Christian groups like the ERLC and the Kainos Movement are moving toward hosting discussions on racism in America and in the church in the 21st century, which is a good thing. But, if we are not careful, we will miss the deeper issues that animate the entire problem. I sought to explore those deeper issues in my book,
When Heaven and Earth Collide: Racism, Southern Evangelicals, and the Better Way of Jesus (NewSouth Books, 2014). Because the manifestation of racism has changed from the separate water fountains and lunch counters and busses of the Jim Crow segregation era, many whites do not believe that racism still exists. As sociologists Christian Smith and Michael Emerson explained in their groundbreaking book, Divided by Race (2000), we are now in an area of racialization, which means that “race” still affects us and divides us in many ways, even if it takes different forms from the past institutionalized racism.
We live in a 'racialized society': a society where race matters profoundly and there are differential rewards (economic, social and psychological) for specific groups. The form of racialization changes: it might look like slavery, Jim Crow segregation or de facto segregation and inequality. Racialization takes many different forms, but its unchanging essences are the same. Emerson said, “When I have students from other countries who want to get a sense of racism in America, I tell them to drive around any metropolitan area they can and they will see it. They'll see Black neighborhoods, White neighborhoods, Hispanic neighborhoods, and so on. You'll see it distributed that way, but also in the fact that the unemployment rate among Blacks is twice as high as it is among Whites, no matter what the economy is doing. Whites have roughly 10 times the wealth that Blacks do.”
Southern Evangelicals tend to see racism through the lens of the segregrated past that is shameful and embarrassing. When you accuse a Southern white Evangelical of being racist or acting in a racist way, he sees images of the Klan and lynchings and segregated schools and hears the racist ideology of white supremacy in his head. He knows that he doesn't agree with that, so he rejects any accusation of racism or racialization or of racial inequality at all. It is seen as a major insult. His view is that we are all individuals and that if he worked hard and made something of himself, then why hasn't everyone else done the same in America, the land of the free? There are no structural inequalities and the racism of the past has been completely dealt with through the courts, legislation, through the dreaded Affirmative Action and minority preferences, and through the creation of the Welfare State of LBJ's Great Society. Asking for anything else is just complaining/whining and betrays a shirking of individual responsibility.
When black leaders, especially in the church, bring up racism, whites are often insulted. The conversation stops and everyone goes back to their corners and the division increases. But, black leaders know that things are not right and they see the division falling along racial lines because that is where they have fallen historically. Whites see the divisions the same way, but they also know that they do not personally hold animosity toward people just because they are black so they often actually blame black people for the continued problems because they cannot imagine how they are part of the problem. So, we stay at an impasse while some keep calling for a national conversation on race in society and in the church. But, when we do talk, we talk past each other as blacks believe that whites do not want to see the truth and whites believe that blacks simply want to blame others and do not want to take responsibility for what is happening in their own communities. And the beat goes on … It is a mess.
Way of Life. I think that there is something deeper at work here and that RACE is a symptom or a marker that identifies where the division falls more than being a primary cause of the actual division. Because Race is visible, it carries more weight and is used in an horrendous way against others, but it is not the core issue. Race becomes a way for groups to identify who are with us and who are against us. But, it is just one way. It is not a rigid marker in the way that it used to be, even though it is still there. What is more important than race at this point involves ideology, belief systems, economics, and worldview. But race is still often a convenient short-hand that helps us identify who is going to help us enhance our own way of life. The Germans have a term for this called Lebensweise. One could also translate it as lifestyle or way of living. We talk about the American Way of Life and we seek to defend it at all costs and against all threats. A defense of the Southern Way of Life led to the Civil War and was the primary animator of the defense of Segregation by Southern whites up until the 1960's. Now, we defend our individual Way of Life or our Christian Way of Life or however we define what we consider the good life. We all do this and we do it at the expense of others who might threaten us – or who we perceive might threaten us. Unfortunately, that perception is often based on the old divisions manifested through racism.
Racial Division is not the hard, structured marker of who is for us and who is against us that it used to be. White Conservative Southern Evangelicals are happy to embrace black people like Tim Scott, the Republican Senator from South Carolina or Ben Carson, Herman Cain, Alan Keyes, Allen West, or J.C. Watts. They embrace them and prove to themselves that the color of one's skin is not the hard barrier that it once was. They are convinced that the divisions in our society are no longer about RACE, but are instead about VALUES. If someone shares my values, then I consider them to be an ally. If they have different values, then I consider them to be an enemy. The primary issue that divides us involves who will help me defend my own way of life and my values against those who threaten me and my lifestyle? So, we identify our values and we align ourselves politically, religiously, socially, and economically with those who have the same goals and values and then we defend ourselves and wage war against those who we see as a threat. Race is not the major issue. Worldview is. But, we have to recognize that this problem still often plays out racially.
The problem here is that we are not doing this in a vacuum. History matters and it speaks from beyond the grave. America is a nation that has been divided according to Race since the late 1600s. Race became the marker separating the labor of the poor whites who were allowed upward mobility and the blacks in servitude to whom it was denied. Economic and power interests were key and it benefitted those in power to separate poor whites from poor blacks. Racism became institutionalized and it became the lens through which we saw our world, from Slavery to the 3/5 Compromise of the Constitution to Dred Scott to the Civil War to Plessy v. Ferguson. Racial division became ingrained in us and even after it was no longer the de jure marker of what divided us as a people, it went on to be the de facto marker.
Americans have always sought to defend and enhance and promote our own way of life over and above others. We call it freedom. It plays out militarily, economically, socially, politically, and spiritually. When this plays out racially, we have a problem that keeps huge numbers of people separated from how the rest of us defines the “good life” in America, which creates frustration and angst. Many white people say that there is no inequality and many black people point to the continued division in every possible social and economic indicator. Many whites blame blacks for that and respond with statements like, “what else do you want us to give you?” and blacks are often not able to answer that question in ways that satisfy whites as being fair, since white people today did not own slaves or stand behind fire hoses in Birmingham. So, the impasse continues.
This problem is not going to be solved in the larger society that is built on selfishness and promoting and defending one's own personal life choices and lifestyle. The irony of the Liberal critique of Race Relations is that the source of Racism is the very same source of the modern iteration of Liberalism, which involves promoting one's own personal choice and pleasure over and above the constraints of society, tradition, religion, or anything else. Modern Liberalism (not in the classical sense) is not capable of dealing with Racism because it shares the same basic foundation.
The only way to deal with Racism and its offspring of Racialization is through true Christianity and the Cross. I am not talking about the American version of Christianity that seems to exist to enhance one's own desired way of life through making God a means to an end of gaining one's best life now. And, I am not talking about an understanding of the gospel that says that if we just get individuals saved, then all will be well in every area of life, including racial injustice. That is obviously and historically false. I am talking about the Christianity of the Cross that declares that if we try to save our life then we will lose it, but if we lay down our life for Christ then we will gain it. The Christian in America can only see his politics, economics, spiritual life, social issues, race relations, foreign policy, and individual/family life through the Cross. We are told to take up our Cross and follow Jesus. Jesus leads us to lay down our lives in sacrificial love and service to others, not considering our own interests first, but looking to the interest of others. That is considered basic Christianity. That is the Way of Jesus and that Way of Life affects everything and has implications everywhere, including areas of racial division, structural inequalities, and injustice that manifests in racial and economic ways. White people often fail to see these problems because it benefits us not to see them.
Racism will never be solved in America apart from the Cross of Christ and the sacrificial love that flows from Jesus's wounds into every area of life. The place for racism to be solved first is in the local church – a colony of heaven in the country of death, as Eugene Peterson calls it. It is in the local church that we must put aside our own personal preferences and individual choices of what WE like and what benefits US over and above others and where we learn to live for the benefit of others who challenge us. Then, those local churches that have been practicing Ephesians 2 gospel reconciliation where people of all different ethnicities and classes come together as one, together turn their eyes to their broken communities and world and lay their lives down for others who have not yet been reconciled to Christ or to one another. That is how we witness to the Kingdom of God. This plays out individually, yes. But, it also has communal, regional, and national effects as the Church seeks to be “salt and light” and bring Kingdom values to a world gone mad with selfishness.
We must stop trying to gain our life and promote our own way of life first. We must listen to others who say that things are broken in their world (even if we think that everything is fine, which is usually because the current situation benefits us in some way) and, instead of pointing fingers and laying blame and self righteously going about our business, we must seek to love sacrificially and lay down our lives for others in tangible ways. That is how we engage in gospel mission. If parts of our communities are suffering, then do we not all suffer? If hopelessness exists in people's lives, then do we not have hope that we can offer? If people are still suffering from the sins of the past in our nation in various ways, even ways that they are not aware of, then can the church not step in and provide healing through love, forgiveness, and service and through embodying Christ as we proclaim and demonstrate the gospel of the Kingdom?
As long as we keep trying to figure out if a person's ideology, politics, and theology is going to benefit US before we step in to serve and help them, then we are going to be constantly divided, and Race will be a primary way that that that division occurs in America because of history and culture and our own sense of desiring safety and security. However, the Cross of Christ sends us out of our area of comfort in this world because we now find our identity in Christ as the New Creation and we no longer see anyone from a worldly point of view. We are now Ambassadors of Christ and His Kingdom and are ministers of reconciliation, holding out the gospel news that God is now reconciling everything to Himself through Christ. That is our call. And, it effects everything.
We cannot bring reconciliation if we keep trying to figure out how to defend and promote our own way of life every time that our own sensibilities are challenged. Living like that undermines our gospel witness and just perpetuates the historical divisions, but with a religious sanction and veneer that is not that different from the way that the church gave a defense for race-based slavery 150 years ago. The only way out of this trap is through the Cross, where we die to ourselves, meet Jesus, and live for Him and love others sacrificially – even when they threaten us. Yes, this is hard and we all struggle with it no matter our race or background. We struggle because we are human and fallen and we do not adequately appropriate God's grace to our lives the way we should. We all need help and that is why we look to Christ and depend solely on Him and not ourselves or our own wisdom.
Racism is not THE issue. It is a symptom of a deeper issue that we don't really want to address because we don't want to die to ourselves and the practice of promoting and defending our own way of life. But, if we really want to live, we have to die. If we want to see Racism and its effects end in America because we believe that every person is made in God's image and has value before God and is loved by Him, then we have to die to ourselves and getting our own way and defending our own way of life over others. We need the Cross. We need grace. We need the Jesus of Christmas and Easter who came to serve and not to be served and gave His life as a ransom for many.
So, final question: Am I trying to benefit myself and my way of life, or am I looking out for the interests of others and considering them better than myself?
Well said!
Another outstanding article to go with Bart’s! I’m convinced that if we’re not asking ourselves that final question every decision of every day, then we’re not growing in Christ.
Very good article, Alan.
I agree. People make these kinds of mistakes because they are trying to protect their way of life.
Selfishness.
This is the balance we try to keep in our lives, and I don’t think we do it well. Most evangelicals are conservatives, and by its very definition conservatism is about resisting change. Because we are disgusted by the liberal media, we drink from the trough of the conservative media industry which tells us 24/7 that we have to fight tooth and nail to preserve our way of life. I try to tell people that American conservatism and biblical Christianity don’t always mix, but it seems like when they don’t, American conservatism is the one that wins.
Bill Mac,
Great comment brother, I wish I had learned what you just stated 20 years ago.
Bill Mac – I agree.
Enjoyed this piece, Alan. I found your comment here interesting:
“The irony of the Liberal critique of Race Relations is that the source of Racism is the very same source of the modern iteration of Liberalism, which involves promoting one’s own personal choice and pleasure over and above the constraints of society, tradition, religion, or anything else. Modern Liberalism (not in the classical sense) is not capable of dealing with Racism because it shares the same basic foundation.”
What I find interesting is that the authors of Divided by Faith, whom you cite, make a very similar argument with regard to white evangelicalism. Smith and Emerson argue that the “theological toolkit” of white evangelicals hinders their ability to realize and respond to structural inequalities/injustices. Emerson and Smith emphasize that the individual-focus of evangelicalism is the problem.
Throughout the history of white religion in the South, including SBC history, I think we see the focus on individualism hindering the ability of Christians to adequately recognize and responds to systems and institutions – which are often oppressive. The most basic idea is that saved individuals will, in turn, save society. The “betterment” of society comes through the salvation of individuals. In theory, this should be true, but history tells us it is not.
My question to you is – while I do expect white evangelicals in the South to continue to be individual-focused – is a more communal focus needed to complement the necessary focus on the individual? A focus that emphasizes the importance of the common good, etc. – something we see clearly in Catholic Social Teaching and more so in the Reformed corner of northern evangelicalism (which I believe is where Smith & Emerson hail from?).
As an aside, the ERLC’s upcoming conference looks interesting. I would say, however, that a conference on racial reconciliation among Christians ought to include the participation (at least as invited speakers) of those at the center of mainstream Black Baptist/Black Church life. I’m sure it will be wonderful to hear from Princeton’s Robert George – a white Catholic and a brilliant thinker, no doubt, but hearing the voices of National Baptist and Progressive Baptist leaders would certainly benefit the cause of reconciliation. Similar to your point about white conservative evangelicals making alliances with politicians like Allen Wests, conservative evangelicals also tend to ally (almost) exclusively with African-American pastors whose politics skew to the right.
BDW, I agree with you about Smith and Emerson’s focus on the evangelical focus on individualism that has us defending the status quo instead of challenging it. Evangelicals also seem ill-equipped to challenge structural sin because our focus is on getting individuals saved and we never get around to challenging the larger society on issues that seem to benefit us. Absolutely. I take Emerson/Smith’s thesis in chapter 2 of my book and expound upon it with the history of Southern Evangelicals capitulating to the slave-holding culture so that they could gain a foothold – or at the very least not challenging it.
You are absolutely right – the critique that I have for liberalism can just as easily be turned on evangelicals and conservatives as well – really anywhere that the needs of the individual take precedence over the “other.”
What is the solution? I think that it does involve a more communal approach, but not in some kind of a utopian sense. Rather, taking Phil 2:1-5 seriously and thinking about the situation of others ahead of ourselves while also being willing to address structural/societal problems, even if doing so weakens our own position in that society. As we love one another sacrificially by laying down our lives for each other, then the world sees a tangible witness that Jesus is real (John 13:34-35).
Thanks for the interaction. You make great points. And, yes, we do need to listen to voices from different perspectives. The one caveat to that would be that the voices be honest. Just like we have agendas that protect our own position, there are also agendas that do not always deal honestly with the actual situation. I do not need to only hear from my camp, but I do want to hear from people who I can trust and believe are honest brokers. I guess that that is where building relationships comes in and that takes time, love, and sacrifice on all sides.
Race may be one way of looking at disparities in population groups. But I’d argue that a more fundamental demarcation of wellbeing vs. dysfunction in a population has to do with family formation, crime, wealth, and social mobility.
I’d argue that people who are in a bad situation are in a bad situation regardless of their race.
Conversely, in the more affluent areas of town things are for all practical purposes “totally integrated”. There are many upper class and upper middle class neighborhoods in major cities in the USA which are very nearly evenly represented in terms of race: Asian, Black, and White. People get along fine and no race is demonstrably “better off” than any other.
Why is it that people use the term “race” as a proxy for social conditions such as wealth/poverty, education, crime, family formation, etc. which cut across ethnic and racial lines.
Roger
I good, interesting article. I wonder how this applies in our capitalist society, on which every business (from the smallest to the biggest) operates.
Is this a call to action for the church or government or both?
Alan,
You are called, equipped, gifted, annointed, and appointed to address the issue of race from a biblical/evangelical perspective, with the heart of a compassionate conservative, and the intellect of a William Buckley and Martin Luther King.
What you’re saying is fresh, unique, prophetic, redemptive, solution oriented and unifying. I pray that your message continues to gain a wider audience. The heart of your message describes what I call “the gospel of the kingdom” approach to the race question. If we who are born-again see ourselves as a part of the same kingdom and act accordingly, we would be a long way down the road toward resolving our race issues in America.
At present, you are right: everyone is protecting their value system and individual preferences & philosophies, without full consideration to how their preferences align with God’s Kingdom. Thanks again Alan for one of the best commentaries on race that I’ve read in quite sometime.
There’s a systemic bias on this site in favor of Alan Cross. Why do his posts get posted TWICE, while others’ posts only get posted once?
Because I post poorly. My fault. The other post was getting criticism anyway, so I like this none better. 🙂
I deeply appreciated both posts Alan. You are indeed a prolific writer.
I face 3 kinds of systemic discrimination, every day. I deal with discrimination against vertically challenged people, or VCP(fat); against old people in our youth dominated society; and against very good looking people. You just wouldn’t believe the discrimination that I face as a very good looking man. It’s just incredible the things that I have to deal with and put up with.
🙂
David
“You just wouldn’t believe…”
Well, you nailed THAT one! 🙂
Bawahahahahahaha!
lol
David W.,
You know I share all three reasons that you do to be discrimated against. I also face the discrimation of being a good looking, bald headed Black Man.????
Dwight,
Some people just have bigger Temples than other ones do. Our bodies are a Temple; the Bible says. You know, people like you and me we’ve got big, big Temples. While other people…skinny people….don’t have much of a Temple.
And, some people, like YOU, Dwight, have a DOME on top of your Temple!!!
😉
David
Now, we need a “Good Looking Men” support group! LOL
None of the commenters on this site would understand the burden that I have borne all my life. Being incredibly good looking is not as easy as you guys would think.
I eventually had to allow myself to gain weight just to gain some sort of semblance of a normal life.
Sounds like the first step on the road toward Harrison Bergeron.
Alan, excellent post for the church, however, as the Ferguson situation has proven, there is a pretty wide gap among believers as to how to deal with it. Believers need to sit down together at the table and speak lovingly to each other over our differences.
For the community at large, governments and policies will continue to disrupt and to separate groups of people through various means–socially, economically, ethnically, etc. They do this to gain advantage over us. Capitalism, Communism, Socialism, Welfareism, Entitlemenism, Facism, Monarchism.. pick a ism.
I’m not sure where to put this comment so I just picked one –
Well, it appears that the good old faddish Southern Baptist are at it again – all the “big dogs” as well as their brothers are now announcing summits/conventions/conferences on racial reconciliation – of course with each featuring a speaker list of parrots!
Guess that’s going to be the “in thing” for the forseeable future.
#itsalltherage
#downwithfads
#fadsaccomplishnothing
Why does this bother you? I don’t recall us ever doing this before. I am glad. Maybe our constant division on this issue is why we are not more effective in evangelism/mission?
Because I’m perceiving some of these people and actions as more about self aggrandizement than what they purport to be.
Jumping on hot button bandwagons so to speak.
Time will tell though about that.
You’ve been fighting this battle for long time Alan, I want to be clear that you’re not perceived as a Johnny-come-lately.
Also like I said in the initial comment – the lack of diversity in process (so to speak) in their calls for diversity is concerning to me.
Most evangelicals – and I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to say most Southern Baptists agree on the underlying biblical that racism is sin.
There are, however, varied and sincere approaches to addressing the issues though and it seems as if those who are leading these conferences and conference calls and and all of that – are doing so in a very one sided way – I have addressed this before.
Missing from these conferences are people with informed and thoughtful, and biblical views (but not current party line) like Voddie Baucham, for example.
Voddie Baucham was present at the #ATimeToSpeak event that I was at in Memphis tonight. It was moderated by Ed Stetzer and hosted by Bryan Loritts. John Piper was there as well. It was really good.
I didn’t know about that one – Alan, so it wasn’t on my mind when I made the post – but I’m glad to hear that there was some “process” diversity in that conference.
I too am glad to see Southern Baptist leadership do this finally. It’s been a long wait. But worth it.
A school fiend of mine as well as I went on to become Baptist pastors. A few years back my friend did a revival service in the church he grew up in and the wife and I attended. During this revival service he told us about this event. Just south of Little Rock the church he was pastor of decided to try and pick up black children with their church bus trying to heal the gap between whites and blacks. He and a deacon visited many black homes and successfully got some of the black parents to let them pick up their children on Sunday morning, evenings, and Wednesday nights. He said for about one year things went wonderful.
About 1 year after they started this one Sunday morning a young black girl, I believe she was about 13 old, came forward at the invitation professing faith in Jesus and wanting to be baptized one Sunday morning. He told her and the congregation that we will have to talk with her parents and see if they will give us permission to baptize her. I will not baptize her without her parents permission. He stated to them that he and another person would visit the family early this coming week. They did so and when they arrived at this young girls parents house they were welcomed in and they were very friendly. Yet when he asked about baptizing their daughter it changed. They were asked them to leave and never return, that the church bus was not to come to their home again.
Them on Wednesday night they made all of their stops at the black children homes who had been riding their church bus except for this young girl whose parents told them not to return. Yet at each house the church bus driver was told to leave and never come back. After they got back to their church that evening they received a phone call telling them if their church van entered their neighborhood again that their church building would suffer and the van might suffer major problems too.
Racism is on both sides and I know of a few white churches in the south who have tried to reach out in love yet were turned away.
Okay, I debated asking this, for I know that it could make some people get red faced angry, but does Lifeway only invite Calvinists to speak at their conferences? Are Calvinists the only ones, who are smart enough, and/or worthy enough, to speak at these conferences?
I’m sorry, but all the speakers that I recognize are Calvinsts. What’s up with that?
http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/december/saturday-is-for-seminars-time-to-speak.html
Posting this, and ducking….
David
Lifeway did not invite the speakers to that conference. They co-sponsored it, but Bryan Loritts of Kainos Movement invited the speakers. And Derwin Gray, a nonCalvinist was there.
Is Ed Stetzer a Calvinist?
From Derwin Gray, here: http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-blogs/158757-derwin_gray_election_calvinism_or_arminianism_or_a_third_option.html
BEGIN QUOTE: “Some theologians also call this view Congruism. Congruism contends that the Bible teaches that because God is sovereign, He unconditionally chooses the elect for salvation and that each individual person freely decides to reject or accept Jesus as Savior.
Just as Jesus is 100% God the Son and 100% human, Scripture presents God’s sovereignty and human freedom as twin truths in tension.” END QUOTE
AND…
BEGIN QUOTE: “Now, I need you to follow along to grasp the beauty of Thomas Aquinas’ mind and his commitment to theology. Aquinas concluded that God’s sovereign, unconditional election of man and man’s freewill response to God are congruent because of two of God’s attributes, His simplicity and His timelessness.
Classical theism teaches that God is simple in the sense that His nature is undivided and without parts. In this view, time is a part of creation. Therefore, God, who is eternal and timeless, lives outside of time in the eternal now. Past, present, and future are equal before Him.
Therefore, there is “no chronological or logical priority of election and foreknowledge. All aspects of God’s eternal purpose are equally timeless. Both God’s foreknowledge and predetermination are one in God’s indivisible essence. Both must be simultaneous, eternal, and coordinated acts of God” (Geisler & Rhodes, Conviction Without Compromise, 252).” END QUOTE.
I bet he could be accused of being either…
“Are Calvinists the only ones, who are smart enough, and/or worthy enough, to speak?”
VOLfan, I know you were probably asking this rhetorically – but surely you know in your heart of hearts – the answer is absolutely – why hast thou been near us for such a long period and yet you still demonstrate such profound avoidance of reality? 😉 😉 😉
Tarheel,
lol
David
See, no one gets red-faced – i’m just glad to see you’re coming around to the truth. 🙂
I happen to work with several first generation Asian-Americans. I have found that their somewhat uniform philosophy about family brand building has helped me understand some of the underlying structural problems with racial relations in this country.
I first must admit my stories are purely anecdotal. That being said, whenever I talk about family life with my Asian-American coworkers, the primary goal they subscribe to is to take what resources this generation have to create more resources for the next generation, and so on. Nothing unique there; just another facet of the American dream. The thing is, most of them came with resources from their home countries and have built upon those resources. The most important thing to know about them is that they did not start from absolute zero.
I think of my own life story. Both of my parents are from the great Commonwealth of Kentucky. I’m proud to be a coal miner’s grandson (both sides!). My mother grew up poor (actual poor a la Depression time poor), but by the time she was in her teens, her family brand was stronger due to the coal mining opportunity my grandfather had secured. My father had a similar story. Their family economic brand was solid by the time he married my mother and secured a decent paying manufacturing job. They expanded on that brand to a solid middle class existence for me and my siblings that included college. All of us have again ‘expanded’ the economic brand.
Using this concept of economic brand and opportunity, it should be obvious that just because there appears to be a “level field” now of opportunity for all, it just isn’t so. My family was able to build their brand in a time of exclusivity (1920 – 1960). My children do not have to start at zero. They already have the power of an upper middle class brand powering their economic outcomes.
The issue isn’t racism. Almost everyone who comments here loves his neighbor! It’s rooted in economics.
The issues is/was the economic exclusivity that choked opportunity in a time when most families started their modern brand. The big question we face is how to deal with this economic opportunity disparity.