I recently reread Willie James Jennings‘ essay, “Can ‘White’ People Be Saved?” (highly recommended), after defining ‘whiteness’ and walking through the tragic history of the collusion the Christian faith with white supremacy Dr. Jennings writes:
“As I close – I am doubling down on what some people know and feel but are afraid to say – it all comes to rest in geography and living spaces. Whiteness comes to rest in space. The maturity whiteness aims at always forms segregated spaces. It forms lives lived in parallel, whether separated by miles or inches. It constructs bordered life, life lived in separate endeavors of wish fulfillment.
“Segregated spaces must be turned into living places where people construct together an everyday that turns life in health-giving directions. Overcoming whiteness begins by reconfigurating life geographically…”
Willie James Jennings, “Can ‘White’ People be Saved?” 2018, page 43.
As I read Jennings’ essay I remembered this little video released by Parish Collective a few years ago… it felt connected.
