisville, Kentucky

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 3110 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396. Or contact us online at www.wjkbooks.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.

Book design by Drew Stevens

Cover design by Marc Whitaker / MTWdesign.net

Cover photo: Kumar Sriskandan / Alamy Stock Photo

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Connelly, Kerry, author. | Clover, Bryana, author. | Riddick, Josh, author.

Title: Wait-is this racist? : a guide to becoming an anti-racist church / Kerry Connelly with Bryana Clover and Josh Riddick.

Description: First edition. | Louisville, Ky. : Westminster John Knox Press, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: A be-it-yourself guide to anti-racism for churches that examines all operations of church life so that churches and church leaders can create a workable action plan to truly become more justice-oriented organizations Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021055852 (print) | LCCN 2021055853 (ebook) | ISBN 9780664267506 (paperback) | ISBN 9781646982417 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: RacismReligious aspectsChristianity. | Race relationsReligious aspectsChristianity. | Anti-racismUnited States. | Church.

Classification: LCC BT734 .C59 2022 (print) | LCC BT734 (ebook) | DDC 277.3/082089dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021055852

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021055853

Most Westminster John Knox Press books are available at special quantity discounts when purchased in bulk by corporations, organizations, and special-interest groups. For more information, please e-mail .

Contents

As a White woman working in the space of anti-racism, I receive a lot of critique from a lot of people. This is not surprising, and the accountability is a good thing. There is a specific critique Id like to address here thats very important, and its one I take very seriously: is it OK to be a White woman who gets paid for doing anti-racism work? I want to address this directly and with the nuance it deserves, because it is an excellent question. Within the White, cis-hetero patriarchy, my embodiment holds a number of identities, including my identities as both a White person (dominance) and a woman (not always dominant). This makes this question dicey.

On the one hand, White people getting paid to do anti-racism work seems obscene, because we are now merely finding a new, warm and fuzzy way to profit off of marginalized communities and our own White saviorism. On the other hand, womens labor has often been undervalued and expected. We are socialized into believing that our work, our intellectual property, our emotional labor should be offered to the world for the taking. (This is exponentially true for BIPOC women.) Resisting the devaluation of our labor is an intensive emotional struggle that starts within our own psyches. Only then can we do the terrifying job of asking for what we are actually worth in the marketplace. When one woman insists on getting paid for her labor, it is a bold act of resistance and liberation for all women.