DATE: Saturday, August 30, 1997             TAG: 9708300041

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: Issues of Faith 

SOURCE: Betsy Wright 

                                            LENGTH:   76 lines

CHRISTIANS MUST HELP PUT AN END TO SIN OF RACISM

IN THE NEWS of late, there's been an awful lot of discussion about racism. Everybody from the president on down seems to have suddenly snapped out of a coma and said to their collective selves:

``Aha. We've just got to do something about the great racial divide in this country.''

Well, in the vernacular of my teen-agers: No duh.

I've written about this topic before, but it merits a ``do over.''

Why? Because the clock is ticking, and the new millennium is coming, and unless you really have been in a coma, you must know by now that White America is getting smaller and smaller.

``You'll know it's the 21st century when everyone belongs to a minority group,'' predicted Judith Waldrop in a 1990 article for American Demographics.

That prediction is fast coming true. Immigration and inter-marriage have quickly changed the complexion of America. ``I am Tiger Woods'' isn't just an ad slogan. It's a new national anthem.

While many white folks are wringing their hands and fretting over all this, I say, ``Get over it.''

I say this especially to white people of faith.

Why? Because if we don't want our particular faith to die, we must embrace this new era of multiculturalism. If we don't want our churches and synagogues to become empty shells, we must ``get over'' our stupid fears of and prejudices against those with skin that doesn't match our own.

And those are just the self-serving reasons.

The real reason white people of faith must ``get over it'' is that racism is a sin.

Now I could fill the rest of this section with a lot of theological ramblings and Biblical exegesis, but I won't. I'll boil it all down to what the great rabbi Hillel the Elder once said when asked to explain the essence of Torah: ``What is hateful to thee, do not do unto thy fellowman; this is the whole Law; the rest is mere commentary.''

Jesus Christ put it this way: ``You shall love your neighbor as yourself.''

As a white person living in America, I am not aware of what a privilege it is to walk in that skin. I get up every morning and don't think twice about my color and the status it gives me. I don't see the doors my pale skin opens. I don't see the speed bumps that others with darker complexions must cross.

I never have to think about being a color.

That, my friends, is a luxury we white folks won't have in the new millennium. Living without that luxury is something I look forward to, but not without the butterflies that often accompany untrod territory. Also, I do not fool myself by believing this transition will be a piece of cake. It will not. There will be bitter, hateful battles over these issues. There will be blood shed and love lost. It will be a mess.

For a while.

The optimist in me, however, says we can and will survive and be better in the end. I have this hope because I know people of faith who share that vision and are doing the grunt work in these transitional times to fulfill it. Two examples are members of the African-American/Jewish Coalition and members of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia's Commission on Racism.

To ignore the evil of racism is wrong. It's a sin.

Now, are you ready to do something about this sin?

The Episcopal group is doing something dynamite. It's a workshop centered on the film ``The Color of Fear.''

The Faith Discussion Group that I run once a month did one of these workshops just last week, and it was incredible. Many of us have been through diversity training before, but this thing is different. The movie gets people talking with such intense honesty. I've never experienced anything like it.

So, if you now feel convicted to do something about racism, here's a good first step: Call Edwin T. Walker, 1-804-447-4097, and ask about ``The Color of Fear'' workshop.

And then, let's get over it, so we can get on with God's work. MEMO: Every other week, Betsy Mathews Wright publishes responses to

her opinion column. Send responses to Issues of Faith, The

Virginian-Pilot, 921 N. Battlefield Blvd., Chesapeake, VA 23320; call

446-2273; FAX (804) 436-2798; or send computer message via

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