Obama at Church

No, Barack Obama did not visit my church personally. *Insert thoughtless right wing pun about no bigot pastors being around here.* Obama visited my church in the discussion that is being held about race. That’s right. We had a discussion about race relations in this country in the middle of a church service.

This is one of the things I love about my church. (New Community Covenant Church) The forum on race generated so many questions that the segment ran longer. Our pastor decided to forgo communion this week in order to allow time for more discussion on the issue, even though we will be continuing the series for the next few weeks. How many churches do you know that will push communion back in order to have a lengthy discussion on racism in society that has been brought to the forefront by Barack Obama’s candidacy?

There were no politics discussed, only a frank and honest forum where people of different ethnicities sat down and told their history with racial relations. This is what this country needs. Badly. As recently as last week I wrote about the need for an open dialogue on race in politics. When more of us are willing to admit to our own shortcomings and prejudices, we will start the long, hard work of healing these divisions.

The forum consisted of a a Korean, an African-American, a Latino, an Indian who grew up in the Emirates, and a Caucasian. These people represented the core of our church, which is the most diverse that I have ever seen. I don’t have any numbers, but I’m going to guess that the congregation is about half Asian, a third white, and the rest equally divided up between African Americans and Hispanics.

One of the best points made was that the idea that we are living in a post-racial society is both untrue and unhealthy. We are NOT living in a post-racial utopia where race is not a factor. You can say that you don’t see Obama as black or Mccain as white until you’re bluish-pink in the face: the fact is that we do see them in the context of skin color, and it DOES effect the way that we think about them.

Like it or not, Barack Obama is now the focal point, the very epicenter of race relations in the United States, and he will be at least until this November. Now you know that I’m no big fan of Obama, but of course this weight isn’t fair to him: he is only a man and to shoulder the history of hundreds of years of racism is an incredible burden.

America, this issue is not going to go away even if Obama is elected. In fact it may get even more heated. It’s time that we start a real conversation about this. So, I’ll start with a question.

If Barack Obama is elected, will it change the way you think about racial tensions and relations in this country?