Beyond Racial Gridlock – Embracing Mutual Responsibility

I appreciate Dr. Yancey's sincere effort to address racism in America from a Christian perspective. I don't agree with the model he devised, but I am pleased that he made an effort. For this reason, I gave his book two stars instead of one.I think Dr. Yancey’s underlying assumptions are flawed. Dr. Yancey’s mutual responsibility model would require the acceptance of social justice and white privilege. Real justice is blind to race or social standing, and the concept of white privilege plays into the failed socialist ideas regarding the redistribution of wealth.Many minorities choose to live in bitterness, hate and envy, but the best any society can expect to do is to provide equal opportunity. This is what Fredric Douglas, Booker T. Washington and Martin Luther King Jr. sought and it is what America finally achieved in the 1960s. Efforts to make amends for the historic racial injustices of slavery, Jim Crow, etc., have resulted in great harm to minorities. Johnson’s Great Society Initiative has cost taxpayers $20 trillion so far, and rather than helping alleviate poverty, it has contributed to fatherless households, crime and generational welfare dependency.I fear that Dr. George Yancey’s accusations of white privilege and racism do not lend themselves to constructive discussion.I am thankful that a friend recommended this book to me, because I am deeply concerned about the topic and Dr. Yancey does a good job of explaining the different points of view. I would only recommend it to friends who haven't been, and aren't likely to be fooled by the current woke culture.

If you're open to a conversation about race that isn't angry or about white guilt, look no further. Yancey is neither politically conservative or liberal, he is a Christian, he is what all followers of Christ should be. This book has made me think about racism in a new way. I cannot thank Dr. Yancey. Such a biblical and practical book...and it's short!! Can't recommend it enough!!

I have read so many books on the racial gridlock in our nation. Many make good points, but most have one thing in common; as Dr. Yancey points out, they each point to someone else as the problem and therefore leave the person/group pointing frustrated - at the mercy of those "responsible" to solve the problem.Dr. Yancey does an excellent job of describing the four prevalent views of the racial tension in our nation, along with the strengths and weaknesses of each view. Then he offers a much more helpful perspective that shows how we all are contributing differently to the continuing racial tension and what we can do about it to overcome this racial gridlock.I highly recommend this book.

Yancey’s call for mutual responsibility is a beautiful endeavor. His explanation of the different ways people define racism clarified many statements by people in my past conversation and argumentation which I had found completely ridiculous in the past. We were speaking past each other. Some of the definitions of racism are truly unreasonable in my estimation, but I now know what I am working with when confronted with these statements and arguments.He fails to make a case for many of his premises, and he even undercuts the major thread he is using throughout the book. He points out how certain ethnic, or sub ethnic minorities (Cuban and East Asian) thrive just as the majority ethnic people (whites). leaving that behind, he goes into structural racism (which hasn’t anything to do with personal racism) as the cause for most ethnic minority ills. On top of that, two years after this book was published Barak Obama was elected President of the United States of America.Many of the ills he speaks of are very real nonetheless. Minority people schools are well bellow in performance on average compared to majority people schools. The majority folks have a better shot at getting good jobs, etc.Some of these issues are certainly traced back to the legalized, actual systemic racism of the past. Minority families are way behind on generational wealth directly in consequence to unjust laws and practices of the past. Most of the ills pointed out in this book are explained by poverty and wealth, and those same ills are present in the lives of poor majority people (white) families.

There are many good books on race in America. But not many are like Yancey's. He approaches the topic from the perspective of a black, evangelical, professor of sociology who desires to see a sufficient and uniquely Christian response to racism. Thankfully, Yancey doesn't just desire to see one. He offers one which he calls the Mutual Responsibility Model. This model is rooted in the Christian understanding of human depravity (which affects every part of every one of us) and the redemptive work of Christ (which does the same). As a pastor of a multi-ethnic church I found his model insightful and I believe it accurately describes how the Church can and should respond to the racial problems inherent in our society.Before fully explaining his model he reviews the four common models of addressing racism: colorblindness, Anglo-conformity, multiculturalism, and white responsibility. He skillfully explains the strengths of each model and the weaknesses of each model and shows how each remains incomplete. This section is very strong and every American of any belief-system can benefit greatly from reading it.In examining the common models and introducing his own model Yancey writes with an at-times frustrating simplicity. This simplicity lacks style and personality but, given the importance and controversy of the subject, is probably the best approach. In addition, in explaining how Jesus models the mutual responsibility approach to racism he at times treats descriptive texts as prescriptive texts without defending his application of the text to my satisfaction. The biggest negative is unique to the kindle edition. Unfortunately, the footnotes are not hyperlinked so one is not able to jump to the many helpful footnotes from the text itself.Not a perfect book. But a very good one and one that can change our churches, our communities, and our cities if we take it to heart.