This is the book I’ve been waiting for since mid-2020. At last, a clear, compassionate, even-handed, powerfully written, biblically grounded, and hope-filled assessment of the true condition of racism and justice in contemporary America.

In the spring of 2020, following the death of a black man named George Floyd during a police encounter in Minnesota, there came forth a blizzard of books and articles and talking head pundits in the media and woke-corporation pronouncements, all denouncing American society as racist and filled with injustice. So-called “peaceful protests” shattered our cities, including many innocent businesses. Self-proclaimed “social justice warriors” and academics poured forth their indictments.

Our Presbyterian national denomination urged pastors and congregations to hold study groups and conversations about the books that were profoundly critical of American churches. I read several and never felt comfortable with their tone or their message.

Some of the books had a clear Marxist worldview. Some indicted the Christian faith itself as being racist and an unjust tool of oppression. (Even though, ironically, our Founder was Himself a poor man from an ethnic minority who was unjustly killed by an oppressive government!) All the books seemed to blame every single American of European descent as being an incurable racist, and everyone of a different racial or ethnic background was deemed to be incapable of racism because they were “marginalized.” The “white guilt” that poured out was unrelenting. I have never found guilt to be a powerful motivator of change.

After an extended dose of gloomy and pessimistic criticisms of America, I felt some reluctance in reading or listening to anyone else on the topic of our nation’s current condition. So many analysts dismissed all the progress of the past 60 years, which people of my generation have personally witnessed and cheered, as irrelevant and inconsequential. Prominent blacks, including athletes, entertainers, and media stars who are themselves very wealthy, privileged, and influential, repeatedly took the posture of being victims.

Corporations kept “signaling their virtue” in commercials and press releases, which felt phony. Police forces were publicly proclaimed as being corrupt and racist beyond reform and politicians stated that communities would be safer without them. Individual viewpoint differences were proclaimed to be impossible; everyone could only think, vote, and act as others of their race or class did.

Now we have a new book by Senator Tim Scott, the first and only black Republican in our nation’s highest legislative chamber from South Carolina. Tim is a powerful communicator and has risen high in visibility and influence. His book is personal and direct in confronting the issues of race and justice in America. Rather than talking from an academic or philosophic perspective, he speaks with an intensely personal and sensitive voice. His Christian faith has impacted his entire life, thought, and action. He gives voice to many personal stories, recounting his own journey to success by overcoming a childhood of poverty in a single-parent home. Tim bears tribute
to the faith and example of his grandparents and mother, and to the impact of his personal, business, and political mentors (both black and white) who helped him to overcome. He offers hope for the future, and he affirms the choices every person can make—“Our lives are not defined by what happens to us but by how we respond.”

Rather than dishing out heaping spoonfuls of guilt, he moves us with empathy by sharing his own and other true accounts of mistreatment and prejudice. Through it all the senator’s abiding love of his country shines brightly. He states in the introduction, “When I look at our nation, I don’t see division. I don’t for one second believe the false narrative of a racist, divided America that has been spun by big media. I see a tapestry of stories being woven together to form something beautiful.” In this book you will read about how he succeeded in private business and then entered politics; about his experiences with President Donald Trump and his candid assessment of his
strengths and flaws; and about how he finally reconciled as an adult with the father who had abandoned his family when Tim was young. You will read numerous stories of courageous people, black and white, who demonstrated perseverance and faith in the face of terrible obstacles and heartaches. You will
be inspired and given hope.

by Pastor Doug Pratt

My own perspective:

I grew up in a small town in a rural part of Western Pennsylvania. I was not conscious of witnessing any examples of blatant or institutional racism in my community. My family was comparatively poor, but there were not many truly wealthy people in my school or my town, so I didn’t have to deal with emotions of envy or jealousy toward those of a more privileged class or upbringing. 

Since I became a Christian in my teens, the clear teaching of the Bible sunk into my belief that all people were sinners but had incredible dignity and worth in the eyes of God, and that all were equal before Him in need of His grace. My summers in high school and college included an annual one-week mission conference held on the campus of the small college in my town, and at those powerful events I met people from all places, nations, and races. The same was true of my own college experience, where racism was not a visible factor on campus. During the ’60s and ’70s, as I was growing up, the civil rights movement was strong. Youth of my generation tended to embrace civil rights as the just cause of our day (just as, I assume, American youth in the 1940s embraced anti-Nazism as the right attitude). I cannot recall, in my youth or as a young adult in Pennsylvania, ever hearing a person offer an apologetic or justification for racial discrimination, nor do I recall anyone labeling black Americans as inferior. 

I obviously can’t speak for those who grew up in the Southern U.S. where societal and institutional racism was still in effect; nor can I speak for those who grew up in cities and suburbs where there was a substantial divide between wealth and privilege. But from my own limited perspective, the recent “politically correct” indictments of all white Americans as being incurable racists have never felt true.