Allyship, Incarnation and Becoming Anti-Racist
April 30, 2021 Roland Kuhl 0 Comments
I am intrigued by the term allyship, which I read in Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man (Flatiron Books, 2020) by Emmanuel Acho. He draws on the site Racial Equity Tools (www.racialequitytools.org) to provide a definition of allyship:
“Someone who makes the commitment and effort to recognize their privilege (based on gender, race, sexual identity, etc.) and works in solidarity with oppressed groups in the struggle for justice. Allies understand that it is in their own interest to end all forms of oppression, even those from which they may benefit in concrete ways. Allies commit to reducing their own complicity or collusion in oppression of those groups and invest in strengthening their own knowledge and awareness of oppression.”
Acho, simplifies this in stating, “. . . an ally is a person from an empowered group who acts to help an oppressed group, even if it costs them the benefits of their power” (178).
As I reflected upon this concept of allyship as I seek to be anti-racist, I as a pastoral theologian was drawn to make some connections with Christ’s incarnation – God becoming a human being and dwelling among us, literally, setting his tent up among us (cf. John 1:14) and Christ Jesus emptying himself of the power of his divinity in fully becoming human in identifying with us (cf. Philippians 2:5ff). Christ’s kenosis through his incarnation seems to have connections with allyship.
Now bear with me. Some may argue that the connection between incarnation and allyship breaks down because God is not an oppressor, that God has never been anti-human because God created us in his image. I agree, the power of God has never has never been to undermine or oppress humanity – we chose that for ourselves in breaking relationship with God and breaking relationship with brothers and sisters, with neighbors. In the incarnation, however, God did give up something in not holding onto the power of his divinity in becoming human, but in identifying with humanity that was oppressed spiritually, politically, humanity that was broken (Christ’s humanity embraced being Jewish under Roman occupation and rule), he emptied himself of the power of his divinity. This emptying, I sense, may help us to be incarnational and anti-racist as we seek to engage in allyship with those who do not experience the privilege of being white or in power.
Now some may think of God as oppressive, especially if Scripture is read in a negative light, seeing God as vengeful and wrathful. With such an interpretation, Christ’s incarnation indeed takes on a sense of allyship. God was in Christ Jesus becoming an ally with oppressed humanity through incarnation, denying the power of his divinity in order to be among and with humanity, becoming oppressed in order to experience and confront oppression and oppressors. So, whatever the perspective, I believe there are insights into a Gospel perspective on allyship.
Jesus’ allyship with humanity was not about God sweeping in like a superman, unloading the power of his divinity upon us, fixing all our problems, and then taking off as fast as he came in. No God’s incarnation in Christ was taking on an oppressed people group under Roman rule and dwelling for 30 years as one of us before he embarked on a ministry of liberation (see Luke 4:18ff). At the beginning of his ministry, he was tempted to forgo allyship and take a short-cut (see Matthew 4:1-11), to demonstrate the power of his divinity, rather than continue living as a human being, dependent upon God. Jesus’ incarnation is indeed an allyship with humanity.
Paul expresses the extent of this allyship in Philippians 2:5ff in which an early Christian hymn declares that Jesus in taking on our humanity set aside the right to the power of his divinity. His allyship with humanity was 100% in that he set aside the right to any power that was not available to the rest of humanity. Otherwise, his ministry would have no efficacy for the liberation of humanity. He was completely human, who in being open to God, lived out his humanity as a servant in the power of the Spirit – the same Spirit God makes available to every human being who seek to draw their breath in relationship with God.
What can we learn from Jesus’ allyship with humanity, then? What can we learn from Jesus for shaping our allyship with those who do not share in our white privilege? What would it mean for us to empty ourselves of our white privilege in order to identify, walk among, be with those with whom we seek to be anti-racist and advocate for equity? What are we willing to give up in order to be incarnational among those who are different from us who have not shared in the same power we have taken for granted? Are we willing in our allyship to live incarnationally with those who do not have the privilege of our whiteness, to dwell among them, to be servants of God – not to lord it over others, but to love, serve, learn from them, entering into community with them?
This was the nature of Christ’s incarnation, Christ’s allyship, if you will, with humanity. He espoused a manner of leading and ministering that did not lord itself over others, but rather listened, ministered, served those who were the least of these (see Mark 9:33-37, Mark 10: 42-45). Too often, we give assent to Christ’s incarnation merely as a doctrinal statement attesting to his divinity, but there is much more to be understood of how Jesus came to be among us, setting aside the right to the power of his divinity through his becoming human – we need to give more attention to his incarnation if we are to be shaped by such an incarnational presence in the world as we seek to live out such new creation humanity that is rooted and centered in Christ. Christ Jesus not only revealed to us what God is like, that God is like Jesus, but in his humanity, in his allyship with us, revealed to us the way we are to be human and humane with one another – to remove the barriers that exist between us, to embrace one another, to love and respect one another, not to exert privilege over another, but to live amongst one another as a brother, a sister, serving one another.
Dare we embrace the incarnation of Christ, learning from his allyship with us, in order to be in allyship with our families, our neighbors, even our enemies, so that we might exhibit the kind of humanity that is humane, that fully embraces one another, and seeks to be a servant of all. I am only scratching the surface here. Indeed there is more to unpack in delving the depths of Christ’s humanity to discern and discover how we are to be humane, to be human among and with all peoples. Being human is the way of Jesus is indeed the essence of our being embracing allyship as we strive to be anti-racist.