The Power of "We"

I have a pretty massive tendency toward self-righteousness. I know, some of you are sighing relief that I'm actually aware of this. I am quite thankful to Marshall Benbow for pointing out to me how John Perkins uses the word "we." It is a word that is inclusive and points to realities that we all need to be aware of. It points to shared life and ownership.

So I was quite intrigued on Thursday when Sam Wells, Dean of Duke Chapel and my Christian Ethics Professor (who is from England) mentioned that "we" in the South have a problem with race that stems from the history of slavery. This isn't his words exactly, but when he mentioned the need to move into the prophetic voice about the South's problem with our racial history I was ready to take a beating. The horror of this history for me as a white daughter of the South is incredibly burdensome to me, but I've also found that it pushes me more torward Jesus in my recognition of sin.

I am quite used to situations where the awful tension exists when Southerners, Northerners or white folks whose families immigrated to America after the abolition of slavery or whose families were part of immigrant populations to other parts of the country in the 20th Century say that the "race problem" is not their problem. They claim that they are innocent. So imagine my surprise and giddiness when a British man who has only lived in America for five years used the inclusive "we."

In that moment I felt freedom. Freedom from judgment. Not the type of freedom from judgment that lets me off the hook, but the type that includes all of us into our sin problem and the realities of the contexts in which we live. It was an embrasive call toward a future reality of recognizing a real problem that matter for the Church and for people.

I was also surprised that upon asking him his reasons for using "we" in regards to the American South, that the answer was in his relocation. I naturally thought that it was theological or historical reference about culpability, but I was encouraged by his genuineness to seek a life here in my country and take on my culture with all of its beauty and problems. I wonder what it would look like for me to adapt this understanding of "we" and cross cultural community?