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Whew. There are a lot of layers happening with Lecrae and Lou. Black women and other marginalized folks have a lot of threads unpacking those layers. So I’ll try not to repeat those from @CandiceBenbow @AntheaButler @YNPierce @thearmchaircom @neichelleg and more
This thread is less for Lecrae specifically and more about other Black folks navigating white evangelical spaces. I know many of you are being invited on stage and having recorded zoom calls and are being asked to be the face of “reform” in middle of another racial crisis.
I’ve been there. I’ve been that person who talked and talked and talked about race, and was ignored or minimized... until. Until my blackness was needed. I got excited thinking “this is my chance; now they’ll see that I’m not overreacting. Now they’ll value my expertise.”
Only to find that I wasn’t being asked to share my expertise, or the challenge the status quo, or to stretch our theology, but instead was being asked to co-sign a white man’s limited understanding of race in an attempt to maintain power, control + relevancy.
I’m really glad there was no camera during some of the moments I outline in my book, when I was frozen and had no idea how to maneuver around the multitude of dynamics set up against me raising my voice. Only husband and my friends have seen the tears of disappointment in myself.
Now. I must say, I’m not sure it’s possible to get wholly free without some deep changes in theology. Part of the way white evangelicalism keeps folks trapped is in the name of “right doctrine”. Nonetheless. There is something I need you to know...
Love. Grace. Compassion. These things are not reserved for folks in power. They are for you. When you speak, you deserve to be listened to with love. When you challenge or correct, you deserve to be received with an abundance of grace.
When you grace others with your abundance of passion and experience and knowledge, you deserve to be met with a compassionate response. You deserve. You are not just a dispenser of these things. In a space where you are expected to give, you should also expect these in return.
To my cousin @lecrae, you know I know what it’s like to be on those stages and to hear cray cray and have to make a million decisions in the moment. We have a lot of theological and therefore political differences but I hope despite those differences, this will be helpful.
I hope you’ll do two things next time 1. fall back on the readings that set *you* free. I know you believe in the power of transformation. Let these men show what it looks like to truly lead, be transformed, be corrected. Believe that what set you free could set them free too.
And 2. Ask yourself how the cray cray will make the people of color in the room feel. Instead of centering the feelings of the speakers, think of the folks with the least amount of power in the room. Imagine this being repeated them on the job or in a meeting with a supervisor.
Help them. Let your learning and lyrics, all that you do on the streets of Atl... let it speak. You don’t need to defend power; it will defend itself. Remember how defeated and depressed you once felt. Speak for that person who don’t wanna hear nothin abt bullshit #whiteblessings
And obviously. Always listen to Black women. Always.
