Jimmy Carter, Seeing Resurgence of Racism, Plans Baptist Conference for Unity

[liberal N proud]

Former President Jimmy Carter, who has long put religion and racial reconciliation at the center of his life, is on a mission to heal a racial divide among Baptists and help the country soothe rifts that he believes are getting worse.

In an interview on Monday, Mr. Carter spoke of a resurgence of open racism, saying, “I don’t feel good, except for one thing: I think the country has been reawakened the last two or three years to the fact that we haven’t resolved the race issue adequately.”

He said that Republican animosity toward President Obama had “a heavy racial overtone” and that Donald J. Trump’s surprisingly successful campaign for president had “tapped a waiting reservoir there of inherent racism.”

Mr. Carter conducted telephone interviews to call attention to a summit meeting he plans to hold in Atlanta this fall to bring together white, black, Hispanic and Asian Baptists to work on issues of race and social inequality. Mr. Carter began the effort, called the New Baptist Covenant, in 2007, but it has taken root in only a few cities. The initiative is expanding to enlist Baptist congregations across the country to unite across racial lines.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/us/jimmy-carter-racism-baptist-conference-unity-donald-trump.html?emc=edit_th_20160524&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=45299538&_r=0

[Jack Bone]

1. K&R for the best living president that we'e got!

[Thinkingabout]

2. I truly wish him luck here, I have been disappointed with the hate emitted from Baptist churches for

Years. If any one can get this accomplished it is Jimmy Carter, he was a good president and an out standing person all of his life.

[Equinox Moon]

3. Nice to hear from Pres. Carter now and then

I appreciate his stance on things. He is right as well.

[heaven05]

4. good luck Pres. Carter

I have had my run in with the Southern Baptists and they are really fine pieces of american work..... Have a handle on how to preach the love of Jesus and practice the hate of the devil. Been causing division since slavery days.

[dembotoz]

5. must admit when i think of godly men working as jesus would want, carter is the only baptist i can

think of

at least in the times from the death of mlk on.....

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

6. Resurgence??? eom

[dembotoz]

7. ahhh the old chcken or the egg question

has it gotten worse or is it just out in the open


perhaps both?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

8. I'm originally from Georgia and Carter was my governor growing up and then president.

I adore this man. I think he is amazing. And he has spoken and written about racism extensively. But what I've always found a bit troubling is that the focus is almost always confined to **explicit** forms and expressions of racism, not the more subtle, psychological acts. That's the problem. So people from outside of the American South may look down on people there and feel that they're not as racist because they believe that burning crosses, racial violence, and other explicit expressions/forms of racism ONLY exists in the American South. And that couldn't be further from the truth. I've seen people in southern New Jersey and parts of PA, IL, IN and Southern California proudly displaying he Confederate Flag and racial crimes are committed all over this nation. I've experienced more racism in Boston, MA than I ever did in my small town back in Georgia.

I am black and non-black/non-people of color should not and cannot tell people of color that they don't know what true racism is because non-black/people of color don't experience what we go through on a daily basis.

And many of us would argue that the most pernicious and damaging forms of racism are the LESS EXPLICIT forms--the more subtle and psychological forms. Why? Because oftentimes many people can't touch it, smell it, feel it or taste it. Most people don't even think about how their bigotry and implicit racism affects people of color.

Have things gotten worse? In some respects, yes, because I would argue that the more insidious forms of racism go undetected: the kind of racism that is imbedded not only in our institutions, but in our human brains, is not always brought to the surface. So what we are witnessing since Obama was elected and now with Trump is a manifestation of the latent racism that is bubbling to the surface. And people will yell and scream about how they aren't racist simply because they may not engage in *explicit* acts of racism, but the consequences of their *subtle* racist behavior impacts others in negative ways.

I argue that racism has never left. It was always there, so there is NO resurgence. The racists just hid their true feelings well or expressed them in less subtle ways.

We all know this. I'm not sure why people are pretending to be surprised.

[brer cat]

9. Right on point, LS71.

The election of President Obama didn't create racists, it gave them "permission" to shout out the feelings they had all along.

I don't know how much clout President Carter has with the church, but he sure knows how to use a bully pulpit and I expect he will mince no words. More power to him!

[malaise]

11. Great post

Should be a stand alone

[malaise]

10. I love this man

for real and I am an atheist

[FLPanhandle]

12. +1

I'm an atheist too, but Carter is the one Christian that actually behaves like one is supposed to.