"Dear God, help me hate white people" - Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes, Seminary Professor at Mercer Unv

Jimmy D said:

Is this just an attempt at exposing “the left” as hypocrites?

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Where are you getting this "attempt" business kemosabe?
The hypocrisy is obvious.

Jimmy D said:

Are we searching out every racist word or act from a person of colour now?

I personally abhor racism but I’m finding it difficult to be bothered by this piece whatsoever, it’s meaning is obviously slightly ambiguous, as the responses in the thread indicate.

There does seem to be a trend of the more right-leaning members of the forum getting worked up about what is perceived as racism against white people recently.

Is this just an attempt at exposing “the left” as hypocrites?

Are people really actually upset because of this obscure piece of literature?

It seems extremely disingenuous to me.

Minorities have genuinely suffered from the effects racism throughout history, save your indignation for that rather than this petty tit for tat.

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It strikes me as a bit of all of those, along with some measure of generalized persecution complex, trolling the left, and the lack of any sort of coherent beliefs regarding what racism is. IME, many of the same folks who'll shout "racism!" at the usage of the word "White" in virtually any context will also tie themselves in knots trying to defend racialized rhetoric and policies.

A lot of it is little more than brain-dead knee-jerk reactions to keywords - and this whole kerfuffle is a good example of that. The piece in question here isn't good: It's not well-written. It relies on a bunch of woke tropes and buzzwords instead of something a little more artful and nuanced. I imagine that, if we dug into things a bit, we'd find that the author's views are at least a little racially and theologically problematic, e.g. as a prayer, it smacks of the sort of self-righteousness criticized in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican.

But it's also obviously not an earnest prayer requesting God's assistance in hating white people. There are plenty of things about this to criticize, but that criticism is just dumb.

iluvatar5150 said:

I'm glad the article in the OP shows photos of the entire piece. The last few paragraphs show that the whole thing is a lament and that the author is wrestling with her own feelings that she acknowledges are ungodly.

It's not very well-written, so some of the confusion is on her. But at the same time, I'm entirely unsurprised that the conservative outrage machine didn't bother to get that far into the piece.

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A lot of these things seem to happen because certain liberals are just terrible at phrasing and leave themselves open to this kind of thing.

Some context, from the pen of Dr Chanequa...

Prayer of a Weary Black Woman

Strathos said:

A lot of these things seem to happen because certain liberals are just terrible at phrasing and leave themselves open to this kind of thing.

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Yeah, that criticism is more than fair. To wit: "defund the police"

But even once you get past the initial confusion, it becomes clear that a lot of the whining is pretty hollow, despite the fact that there are often things worthy of critique that they could identify if they tried.

Jimmy D said:

Some context, from the pen of Dr Chanequa...

Prayer of a Weary Black Woman

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As usual, I see a thread like this and know the implication of the OP. However, when you actually read the item being complained about, it's much ado about nothing.

SummerMadness said:

it's much ado about nothing.

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Nah, not much.....just an African American woman using Christianity to promote hatred and racism.....

SummerMadness said:

As usual, I see a thread like this and know the implication of the OP. However, when you actually read the item being complained about, it's much ado about nothing.

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These threads always have the same posters taking a predictable side of an issue, "Left" and "Right".

As soon as a news item is presented, each "side" reads it, then just finds reasons to justify their already established positions.

If a white person wrote a "prayer" attacking black people, but ended it with a retract in the last paragraph, low and behold everyone would suddenly change sides. You would be saying that the racist intent presented is outrageous and the last paragraph acting humble in God's grace is just a ruse and that the person holds such views in the first place is morally wrong and then all those who are against this "Anti-White poem" would suddenly say that the last paragraph proved it wasn't racist and they were addressing their racist feelings and its just faux="woke" outrage. There is little to no consistency in polarised politics.

All Englands Skies said:

These threads always have the same posters taking a predictable side of an issue, "Left" and "Right".

As soon as a news item is presented, each "side" reads it, then just finds reasons to justify their already established positions.

If a white person wrote a "prayer" attacking black people, but ended it with a retract in the last paragraph, low and behold everyone would suddenly change sides. You would be saying that the racist intent presented is outrageous and the last paragraph acting humble in God's grace is just a ruse and that the person holds such views in the first place is morally wrong and then all those who are against this "Anti-White poem" would suddenly say that the last paragraph proved it wasn't racist and they were addressing their racist feelings and its just faux="woke" outrage. There is little to no consistency in polarised politics.

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You know nothing about what I would say, so don't pretend you would know my response. If a white person wrote this piece, I would look at context, much like when someone like George Carlin using the N-word in his standup routine. What's ignorant and reflects superficial thinking is arguing that the skin color of the person is what matters as opposed to what the person actually says. Several months ago there was a story about a professor suspended because students complained about him using the filler words for like "um" used in Mandarin. It was clear from anyone that read the story and saw a clip of the lecture that the context and usage was not a racial slur. The key is the context, those of us who look at this in context recognize this is conservative hyperventilating and trying to cancel a professor; no different than the students hyperventilating over a teacher using a Mandarin phrase. Stop the bellyaching and false equivalence with a "both sides" argument.

civilwarbuff said:

Nah, not much.....just an African American woman using Christianity to promote hatred and racism.....

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Do only white evangelicals get to use Christianity that way?

All Englands Skies said:

You would be saying that the racist intent presented is outrageous and the last paragraph acting humble in God's grace is just a ruse...

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You nailed it. But whew, child! Where was the humble part (in the actual piece under discussion)? I missed it.

I keep thinking of this closing of a prayer

We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

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But what do I know, I just a lunatic.

SummerMadness said:

You know nothing about what I would say, so don't pretend you would know my response. If a white person wrote this piece, I would look at context, much like when someone like George Carlin using the N-word in his standup routine. What's ignorant and reflects superficial thinking is arguing that the skin color of the person is what matters as opposed to what the person actually says. Several months ago there was a story about a professor suspended because students complained about him using the filler words for like "um" used in Mandarin. It was clear from anyone that read the story and saw a clip of the lecture that the context and usage was not a racial slur. The key is the context, those of us who look at this in context recognize this is conservative hyperventilating and trying to cancel a professor; no different than the students hyperventilating over a teacher using a Mandarin phrase. Stop the bellyaching and false equivalence with a "both sides" argument.

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People who dismiss "both sides" arguments when they feel it undermines them are usually the people so far to one side they cannot see outside their box.

Also people who always take a predictable side on nearly every individual issue, are the last people to be looking at "Context", as the "Context" is always the whichever "context" they feel wins them the debate/argument.

All Englands Skies said:

People who dismiss "both sides" arguments when they feel it undermines them are usually the people so far to one side they cannot see outside their box.

Also people who always take a predictable side on nearly every individual issue, are the last people to be looking at "Context", as the "Context" is always the whichever "context" they feel wins them the debate/argument.

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Seems to me you have no real response besides trying your best to ignore what I said, nice playing with you.

98cwitr said:

This best-selling devotional has a prayer that literally says “Dear God, please help me to hate white people.” This is a real book you can buy. At Target.



Equally concerning is that someone decided to actually publish this blatant racist "prayer"

Did Christ teach us to hate?

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Seems like the "god" she is invoking is satan...

It's certainly not invoking the God I worship.

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35

Why would I "hate" my brothers in Christ for the color of their skin? I wouldn't if I was truly a child of God...

SummerMadness said:

Seems to me you have no real response besides trying your best to ignore what I said, nice playing with you.

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What you said was an argument based on "False equivalence". The Typical "insert logical fallacy here" defence.

Much like the "straw man" or the "whataboutary" and the long list of "logical fallacies" that are thrown about whenever hypocrisy is called out.

A real response would be you're just justifying your own bias and hypocrisy and doubling down on that.

I mean how am I supposed to seriously take your claim that you look into the proper context of every situation, when you clearly do not, judging from your posts in other threads, you often jump to conclusions before you have all the evidence?

GOD Shines Forth! said:

You nailed it. But whew, child! Where was the humble part (in the actual piece under discussion)? I missed it.

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The last paragraph of the prayer.

nationwide reverse racism flies in the face of "working class of the world unite", was Socialism always a joke since the days of Marx?

Poverty Program Excludes White Families; Minority Families Get $500/Month in Oakland | Facts Matter

You guys also think Edgar Allen Poe killed a guy after reading "the raven", eh?

I never really enjoyed the poetry units in elementary school but see now how important they are.
Do you all really not understand a woman poetically crying out to God, however clumsily?
The Psalms are full of martial imagery, asking God to defeat our enemies.