"Precious Puritans" and the Imperceptibility of Race

I first heard about Propaganda around 3 years ago as a very talented spoken word poet.  Just in the past 6 months, I discovered he's also a very talented rapper and before I say anything else, everyone should go get his new album, Excellent.  If you need any more motivation, it's totally free.  Here's a link: http://humblebeast.com/downloads/

On that (terrific) album Propaganda has a track entitled "Precious Puritans" that has elicited quite a . . . response in certain circles.  Especially among white folks who add "Member of the Elect" to their email signatures.

Here's the song with lyrics. I think you'll see why there's some controversy afoot:

Now, I actually don't want to talk about the issue that the song addresses.  This isn't a post about slavery.  It's not a post about theology.  And it's not a post about Puritans at all.  (Though I will say this, Propaganda's harshest critics of this song either: a) Did not listen through to the end or b) Didn't understand that actual message of the song because in the last verse he makes it crystal clear that he is not above the same kind of scrutiny of his own orthodoxy and orthoproxy).

What I actually want to talk about is how the online firestorm this song has created actually reveals a truth Prop himself addresses in the third-ish verse: the imperceptibility of race for those belonging to the majority culture.

The verse reads:

It must be nice not to have to consider race/

It must be nice to contemplate the stars/

Pastor, your colorless rhetoric is a cop-out/

You see my skin, and I see yours.  And they are beautiful.

Fearfully and wonderfully divinely designed uniqueness/

Shouldn't we celebrate that rather than act like it ain't there/

I've read a lot of responses to this song.  A lot.  And I'm yet to find a black author disagree with the song (no matter where their theology or even feeling about Puritans lies).  I don't think that's a coincidence.  Nor do I think that it's tribalism or racial division at work.  I think it is a reflection of this fact of racial imperception.

To put this idea simply, if you are white and live in the United States race is optional for you.  Every morning, white folks like me can wake up, look ourselves in the mirror, and make any number of observations about our appearance, but whether or not we even consider our skin color is entirely optional.

In this culture and country and yes, in this time of history, no one with black or brown skin wakes up with that option.  Race is real.  Race is carried with us everywhere and with it a slew of perceptions and interactions.

If I catch a dirty look, not for one second do I wonder if my race was a factor.  If I don't get a call back for a job interview not for one second do I wonder if my race was a factor.  When I go to buy a doll for my niece not for one second do I wonder, "Will the store have any dolls with white skin?" 

And whether it's 100% real or 100% imagined, these implications are real.

The problem is white folks don't have to consider race.  We don't have to think about it.  And this can fuel "colorless rhetoric" that I talked about here.  So, this plays out in the way we (white folks) think and act as well.  We don't see a racial lens to this song (or our blog posts about it).  We don't consider how someone of another race in our congregation might react if we quote Jonathan Edwards repeatedly.  We post things on Facebook about gay marriage being a struggle for civil rights that would make my 94 year old black next door neighbor who's lived his whole life in the South pretty upset (That's not a statement on that position, that's a statement on our own imperception).

White folks, we've got a profound problem, and the only way to fix it is to start by acknowledging it.  Then go ahead and open your eyes to see how it plays our all around you.  

And by the way, even if you've really messed it up, you can be thankful that "God really does use a crooked stick to make straight lines."

Just like Propaganda said all along.

***If you are interested in more information about a Christian worldview expression of these ideas.  I cannot highly enough recommend the comments of Dr. Tim Keller and Dr. Anthony Bradley (John Piper's aren't bad either) in this video from last Spring.  It's long though, so brace yourself.  http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/race-and-the-christian

Also, the Q and A is fantastic! http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/interviews/race-and-the-christian-qa

Also, the book Divided By Faith by Michael Emerson (not the one from LOST) and Christian Smith is an excellent academic work on issue of faith and race (and while the book takes a purely academic, rather than devotional, look at the issue Emerson and Smith are both committed Christians so you can know when they hurt you with truth, they do so in love).