Building Generational Foundations to Break Down Racial Bias

Regina Harrington

Jul 14

Growing up in a small, rural community in the Central Illinois cornfields, I had little interaction with other races and cultures. While we had two foreign exchange students from the Philippines and a few multiethnic students, my community was predominately white. As a result, I did not have an opportunity to have a conversation with a Black person until I was in 7th grade! He was the only Black adult at an all-white Christian church camp I attended in another rural community not far from mine. For the purpose of sharing this story, I will call him Sean.

Sean was kind, caring, fun, and he loved Jesus. Though I didn’t recognize it then, I realize now that his involvement in our rural church camp required personal vulnerability, risk, and sacrifice. I can’t imagine how it must have felt to him as the only Black person at the camp, but I doubt it was comfortable. As I look back now, I am so grateful to have met him, and while my interactions with him were limited to camp, he made an impression on me that significantly impacted the way I would view Black people.

As children, we do not have a choice about whom we grow up around and what influences we are exposed to. Around the globe, personal experiences related to other races and cultures are not only varied but are also vastly different. We can look upon our differences as dividing factors, or we can listen, learn, and begin to appreciate and acknowledge both the beauty and the pain that comes from them. While moving from point A to Z is not a simple feat, perhaps we can start by recognizing one thing we all have in common: we have yet to experience sustained harmony among all people groups.

When we look to scripture, Proverbs 22:6 (NLT) reminds us, “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.” This reference applies to leading our children in the ways of Christ and applies to the way we raise them to view the world around them. How are you leading future generations in viewing other races and cultures?

All of us come to the world’s table with inherent bias -- underlying assumptions that impact our view of others, which can be positive or negative. When we lack personal experiences with other races or cultures, our inherent bias can be shaped dramatically by history, news, media, innuendos, and the inherent bias of others. This is why participating in positive racial and cultural conversations and experiences is necessary.

Meeting Sean in 7th grade caused my inherent bias toward Black people to be framed around the positive characteristics that I recognized in him: he was a Christian who was kind, caring, and fun. Since inherent bias can have so much power over our unconscious thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes toward others, we have the responsibility to direct future generations toward positive inherent bias.

Racial reconciliation begins with personal and positive experiences with people from different races, cultures and backgrounds. As adults, we can intentionally engage in diverse social activities and provide those opportunities to the children in our homes and communities. When we share our personal stories and engage in diverse conversations, our inherent bias transforms into recognizing the inherent worth of others.

Celebrations of diversity (e.g., MLK day events, multicultural gatherings) are excellent opportunities for all people groups to gather. It is time for all of us to be willing and bold enough to show up at the table and celebrate our differences. This will require personal sacrifice and humility, but these actions will help to demystify other races/cultures, build relationships, and shape our inherent bias toward the positive. Then, on a foundation of trust and relationship, we can begin to build an honorable place for future generations to live.

This process won’t be perfect: you won’t have all the answers, it can be messy, but the journey will have been worth it. Our efforts to share and understand our individual and collective stories in a multicultural community makes all the difference in building a future of respect for every tribe, language, people and nation.

Just as Christ reconciled the Jews and Gentiles in his death on the cross, he has done the same for racial division in the church: “Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death” (Eph. 2:16 NLT). When division rears its ugly head, we must remember to whom we are reconciled (God), at what cost (Christ’s death), and for what purpose (to reconcile us to God and to each other).

In the event we are tempted to act or speak divisively of others, let us remember the price that he paid for our reconciliation to other people groups. With humble hearts, let us be profoundly aware that the person most grieved by any divisive words is the God who loves us all.

Thank you, Sean, for the difficult risk that you took that summer. Your sacrifice opened doors for me to trust interacting with other Black people over the course of my life and ultimately led to me meeting and marrying my husband with whom I share four beautiful biracial children. I am forever grateful.