Racism, Faith, and Christian Ethics - Day 1

Editor's Note: The following article is a reproduction of one of the keynote speeches delivered during the Summer Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It has been lightly edited for ease of reading.

Throughout history, legalized racism wouldn't have been able to exist if the courts had properly interpreted the constitutional guarantees relevant to all human beings. But on many occasions, the judicial branch preferred to exploit technicalities and gaps in the law to not act against racism. The struggles and movements against racial segregation in the United States achieved laws that prohibited it in institutions and states, but they have always been ineffective in relation to the racism practiced by people every day.

The United States, in 1994, ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Today, systemic racism continues to permeate all its institutions. It hasn't fulfilled its promises regarding human rights to address the root causes of systemic racism and adopt an action plan to implement its international obligations related to racial justice. In Puerto Rico, we live with the most crude and shameful consequences.

Let's begin by clarifying the terms prejudice and discrimination. Prejudice is a preconceived opinion about a person or group that is not based on objective reasoning. Discrimination is the action based on prejudice; it occurs when there is a differential treatment toward someone for being part of a group, category, or class.

The concept of race is one without scientific or biological basis that was used during the era of European expansion and colonization to classify human beings according to certain subjective criteria of intelligence and social and cultural evolution in a hierarchical order that invariably positioned the so-called white Europeans as superior to all other colonized groups such as Africans, Natives, Asians, etc.

It's a concept historically manipulated to justify the exploitation of diverse human groups that colonizers grouped and essentialized as inferior. It's a system of ideas, practices, and values founded on the false belief that one "race" is superior to others.

Although the concept of race doesn't exist as a biological reality, racism does exist at the social level, and its effects are real. Racism justifies and lays the groundwork for certain groups to be systematically privileged and others rejected, using markers of ethnic origin and observable phenotypic differences, such as skin color, hair type, or other physical traits, that have been racialized as indicators of supposed superiority or inferiority.

Nordic, Aryan, English, Indian, French, Italian, etc., races don't exist. What exists are nationalities and ethnic-cultural identities that are much more complex. These have been formed far beyond certain external physical characteristics.

Racism is a variant of other historical forms of oppression. Its goal is to confirm and reinforce in the oppressor's consciousness the idea of their superiority and to devalue the other. It serves to gain advantage in economic, social, and cultural relationships where discriminator and discriminated are involved. The notion of racism as a system can be compared to the structure of an iceberg. Racist insults, mockery, and explicit experiences of racial discrimination are only the tip of the iceberg.

Robert Knox (1798–1862) in his work "Races of Men" defended the superiority of the Saxon and Slavic races. Gobineau is considered the founder of racism as doctrine. In his essay "An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races," he established the fundamental factor of history as race. He recognized the existence of three major human races: white, yellow, and black, in that order of superiority. According to Gobineau, the white race is noble, encompassing spirituality, freedom, and honor. The yellow race is materialistic and lacks imagination. The black race lacks intelligence. Precisely, the black and yellow peoples and nations are those with whom the French colonizers, represented by Gobineau, established relationships of domination.

These doctrines justified Eurocentrism and white ethnocentrism. Marx didn't escape Eurocentrism, as evidenced by his regrettable opinions about Simón Bolívar. One of the most dangerous aspects of racist discrimination is that this visible and tangible phenomenon is not present in legislation, “with teeth.” This is part of the denial of its existence.

In Puerto Rico, the most predominant racism takes the form of microaggressions. The term "microaggression" encompasses those manifestations of everyday racism that are difficult to bring to light because they are still far from the extreme violence of other forms of xenophobia. They are so subtle that they go unnoticed.

Still, some activists against discrimination warn that microaggressions contribute to normalizing discrimination. They are the basis on which the social, political, and economic practice of achieving the supposed ideal of whiteness rests. This ideology arises from the legacy of European colonialism. In Puerto Rico, our demographics have a strong Black component due to the slave trade. This ideology is used to distance us from our Black roots and develop a predominantly white society to govern. This also causes racism to take the form of racial whitening, a social, political, and economic practice to achieve the supposed ideal of whiteness.

From faith, we have examples of communities that have made immense contributions, contributing to the biblical-theological, ethical, political, and organizational foundation that gave life to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and shaped the thinking and actions of its leaders, including Rosa Parks and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., among others. The spiritual influence of Christian practices spread beyond the country's borders to leadership in other parts of the world, such as Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who learned from King's method to embody a loving and inclusive African and Christian identity.

Affirming Black identity from our pulpits and prophetically denouncing racism as sin is part of our contribution in Puerto Rico, a country that predominantly identifies as Christian. Racism is sin. It's sin not just because it separates us from God and our neighbors, or because it's a direct denial of Christian faith and incompatible with the Gospel, or even because it's a violation of human rights. It's sin because it presupposes that humans are created unequal before God, because it's a denial of the basic justice of human dignity. It's sin because it destroys the very source of humanity, the image of God in the human race. It rejects the Creator God, His creation, and His goodness. We are truly human when the divine flame of the image of God shines within us, as individuals, societies, or faith communities to dispel evil

The Bible is clear and unequivocal in affirming that all human beings have been created in the image of God (Gen 1:26) and therefore, are equal.

The testimony of the church in Puerto Rico demands avoiding racist jokes, divorcing ourselves from the intentions or practice of a "humorous" comment, abandoning racist phrases and attitudes, remembering that the color black is the sum of all colors, and understanding the power contained in words. 

From faith, eradicating racism is the restoration of the image of God in humanity. Seeking God is the challenge and opportunity to reclaim and vindicate our human condition. It's reestablishing communion with God and with our neighbor.