Well, since I have not blogged for aeons, I will follow the mandatory blog procedure of apologizing for being gone, while reassuring my readers to continue journeying with me as we reflect faith, politics, culture, and whatever else randomly falls into my mind. All this is done with a tone of repentance yet hopeful optimism for what my blog promises to be in the future. Here goes…
My bad.
Well I think that about covers it. Look forward to new stuff from me…. and I would love to hear back from u as well. Peace.
Published by Drew G. I. Hart, PhD
Rev. Dr. Drew G. I. Hart is an associate professor of theology at Messiah University and has 10 years of pastoral experience prior to teaching. He currently directs Messiah University's "Thriving Together: Congregations for Racial Justice" program and co-hosts Inverse Podcast with Jarrod McKenna, an award-winning peace activist from Australia. Hart is the author of Trouble I've Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism (2016) and Who Will Be A Witness?: Igniting Activism for God's Justice, Love, and Deliverance (2020). And he is also a co-editor and contributor to the recently published book entitled Reparations and the Theological Disciplines: Prophetic Voices for Remembrance, Reckoning, and Repair (Nov. 2023). Hart received bcmPEACE’s 2017 Peacemaker Award, the 2019 W.E.B. Du Bois Award in Harrisburg, PA, and most recently in December 2023 Life Esteem Ministries recognized him in Harrisburg with the Harambee Award for the Nguzo Saba Principle of Umoja—Unity for his faith-based activism and public scholarship in the community. Drew and his family live in Harrisburg, PA.
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Drew G. I. Hart 
I’m back and Whiter than ever !
Does that sound humorous to anyone?
Does it make you want to draw you closer to me and what I want to say?
The latest blog . . . why some whites don’t really want to sit at the same evangelical table with their other than white counterparts . . .
Maybe they just don’t get the double standard or the humor . . .
I’m not sayin – I’m just sayin . . .
Not sure I understand the double standard??? What is wrong with embracing my culture, heritage, and history. Celebrating blackness is affirming who God has made me, and resisting the idea that there is anything wrong with it. Our society has for too long stereotyped blackness into being a negative thing. I reject that, and refuse to lose anymore of who I am so that the dominant culture can have everyone assimilate and “melt” into their world. I have unique experiences, stories, successes, and struggles because of the skin color and history God has brought me into. If I want to embrace that through humor, what is the problem?
The issue is all about intent. I have actually told many white people that they ought to learn their unique European history, and celebrate it. There is nothing wrong with whiteness, if it means people celebrating and embracing who God has made them. The only reason I might have a problem with someone saying they are “Whiter than ever” is if they mean it in the white supremacist way, meaning that they desire to dominate over all other racial and ethnic groups. Maybe there is a communication misunderstanding, not sure. But I celebrate who I am, and that God has made me as I am, and if it is uncomfortable or too abrasive for some, well that its unfortunate, but I am not going to deny the Imago Dei in me, I am going to let it out that much more. Not really sure where exactly you were coming from, again maybe this was just a miscommunication.
What does Tim Wise (or anyone of a hundred black leaders) say about being brought up white means I’m racist and bigoted already – so if I say I’m “whiter than ever” – I have to mean it in a bad way. But a black man can say it and it’s OK because it’s just expressing the image of God in him?
You know all the stereotypical things said about how women can say just about anything and we men still have to treat them with the utmost respect? It is in this light that I say – there is a double standard or an uneven playing field here. No thinking White person would ever say “I’m whiter than ever” unless he was looking to express a supremacy regarding his color. How is that not so about a black or brown or other than white person? Just askin…
Not sure I have heard Tim Wise say that someone is bigoted for being raised white. If you can find my a quote or clip I would appreciate it. From my take on him, he has focused more on our racialized society and the resulting white privilege. He typically draws from statistics rather than assuming the worst about an individual’s intent. I can not speak for “black leaders” generically, there are so many black leaders who believe and say all sorts of stuff, just as there are white leaders that say all sorts of stuff. I respect folks like Cornel West… and I have never heard him say such things either.
Anyway, I can only go by what I mean and understand. I don’t speak on behalf of all black people… as well I am sure you don’t want to attempt to speak for all white people. I would not be offended if a white person said they are whiter than ever, if they mean they are very culturally influenced by Western European culture. There is nothing offensive to me about that comment. I am sure folks like Louis Farrakhan might have other thoughts, but he is not me nor does he represent me.