June 17, 2020

I am white.  I am male.  I like being white.  I like being male.

No one follows me through a jewelry store to make sure I don’t steal anything.  Car salesmen and mechanics always address me instead of Shannon.  That’s because I am a white male. 

White males run the world.

If you look at the Fortune 500 CEOs, what you see is most look just like me.

If you look at government, what you see are those who in charge look predominantly just like me.

In my own profession, even though the number of females in ministry continues to grow, what you see is the vast majority of senior pastors in large churches look just like me.

I like being me.

I know being a white male allows me to enjoy privileges that others don’t have.  But is it supposed to be this way? 

The first time I ever really wrestled with this question was when a friend and I received orders to Army Airborne School.  We took his car.

Traveling to Ft. Benning, Georgia, when we got to the Alabama border, my friend pulled his car over to the side of the road and told me I would have to drive through Alabama because if he drove, we would be pulled over by the highway patrol.  He knew from experience that black men did not drive beautiful, expensive Corvettes through Alabama.  

There was no malice in his voice.  It was just a fact of his life.  Even though he was an officer in the United States Army and a graduate of West Point, he had to have a white man drive his car.  That was the moment I realized something was terribly wrong.

In God’s economy, being a white male is no more significant than being a black female.  We are all on the same level.   But for this to happen, real societal change needs to take place.  I truly believe this is God’s will.

That’s why Paul says, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”  (Galatians 3:28)

What we have to remember is whether white, black, brown, yellow, orange, or purple, in God’s eyes, we rank exactly the same.  We should see the same way God does.

Prayer:  Dear Gracious Heavenly God, help us get to the point where one group is not elevated over another.  Let there be an end to racism, sexism, and bigotry.  Help me be part of the solution. In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

I pray that my grandchildren grow up in a world where white males like me don’t run the world.  We’d be better off for it.

One last thing; for those white males who say, “I pulled myself up by my own boot straps,” my question is, “Who gave you the boots?”

I pray your day is filled with joy and laughter.
Tom Robbins