A series: Jesus Loves Racists, too: How Predominantly White Churches Can Move from Teaching Racism to Teaching about It.

            To begin, I would like to acknowledge that my title was inspired by another title I recently read called “Jesus died for NASCAR fans” (Whitlock, 2010).  Beyond the title, the two essays will have no further purposeful commonalities.  This essay is about race.  This essay is about Jesus and churches.  This paper is essay is about hidden curriculum.  This essay is about public pedagogy. For that reason, it will be presented as a series of blog posts.  Because it has so many pieces, I think a blog series will also allow for a more manageable reading.  Over the course of this series, I will first begin by defining public pedagogy and how churches act as a site of public pedagogy.  Then I will describe how churches teach about race.  I will then conclude by discussing the potential that predominantly White churches (PWCs) have to become a site of critical public pedagogy.

            Throughout this series, I will use a combination of personal experiences, theory, and findings 

from research literature.  To begin, I would like to discuss my positionality (my identity and my 

experiences that have shaped how I view the world and my research, as well as why I am interested 

in this topic).  I am a Christian, African-American[1], woman.  I put these in order of the personal 

salience of my identities.  My faith and relationship with Jesus define me at the deepest levels, and 

so that is the first lens through which I interpret the meanings of events in life.  I am an African-

American.  I am a Black[2] person living in a racist society, but as an African-American I am also 

aware of the rich heritage I possess through my culture and the perseverance of my ancestors.  I am 

woman. Hear me roar! (kidding). I am a woman living in a sexist society, and although this identity 

is not extremely salient to my work (in my mind), my socialization as a woman has shaped my 

outlook on life.  I am currently enrolled in a doctoral program in education.  This program is 

teaching me to think deeply and critically, but it is through those above lenses that my thoughts are 

filtered. It is with the introduction of those lenses that I will end this post.  In my next entry, I will 

discuss some of the experiences I have had as a Christian, African-American, woman that have led to 

my research interests in racism and churches. 

Until next time.

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[1] I will use the terms African-American and Black interchangeably throughout this piece.

[2] I capitalize the B in Black and the W in White to denote that I am discussing a race rather than a color.

References:

Whitlock, R.U. (2010). Jesus died for NASCAR fans: Curriculum of place in a queerly fundamental South. In E. Maleweski (Ed.), Curriculum studies handbook: The next moment (265-280). New York, NY: Routledge.

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6