Grace Biskie Discusses Racial Reconciliation

Today, we welcome Grace Biskie as we discuss racial reconciliation. Grace is working on her first book, Detroit's Daughter, a memoir about surviving her father, brother, abuse, racism, Christians, boys, and poverty while growing up in Detroit.

"I grew up in a home where my older, white brother called me a "stupid little nigger" more times than I can count, and where I countered with "ignorant, loser honkey!" more times than I care to admit."

..."For all these reasons and more, I have been unable to disengage with the issues that plague black and white Christians in our country. I've tried to disengage. Lord knows I've wanted to disengage. But I simply can't untangle myself from the racist web into which I was spun... And it's for these same reasons I feel terribly sad when I watch whites disengage.

• To not know African-American history is to disengage.
• To attend a large white church and never ask how the church got there or why it's staying that way is to disengage.
• To never admit, let alone assess, your power and privilege as a white American is to disengage.
• To not seek to understand why blacks were (and are) so angry about cases like Trayvon Martin's is to disengage.
• To decide to live in a mostly white community with no thought as to why it feels safer or mandatory for your family is to disengage.
• To not read widely about racial and ethnic issues in our country is to disengage.
• To allow yourself to be in places where everyone looks like you 90% of the time is to disengage.
• To raise your kids to be color blind is to disengage.

WON'T YOU JOIN US?