Diversity and Noversity

Rain makes for great oversleeping. 

Today’s post is some food for thought from the Rev’d Lura Groen, the pastor of my church, Abiding Savior Lutheran. 

True confessions: white liberals want people of color in the room, at the table. We really do. I don't know a single white liberal for whom this isn't true. We like diversity. 

But we also like our ways of running meetings,

our communication styles, our assumptions of how things are done, our models of leadership. 

Sometimes we like these things better than we like "diversity."

And then, at our worst, we get angry and upset when people won't come play by our rules.

This feels applicable to so many things going on in our community right now, whether it is at the Board of Education or in how people react to Black leaders in Howard County Government positions. We say we want people to be visible, but maybe we just want them to show up in the photo ops, not actually be fully present in the policy making. Not if it means things will be different. Not if our center of gravity feels altered and shaky.

Our Black neighbors are dealing every day with issues of life and death in this country and so many of us are heartbroken for them. And we’re also out here trembling within our very white world views, saying, “don’t make me uncomfortable.” 

We can’t have it both ways.