Why Are You Apologizing?
A friend of mine gave a public message and got some feedback from a listener. She emailed him and wrote that she would not apologize for being white and middle class. My friend is a pastor and he'd taken racial inequality to task as part of a recent series of messages. His remarks made sense. A lot of people were, and still are, talking about racism, especially people in his church. None of that is strange. Public speakers like pastors reference current events all the time. Listeners often express opinions about what they've heard. However, what's odd about the woman's email is that there was nothing in the messages that would have called her out specifically, requiring an apology. So, why did she refuse to apologize? She obviously felt challenged. When one says things like, "Racism is wrong. Systemic racism is a thing. It's not enough to say that you're not a racist. You need to be anti-racist." None of those statements are explicitly aimed at white p...