An influential Atlanta megachurch pastor, a Grammy-winning hip-hop artist and a prominent businessman recently shared a stage to talk about race.
What happened instead shows just how difficult and uncomfortable that conversation can be.
And often how a clumsy statement, which many viewed as offensive, can potentially derail the conversation.
It reflects that the faith community has just as much difficulty, if not more so, dealing with race as anyone else.
On the stage at Passion City Church in Atlanta last Sunday were Pastor Louie Giglio, founder of the Passion Movement and Passion City Church; Lecrae, a hip-hop artist and author, who often speaks about his faith; and Dan Cathy, chairman of Chick-fil-A.
The nearly 70-minute conversation, titled “The Beloved Community,” touched on a number of aspects regarding race.
Lecrae shared that he has been stopped by police several times, the first when he was an unarmed 13-year-old.
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Giglio talked about the role the church played in systemic racism.
At one point, Giglio turned to the slavery in the nation's history.
“We understand the curse that was slavery, white people do,” he said. “And we say that was bad. But we miss the blessing of slavery, that it actually built up the framework for the world that white people live in and lived in. A lot of people call this white privilege, and when you say those two words, it’s just like a fuse goes off for a lot of white people because they don’t want somebody telling them to check their privilege.”
Those comments started a firestorm on social media, forcing Giglio, who leads a diverse church, to apologize.
Lecrae, who lives in metro Atlanta, recalls being shocked. He has participated in several protests over the deaths of African Americans at the hands of police or white vigilantes and other injustices. He recently launched a Restoration #MasksForThePeople campaign to provide 50,000 masks to jails and prisons in Georgia amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When I heard the words ‘white blessing’ come out of Giglio’s mouth, I was stunned,” said Lecrae in an email response to several questions from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “In fact, shocked. I was like, ‘Whoa!’ Wait a minute! Did I just hear that? I did respond to it but not as strongly as I should have and in retrospect, I acknowledge that. There were so many awkward cringe worthy and uncomfortable moments. It took every bit of me to keep my composure while we were taping.”
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The two have known each other for a number of years, although Lecrae and Giglio aren't close friends. In May, the two were speakers at the memorial service of evangelist and Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias.
Giglio apologized again Friday in an exclusive statement to the AJC.
“I sincerely apologize for the deep pain and confusion I have caused many people, especially my Black brothers and sisters, by my comment this past Sunday. To be clear, I’ve never in my life thought there was any blessing in slavery. That thought is sickening and breaks my heart. I am devastated that what I said did not communicate or align with what I have long believed.”
He acknowledged that during the discussion, “I made a terrible mistake while aiming to start a conversation that I had hoped would awaken our white listeners to the reality of white privilege by addressing those who want to dismiss or deny the concept of white privilege altogether. This privilege is real, and acknowledging it is an important step toward engaging the conversation and better understanding Black brothers and sisters in America.”
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Moving forward, said Giglio in his statement, he vows to listen more and talk less to allow God to search his heart.
The gross injustice of slavery is in large part why many whites, directly or indirectly, are where they are today, Giglio said.
“I failed miserably in my choice of two words and am grieved by the way those words have added additional chaos and pain to an already explosive time,” he said.
Ed Stetzer, executive director of Wheaton College Billy Graham Center, said what happened on that Atlanta stage and, later, on the national one “is the fear that many white pastors have — that they will say the wrong thing in trying to have a conversation about race. I get it, but they need to let African Americans lead the conversation and first, you listen; and second, don’t make up new terms. Just use the term white privilege and explain what it is. I think that’s where it went off the rails.”
Lecrae said he was glad Giglio apologized and agreed that he should be asking questions.
Racial prejudice and injustice, he said, is something that Black people have lived with for all of their lives.
Privilege allows whites to opt out whenever they want, Lecrae said.
“I think many white pastors, especially those with a diverse congregation, are faced with a reality that they have to address somehow and it’s not going away.”
