Racism in America
By Rev. Dr. W. Antoni Sinkfield , 13th Episcopal District
I have been asked multiple times how I feel about the ugly resurfacing of America’s most pervasive and long-standing virus—racism—frighteningly manifesting itself in the tragic murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd and the tragic personification of racist privilege seen in Amy Cooper. The Hebrew Bible or Old Testament book of Esther, the third chapter, gives me a powerful context for filtering my thoughts.
The spirit of Haman is pervasive in our world and dominant in our culture. For it is a spirit that is sadistically and strategically driven by a determination to exterminate an entire race of people—simply because you sit in a position of privilege and “power”—and they don’t! For it was a personal slight from Mordecai, when he chose to not give Haman the obeisance he wanted, much like stepping off the sidewalk when he came by, not looking him directly in his eyes, or failing to say “yes sir boss” and “no sir boss.” This moved Haman to plot genocide against these people!
It was Haman’s xenophobic racism—along with the endorsement of a thoughtless, narcissistic, gullible, and attention and affirmation starved “king”—who consistently pronounced and promoted on-going public discourse in the direction of Haman’s prejudices that birthed a flawed and fatal decree that gave one race of people both the legal and privileged right to destroy another race of people as if they were non-people! Does this sound familiar?
The Talmud says Haman accused the Jews of being unpatriotic, parasitic, antisocial, and racist. This is much like the Hamans of our day have accused and still accuse black and brown people (and particularly black and brown men) of being 3/5 human, lazy and shiftless, divisive, blights on the economy, a president who is not an American citizen, S.O.B. Black football players, worthy of publicly broadcasted murder by the “protect and serve” crew, fit “game” for a hunt down while out on a jog, brooding, criminal, threatening, scary, frightening, intimidating, and on and on and on!
So, to destroy this Haman-spirited conspiracy, Mordecai said to Esther—who had acquired a place and prominence in this racist kingdom: “For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise… Perhaps you have come…for just such a time as this” (4:14). With this, Esther bravely and courageously faced evil and injustice, spoke truth to power, and changed the plight of an entire people!
We need white Esthers who own and repent of the privilege and supremacy that propagate these on-going racial injustices and who stand in front of the powers that are shouting “Enough is enough!” We need white evangelical Esthers who admit that the politicizing of Christianity and the christianizing of politics is idolatry and that these statues and statuettes must be pulled down, torn down, and smashed to pieces immediately! We need Esthers of color who are committed to live until the credo comes to pass: “We Who Believe In Freedom Cannot Rest Until It Comes!” #Andweneedmoreesthers #whosayifiperishletmeperish
The Rev. W. Antoni Sinkfield is the senior pastor of Payne Chapel and St. James AME Churches in Nashville, Tennessee.
