Yes, I'm Anti-White

This Thread got me thinking this morning:

As a white person, I am anti-white. And I think we all should be. Not just anti-white supremacy, but opposed to the very concept of whiteness itself.

The Invention of Whiteness

Whiteness was invented as a social construct to consolidate power and dehumanize Black people. The invention of race in general was a tool of greed, mammon, and capitalism—creating an in-group (white people) with power and an out-group who could be enslaved or otherwise oppressed to rob them of power and wealth.

As a white person, I don't want whiteness to survive. I don't believe whiteness will survive in the now-and-not-yet Kingdom of God. This doesn't mean white people won't survive, but rather that they will no longer identify with whiteness. Or, as James Cone might say, white folks will identify, as God does, with the oppressed—with Blackness.

In God's kingdom, whiteness would no longer be a category because it would be recognized as a function of oppression and evil. Practically speaking, this means white people might identify instead with their ethnicity or culture of origin that they too have been robbed from.

The Redemption of Blackness

If I'm anti-white does that therefore mean, to be consistent, I need to be anti-Black or anti any race whatsoever? No. Even though race and Blackness was created as a way to oppress, Black people transformed it into something beautiful, wholesome, and worthy of celebration. Black culture stands as a testament to human resilience and creativity in the face of oppression. (As do any cultures created as a result of whiteness)

So while race was created as a harmful construct, I believe aspects of racial identity will continue into the Kingdom of God—not as tools of separation or oppression, but as characteristics through which God's creativity and beauty can shine.

Finding the Nuance

What I'm not not saying is that whiteness and the invention of race was good all along so non-white folks should be thankful—dear God, no. Quite the opposite. I'm saying it should never have happened, and yet God was able to bring something good out of it. The harm should be condemned and dismantled, while the beauty that emerged from resistance to that harm should be celebrated.

I see parallels with other examples throughout history:

• Diaspora cultures: Many diaspora communities formed due to persecution, colonization, or forced migration, yet developed unique and valuable cultural expressions, languages, and traditions worth preserving.
• Musical traditions: Blues, jazz, gospel, and other musical forms that emerged from enslavement and oppression have become profound artistic expressions that transcend their painful origins.
• Religious adaptations: Syncretic religious practices that began as survival mechanisms under religious persecution often evolved into unique spiritual traditions with their own theological insights.
• Disability culture and community: While disabilities themselves may result from illness or injury, disability communities have fostered valuable perspectives, innovations, and cultural expressions that enrich our broader understanding of humanity.

Repentance and Repair

When thinking about this practically, I see different moral imperatives for different groups. The repentance and repair work for white folks is to dismantle the structures of white supremacy—to stop using whiteness as a way to consolidate power. This means the disintegration of white structural advantage, returning land and wealth, and creating more equity in the world.

"Black theology maintains that all acts which participate in the destruction of white racism are Christian, the liberating deeds of God." James Cone

Black folks don't have the same repentance work. The structures of Black identity were created out of a need to survive and produced something beautiful that should continue.

There's an ethical asymmetry here: structures created specifically for oppression require dismantling, while cultural identities formed in response to oppression don't carry that same moral burden.

A Theological Vision

This perspective is informed by biblical concepts like the Magnificat, where Mary proclaims that the hungry are fed while the rich go away empty, and Jesus' teaching that the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

In a white imagination, the Kingdom of God looks like simplistic pictures of reconciliation where everyone just gets along. But a more accurate vision is not that white people and Black people peacefully coexist, but that whiteness as a sociological concept is eradicated as part of God's mission to eliminate all evil.

I'm thinking of 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul write:

...and then the end, when Christ hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he brings every form of rule, every authority and power to an end. 25 It is necessary for him to rule until he puts all enemies under his feet.

Whiteness and race-as-oppression are God's enemies that will be put to an end.

In the restored heavens and earth, white folks will be reconciled with their original cultural and ethnic groups—reconnecting with what whiteness robbed from them. Black folks will also be able to reconnect with their ancestry while still identifying as Black if they choose—a testimony to how God squeezed good out of evil.

Practical Steps Forward

If white people want to prepare for living in God's kingdom, we need to start the work of dismantling whiteness and removing ourselves from its grip today. This might include:

• Researching and reconnecting with specific ethnic histories subsumed under "whiteness"
• Redirecting inherited wealth toward reparative initiatives
• Supporting Indigenous land return movements
• Using any political power to support policies benefiting marginalized communities
• Engaging with theological traditions that center experiences of the oppressed
• Intentionally submitting to the authority of Black, Brown, Queer, Indigenous, and other marginalized voices, even when (especially when!) they challenge us and make us uncomfortable.

The goal isn't merely peaceful coexistence within unjust structures, but the complete transformation of those structures.

Unity in Diversity

Scripture presents both unity and diversity in God's kingdom. The book of Revelation shows many tongues and peoples all worshiping together. The radical vision is that this diversity cannot accept oppressive structures as just one piece of the mosaic. It requires the death of race-as-a-tool-of-oppression as well its redemption as a way in which God's image is reflected in different people.

The eschatological future doesn't flatten all distinctions into sameness but purifies our differences from the poison of domination. The "many peoples" remain, but the systems that ranked and exploited those differences are gone.

This is what reconciliation truly means—not just peaceful coexistence, but the transformation of the very structures that define our current reality.