Christianity Today contributor Mark Galli writes about race and the gifts that the church brings to the conversation in an article titled “Hope in the Face of Intractable Racism.”  Gall questions doubts we will ever be done with racism, challenging laws that intend to “eradicate all forms of racism” and suggesting that it will take more than this.   Still, Galli concludes that we will “never rid ourselves of racism in this age, any more than we will rid ourselves of lust or pride.”  He continues, “And yet this seeming cause for despair actually prevents despair.  Just because we cannot eradicate racism doesn’t mean we have to succumb to its nasty expressions.”

I disagree with Galli because of this hope that we share.  George Bernard Shaw believed, “Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”  I couple this truth with that of Viktor Frankl who concluded, “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”  I have hope that I can change and thereby eradicate all forms of racism in me.