From “US: The Resurrection of American Terror” by Rev. Kenneth W. Wheeler
When you go through being the victim of racist micro- and macro-aggression enough times as a Black person you begin to feel a certain kind of way. I would be less than honest if I said the examples that I cite here did not hurt. Each one of them hurt. The white people who did these things were aware of the hurt their actions caused. I’m convinced of it. But I am also convinced that they did not care about me, my humanity, or about my feelings. Nor did they care about the Gospel.
When I thought about writing this book I knew that I wanted it to be more than a heady discussion about racism. I’ve been a part of enough of those kinds of discussions. Those kinds of discussions are meant to make white people in the room comfortable. But if you are Black or a person of color who is the constant target of such racial abuse, you are never comfortable. It is unnerving and unsettling. It is often a cataclysmically disturbing space to live in.
I want those who read this work to understand this feeling. I want the white readers to feel this in their gut. I want to stir empathy in them because if there is no empathy whites will never be moved to act humanely towards Black people. They will never be able to work to build a more just society – a more just world. I have no shortage of painful stories illustrating how white Christians have repeatedly failed to see my humanity. It is my hope that through these stories you will understand the demonic power and force of white supremacy and you will see how deep this evil cuts.