Wow! What an hour and a half. Just listened to this entertaining conversation on black and white racism in America by Michael Gungor and Science Mike who are in conversation with Propaganda and William Matthews on so many different aspects of race which, while focused specifically on Americaland, have so much to teach us and help open our eyes. It is a lot of fun as well as they banter well so if you have the means give this thing a listen. It’s brilliant and filled with so many gems. Thanks Wayne Eaves for the share!

Not even a week ago i found myself at a dinner with a bunch of really incredible people, many of whom i know and love and then a group of African-Americans of whom i had met Leroy Barber before and read this article, in which Romal Tune [one of the hosts of the dinner conversation along with Craig Stewart from The Warehouse] interviewed Richard Rohr about different aspects of white privilege.

The dinner was a bit of an experiment, which was filmed, in which a group of African-Americans got to sit with a group of white South Africans and chat about relfections on the article and white privilege and share some stories and some thoughts. Three hours passed by so quickly. And it was just such a helpful and healthy and fun time.

People sitting around a table from different backgrounds and cultures discussing issues of race and privilege while breaking bread and drinking wine together. Laughter and moments of being close to tears and moments of eyebrow-raise and can-hardly-believe-it and deep “OH!” and more.

One of the things that stood out for us was when our American guests suggested that this kind of conversation would not be likely in Americaland. i guess in many ways it would not be that likely in South Africa either. We prefer to sit safely on social media and fire darts and have arms-length conversations where we can choose to disengage the moment we get challenged or offended and where we can keep the depth of the conversation at safe length.

How i long to see these kinds of dinners becoming more of a reality in South Africa. And not so much from an official “let’s organise a race dinner” approach as just people creating spaces and times for people from diverse experiences hanging out together, enjoying a meal and being real and honest and daring to risk a potentially awkward/uncomfortable/painful conversation.

We definitely were not a group of people who agreed on everything or who have the same approaches when it comes to race and money and Christianity and more. There was push back and difference of opinion and different angles shared on things. And it was great.

i am in conversation at the moment with two local church congregations looking to host dinners with twenty of their people with the hope that many of them will go on to host dinners of their own once they have had a taste of how it can be. And i really am hoping to see more of this [who do you need to tag in to this post?] and so hopefully there will be some feedback from those by the end of this month even. We are looking to create a simple resource to make it easier for those who haven’t been at a dinner to try one.

Do yourself a favour and find a way to listen to this podcast. Listen to it with a friend. If you have a home group or bible study, listen to it with them. It’s an investment of 90 minutes but it will give you a lot to think about and it won’t have to try hard to convince you. A lot of it is stories and that really seems to be one of the ways to improve your understanding the most.

http://www.theliturgists.com/podcast/2016/3/29/episode-34-black-and-white-racism-in-america

And if you haven’t, read this article of the interview between Romal and Richard:

 https://sojo.net/articles/richard-rohr-white-privilege

Who are the people you’d like to have around your table for a conversation like this. Not to end racism or to solve all the problems of South Africa. But to just take one step towards.

Do it. And let me know how it goes.