If I’m being honest, sometimes I’m tired of talking about racial solidarity.

People love to sit and “chat” with my husband and I about this subject. They enjoy hearing what we have to say about it, how we can interweave this theoretical topic with biblical truths and the resources we can reference. But, then, after feeling more educated and “connected” to the pressing issues of the day, they walk away, back to their everyday life, leaving the topic of racial solidarity to an intellectual category at best.

A simple conversation on race and solidarity makes many people feel empowered, but talking alone leaves us discouraged.

We share the personal experience of Tamara C. Johnson when she says, “in these draining interactions, I pour out informed, nuanced knowledge gleaned from merely existing in a country hostile to my dark skin, curvy edges, and kinky hair. I present this information in a measured tone, with little emotion, in a way that would not betray that I am deeply, personally affected by racism. I imitate your removed sense of racism’s power.”

Johnson’s statement and ours is not meant to make you feel guilty. It’s a plea, rather, to move beyond talk. In a recent article by Christianity Today, Christena Cleveland, pleads for her white brothers and sisters in Christ to “stand in solidarity with [their] black brothers and sisters”, and we whole-heartedly agree. True and biblical racial solidarity is a way of life; it should inform, not just how we think, but how we live, act and engage with others.

“Why?” you might ask. Simple: Because Jesus’ command in Matthew 22:37-39 to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself compels us to. Racial solidarity begins with a true, gospel-rooted love for one’s neighbor, and our pursuit of cross-cultural friendships must be involved, engaged, and proactive in this call.

Now, before I list three steps we can take to advance racial solidarity, let me first provide a brief definition of the term. Anthony Bradley states it best: Racial solidarity is the pursuit of “racial diversity and multi-ethnicity … on the basis of the fact that we are all made in the image and likeness of God.” In other words, our pursuit of racial solidarity stems from our belief in the Imago Dei for every human being, regardless of skin color, ethnicity, or heritage, and it thus celebrates all peoples as a reflection of God himself.

Racial solidarity means that we don’t try to change people to be more like us; rather we allow ourselves to be taught by the other so we can better understand (and, more important, appreciate!) how they think, act, and feel. It means we don’t criticize, minimize, or make fun of racial differences. It means we don’t exclude the other or create divisions between ethnic people in which we try to exert our class, power, authority, or notions of leadership over them.

Now, that being said, here are three ways you can begin living that out today:

Listen more

First, we need to stop talking about ourselves so much and start hearing other people’s stories. 

This may sound harsh, but please hear me: You have no right to judge people you know nothing about. Seeing a glimpse of one African American on the nightly news does not make you an expert on the black community. I know conservative evangelicals who have never had an African American friend in their lives, yet after watching a segment on Fox news about more gang violence in Chicago, will unashamedly talk about the “problem of black people” in our country. That sort of talk makes me sick.

God does not show us such lavish, daily grace just so we can turn around and harshly judge, berate, and abuse our neighbor (think of the Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor in Matthew 18:21-35). I’m also not saying that we ever see a minority brother or sister as someone in debt to us — that is racism at its finest.

What I am saying is that you need to start making some minority friends (perhaps your neighbors, your coworkers, or even the people in the pew behind you). Go their house, hear their stories and get to know them. Ask them what they like to do, what sort of foods they eat, what kind of holidays they celebrate, and (especially) what their view is on the state of race relations in our country. If you can not only listen, but also care and empathize, you are setting yourself on the path toward racial solidarity.

Learn more

Second, be avid readers.

I’m sorry (but not sorry): Take a break from Christian fantasy novels and Amish love stories, and start picking up critical history books written by minorities – books like Jemar Tisby’s The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy. Truly, know your history. Stop relying on minorities to do the leg work for you. Instead of asking them to teach you their history, educate yourself. Learn the history of racism in our country so you are not ignorantly turning a blind eye to the problems of today. God gave us brains as well as hearts. Let’s use them!

I’d also recommend Toni Morrison’s The Origin of Others (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures) and her fictional work, Beloved; as well as Anthony Bradley’s collection, Black and Tired: Essays on Race, Politics, Culture, and International Development.

You may not always agree, or even like, what they say, but there is something to be said about Christians being “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger” (James 1:19).

As a minority woman myself, I am tired of my Caucasian brothers and sisters making uninformed statements about their fellow minorities that, quite honestly, sound horribly racist. I know you don’t always intend to sound that way, but please educate yourself to the real history of racism in our country so that both your thinking and your language on the subject may be peppered with grace and humility.

Love more

Finally, respond in love to all you hear and read. It does no good just to know more, if you don’t respond with empathy and humility. It does no good to hear the painful stories of others, if you fail to connect their narrative to your own life.

This is where Christian activism plays an important and much-needed role. Let us take to heart God’s command in Deuteronomy 6:4-11, where He exhorts us to literally talk about Him everywhere: in our home, on our streets, and elsewhere. All that we own, all that we do, and all that we say should testify to our love for God and, by extension, our neighbor.

I believe the way this translates for us today is this: Let us be advocates to our own children, to our churches, and the people in our communities for racial solidarity. Proclaim the gospel of racial solidarity on social media — not just the biblical ideal of the Imago Dei — but also be courageous enough to lovingly stand up against injustices that you see and read in posts from others. Make racial solidarity a focal point of conversation with your friends and coworkers. Even make a plea for it in your local schools and organizations. Our love must be active, amen?

If we do this, I guarantee the world will not know what’s about to hit them. The pursuit of racial solidarity is a powerful tool, not just for cross-cultural friendships, but for the advancement of the kingdom of God. I can promise you that.

Racial solidarity begins with a true, gospel-rooted love for one’s neighbor, and our pursuit of cross-cultural friendships must be involved, engaged, and proactive in this call. Click To Tweet