Hua Hsu has an interesting article entitled The End of White America? in the Atlantic Monthly. It goes beyond the normal demographic projections (though it mentions them) to discuss our experience as a nation moving from a European heritage towards a post-white, post-racial reality. The last paragraph reads as follows:
But maybe this is merely how it used to be—maybe this is already an outdated way of looking at things. “You have a lot of young adults going into a more diverse world,” Carter remarks. For the young Americans born in the 1980s and 1990s, culture is something to be taken apart and remade in their own image. “We came along in a generation that didn’t have to follow that path of race,” he goes on. “We saw something different.” This moment was not the end of white America; it was not the end of anything. It was a bridge, and we crossed it.
It made me think of the Kingdom of God and how it will certainly be the most multi-ethnic community we might imagine. Revelation 7 echoes the following future:
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
We are thankful to live this reality today in light of that day here in New Jersey. Though race, culture, foods and habits keep communities separated into enclaves...there are hints that we all want to come out and live a bit with one another. May this increase. My hope for Christian people is not to eradicate certain churches that find cultural and worship affinities along ethnic lines; but rather we could continue to see families join together for more multiethnic churches into the future. We are learning here in NJ to live this way and are praying that our little church will continue to take form as we build towards public worship in 2009.
One more fun blast from the past...here is a picture from our Black Culture Club my senior year at Kellam High School. I was a member through middle and high school - the only "negative" and "anti-spot" in the picture. You can guess for yourselves how I received those honorary titles...
