This is the book review that I really don’t want to write.

I am tired of racism.

I am tired of white supremacy.

I am tired of a living breathing person being relegated to a hashtag and having that person’s actions and motives questioned posthumously. I am tired of beloveds fearing for their safety in the midst of a new incoming administration.

When I was asked to review Race in a Post-Obama America: The Church Responds, I was asked to do this review in light of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Triennial Churchwide Assembly that occurred in August 2016. In these days, there are more pressing matters than church polity. The aftermath of the presidential election unleashed a particular type of evil into the world. It is not just an evil of vile words and phrases, but this evil has manifested an outright hatred of the Incarnational physical bodies of people created in the image of god, imago dei.

I wrestled with part of the title of the book “…The Church Responds.” Looking at the 2016 presidential election data, 58% of Protestants and 81% of white evangelical Christians did respond by voting Donald Trump to be the president-elect of the United States. From a denominational standpoint as an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), I also wonder just how many of my siblings in Christ voted in this election? The Midwestern United States, where a multitude of ELCA Lutherans worship and call home, were red states. It is also important to note that the ELCA is the whitest denomination in the United States and has struggled in conversations on being a more diverse church body.

A resource like Race in a Post-Obama America: The Church Responds needs to be available to predominantly white churches to even begin conversations on how to talk about racism. Yes, conversations on racism are uncomfortable. They’re terrifying. But they are necessary if the church catholic is to respond. When conversations are focused on an individual’s worth and Incarnational identity, stakes in the discussions will be high because literal “skin in the game” is very much involved. Part of even starting the discussion is to build upon a common vocabulary. One of the most difficult parts in having honest conversations on the topic of racism involves defining terminology. When asking individuals (particularly white people) to define race leads to a prolonged and uncomfortable silence. That uncomfortable silence is amplified when asking people to define racism. One of the needs in such conversations is having agreed upon definitions to even start a discussion on uncomfortable topics. Race in a Post-Obama America has a good primer for exploring definitions that are often intermingled and incorrectly used in talking about race and racism.

Another necessary aspect of continuing such discussions is an understanding of the racialized history of the United States. While most learn a dominant white normative history in American classrooms, there are many underlying narratives of oppression in US history that are never discussed. Reading the racialized history of the United States in Race in a Post-Obama America is not easy; if anything, it is outright heart rending. I threw the book across the room multiple times in anger and frustration when reading narratives of oppression; I believe that is a testament to telling a brief history of race in the United States in an incredibly effective manner.

But once there is a common vocabulary and an understanding of the histories of the United States, then what? So many white mainline Protestant churches are wrestling with being more inclusive, but with very little success. An integral part of that lack of success is not acknowledging the truth of both the history of the United States that has always favored whiteness, and the complacency and complicity of white mainline Protestant denominations in this history. Another factor is with #WhiteChurchSilent on issues of police brutality against black and brown bodies, the colonization and seizure of indigenous lands, and failing to acknowledge the rampant racism and xenophobia brought on by the 2016 presidential election. This is where Race in a Post-Obama America: The Church Responds can serve as a primer to begin difficult conversations that must happen, especially with an incoming presidential administration that permits continued acts of violence upon bodies of color.

“Institutions such as the church have to examine and interrogate their own complicity in the logics of white supremacy that feed systemic racism even as they call the nation to structural transformation. Will the church have the will to act” (p. 74).

That time for transformation is now. I desperately want the church to act, especially as a woman of color who serves as an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the whitest denomination in the United States. If any action is to take place, those in positions of power within white churches will have to have honest and difficult conversations with themselves and one another to address the sin of racism and the demon of white supremacy that is insidious not just in our nation, but within our churches. The church cannot act if whiteness continues to be the norm; such a norm compromises the God-given identity of siblings of color.

Post-election, I’ve encountered a number of people of faith in white mainline churches asking, “What can I do?” Read Race in a Post-Obama America: The Church Responds. Read this book in a group in your church. Be willing to engage in difficult discussions. Be willing to remain in those discussions, even if they are uncomfortable, awkward, and disconcerting. Find community organizations like Showing up for Racial Justice (SURJ). Show up for public demonstrations. Find ways to use liturgy (also translated as the work of the people) to act on behalf of marginalized and at-risk communities, especially come January 20, 2017.

Don’t just read Race in a Post-Obama America: The Church Responds. Be the response. Be the hands and feet of the risen Christ in the world today to accompany the poor, the orphan, and the widow.

Do not let complacency and complicity be written into this chapter of the church’s history.