Today marks two years since I began The Daily Race. While I wasn’t sure of what my writings would amount to or even what I was attempting to articulate initially, I am so glad that I decided to begin this journey. It was certainly a relief to say what I had been thinking for so long: I am not black. I sometimes can’t believe that I had the courage to say it: I don’t believe in race/ God is not colored/ Black/ white/ red/ yellow/ brown/ beige people don’t exist but are a creation of our social imaginations. I am able to say that I didn’t allow race to get the best of me or my relationship with God and others, that I talked back to race and its progeny, that I did not live my life as its victim or a perpetrator of its hate, that I fought a good fight for my faith.
The Daily Race has become my sacred space and a safe place to share my ideas regarding race and the race-less life. It is my “own little world” where I can live by the laws that I create: No racial caricatures permitted/ No racial slurs allowed/ No socially colored- coded language accepted. I thank God for the thought and with it, the courage to take my faith back from race. I am grateful for the opportunity to write about my convictions regarding race.
I didn’t have to wait for someone to listen or to agree or to understand; I needed only to begin talking to myself. I just couldn’t hold it in and once I began writing about the race-less life, I couldn’t hold back. But, I thought that once I said it that that would be enough; instead, my passion has only grown stronger. Now, I have to say it any chance that I get: a race-less life is a Christ- filled life.
Two years later, I am in a deeper and more committed relationship with Christ as each word puts more distance between me and race. My spiritual identity, the mind of Christ and my position in Christ have all been strengthened because of my commitment to detach my faith from this social construct. Removing race from my faith has also allowed me to see myself, God and others not as the “other”/ “Other”; this has brought me closer to each and the possibility of healthy relationships seem inevitable.
I am looking forward to the years to come and all of the good things that a race-less life brings. Since I began writing this blog, I have led a race-less life retreat, written and delivered a paper “A New Kind of Christianity: What Christ has already done about race” at the Children, Youth and a New Kind of Christianity conference held in D.C. last May, the blog has been featured on the Associated Baptist Press and Ethics Daily websites and I recently completed a chapter on the race-less gospel of Jesus Christ to be included in a book soon to be released. For this, I give God all the glory, honor and praise.
It is my prayer that others would find the words and the courage to fight for their faith and not live another day with race. Join me in living the race-less life at The Daily Race.
