The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby

The Color of Compromise Reviews

• 
  Jonathan Newman

  Wow This has to be one of if not THE most important books on race and racism I have ever read It is a historical survey of how the American church in general especially white Christians have largely not only failed to oppose racism but have also been culpable in creating it and preserving it While mostly just telling the truth it has a bit of a prophetic voice as well especially towards the end The author Jemar Tisby is a Christian leader and speaker and PhD candidate for US History He also is the President of The Witness A Black Christian Collective and his podcast Pass the Mic has been very helpful for me and other friends in understanding the intersection of Christianity current events and the black experience As he said in the book Jemar loves the Church but has done the hard work of research to speak the truth in love about the history of Christian complicity with racism in America As he reveals in the book though for much of the past 400 years of our history the church in America has been at best complicit allowing racial injustices to prevail and at worst far too often creating structures policies and even theologies that conserve racism While he admits that there is so much to cover about the mistreatment and dehumanizing injustices against many ethnic groups by white people as a people he specifically focuses on the legacy of racial injustice by white people against black people in AmericaTwo main points he wants every reader to know from this book is that1 White complicity is not a factor of melanin but a factor of power2 It didn't have to be this way Intentional choices were made to create or allow the racial injustices that have happened including the ones that prevail today which means it is possible to undo themThe book covers every major period of history from the earliest days of European colonization of North America all the way to the current times while Trump is president There are almost 400 footnotes in this book most of them uniue so I know that conservatively Jemar must have read dozens of books maybe a lot not to mention interviews articles etc to compile all the most pertinent information in one book This is so worth your read not only because of the content but because of Jemar has connected the dots through so much reading and research that most would surely never be able to or choose to do I found this book to be extremely well researched and informative incredibly disturbing and gut wrenching at times especially the conditions of slave ships and the brutality of lynching which wasn't only hanging very surprising and angering in how deep the complicity goes and practical and somewhat hopeful towards the end with realistic anti racist actionable ideasI've read several books this past year on race and the past 4 years I've been trying to learn and understand as much as I can on racism in the past and present how Christians have gotten it wrong in the past and how the church can move forward in repairing what has been broken but there was SO much in here I didn't know For instance I assumed that most slavery era christians were abolitionists not true I assumed abolitionists all believed in and wanted the eual treatment and social standing for black Americans also not true even Lincoln I knew there was inadeuate Christian support of MLK and the civil rights movement of the 1960s but I didn't know how precious few Christians publicly aligned themselves with the struggle for black freedom in the 1950s and 1960s I didn't know the extent to which segregation for fear of black men getting with white women and having babies motivated the start of private Christian schoolsI think some of the most surprising and complex content was about the last century including the rise of the Religious Right and the Moral Majority which were segregationist in their motivations racism becoming covert through overwhelming white evangelical support of law and order the roots of theological doctrines in Christianity that made excuses for not actively opposing racial injustice and the White Evangelical Cultural Toolkit which explains how Christians from different racial backgrounds can have such different views on contemporary racial and political problems This toolkit includes terms such as accountable individualism relationalism and antistructurism he defines them These were already covered in the book Divided By Faith which was published in the year 2000 why that book didn't get attention and impact in white evangelical circles I have no idea I do wish there was a bit covered on Christians and race in the past 10 20 years but this is a survey after all and he could only cover so much in such a broad time spanOne thing that became even clear from this book is that both consciously actively racist people and non racist people who doesn't oppose the status uo are motivated by the same thing Though the many stories and facts this book show that both racist and non racist value their own power comfort and convenience above euality justice and shared power for those who are different and possibly far away from them Self proclaimed colorblind non racist people do nothing to oppose the status uo and that is the definition of complicity The call is to actively be antiracist and to rock the boat This book is a needed wake up call for how too many Christians even our leaders are woefully under aware of not only the history of racism and Christian complicity or support of it but also how bad things are today At the same time it is a wake up call for the many of us who do know they need to take antiracist action and speak truth to power even and especially within different parts of the church but are too fearful of the backlash loss of support getting it wrong or threats and divisiveness it might cause The last chapter gave many suggestions for action steps in the main 3 main areas of Awareness Relationships and Commitment to action ARC For instance he mentions reparations and how it might be actually implemented civically and ecclesiastically Another of his ideas I liked best was to resurrect something like the Freedom Schools of the 1960s in which people attend a class about the history and current realities of racial injustice and best practices and organizations to partner with in addition to Pilgrimages which are experiences that are very effective for engaging and moving participants emotionally as well as intellectually I know that Lisa Sharon Harper puts on racial justice pilgrimages freedomroadus and something kind of like a Freedom School that I'm aware of is a race power and privilege intensive I'm connected to called Lenses lensesinstitutecomOverall Jemar does a fantastic job connecting the dots between the past and the present as well as paving a road of progress ahead but he calls us in the words of Dr Martin Luther King Jr to the Fierce Urgency of Now Racial injustice is much worse today than most realize and in words of Divided by Faith author Michael Emerson the 2016 election was the single most harmful event to the whole movement of reconciliation in at least the past 30 years It's about to completely break apart The witness and faithfulness of the church in America is at stake if we fail to adeuately grapple with our history of complicity and the barriers that keep us from opposing racial injustice in all forms Just as in MLK's days the biggest indictment is not on the overtly racist white supremacists as disturbing as they are but on the Christians who either can't be bothered at all are in denial of how bad the black community and their allies say things are or resist anything faster than glacial speed in change Let's cancel compromise together starting with making this among the most read Christian books of 2019 In exchange for an honest review I received an advance copy and am eagerly awaiting its final release on January 22nd I highly recommend preordering reading and promoting this book
• 
  Matt

  A very painful and important read
• 
  Stephen Matlock

  This is perhaps one of the most accessible clear and gentle book you might read about the history of and acceptance of white supremacy and black abasement of the American nation and in the American church Tisby is an historian and does not shave meaning or impact by using soft words When you read this you understand what he is saying directly racism in the American church was and is a deliberate choice Nothing that has happened so far had to happen But the good news is that our American nation and our American church can be changed by the actions of interested and committed people I would expect that some people might feel this book is personally distasteful or even animated against them We are good people Why do we get told that we're racist? Tisby is not attacking He is describing carefully what it means to be American to be Christian and to be racist and how the third leg of this stool does not need to remain unchanged It is possible to be American and Christian AND to be committed to social justice and racial eualityI imagine it might be hard to read for some people and I'm one of those people It is never fun to look into the mirror and see the flaws But it is delightful to see the flaws and then to see ways to remove those flaws and become just fair eual and loving Pick this up and spend some time reading
• 
  Paul

  In this book Jemar Tisby paints a picture of America's racist history and of his vision for an America without racial ineuality His evidence is selective his rhetoric is vivid but what's missing from the earliest chapters is anything resembling a good and tight argument Beginning with Tisby’s definition of racism on p19 announced without hesitation as if it was wisdom from on high he introduces unproven assumptions at each stage in the development of the book It’s not a coincidence that at several points in his survey of American history he chastises “reasonableness” as a problem to be confronted “Reasonableness” for him is a failure to recognize urgency p 137Everything you need to know about his endgame can be found in the last chapter “The Fierce Urgency of Now” At the end of the survey of America’s dark past the reader is invited to ask “what now?” So what will Tisby offer his readers? What is the most urgent thing that needs to happen now? Across the previous ten chapters of the book he wants the American church to know that they are complicit in both past and present racismracialism If he’s right and sometimes he is will he now preach to them freedom from the guilt and from the power of sin? Will those guilty and complicit be offered freedom before they close the book? Don’t hold your breath Plenty of action items are offered but none of them are grounded in anything like the objective and permanent justification in the blood of Jesus Christ For all the talk about a “truncated” gospel among his opponents it is that very gospel that got left out of the book Endless action is demanded with no end in sight racism never goes away and no assurance of righteousness for those involvedChapter 11 the last chapter of the book does not mention the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ nor the forgiveness and new life sinners can find in Him If you’re a Christian dealing with serious multi generational sin as Tisby claims to be you can have a multifaceted response to sin including dealing with its societal conseuences but at the center of them all should be the preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ and its application to sinners by the power of the Holy Spirit That’s the increasingly obvious missing gospel from Jemar Tisby’s project All the “solutions” offered by Tisby could have just as well been cooked up by the pagan materialist down the street Is this the best Protestants can offer?Tisby’s prescriptive section at the end of the book deserves a response in the style of J Gresham Machen This is not Christianity any but a whole other religion with its own original sin its own cathedrals schools activist organizations etc membership “allies” and sacraments “transformative pilgrimages” There are even instructions for how to practice secular church discipline The Color of Compromise tells us that “racism never goes away” while the Lord Jesus promises us that “the names of their gods shall no longer be remembered”If you're an American Christian who's not convinced this book's approach is not Christian ask yourself this if every American believed every sentence in this book would you have a justified America?
• 
  Raymond

  History and Scripture teaches us that there can be no reconciliation without repentance There can be no repentance without confession And there can be no confession without truthTisby's book gives a historical overview of how the white Christian church has been complicit in the promotion of racism in America from 1619 to the present day Most of the history will be familiar to you if you are already knowledgeable of Black history The individual stories were new to me such as how some church leaders did not allow slaves to be baptised or that white and black churches became a phenomenon after the Civil War or the defense of segregation by white preachers in the Civil Rights Movement era The latter chapters 8 11 are the strongest in my opinion maybe because it focuses on the modern period
• 
  Alison Chino

  I have been following Jemar Tisby's work for a couple of years now and have been eagerly anticipating the release of his new book The Color of Compromise so when calls went out for advance readers I raised my hand high I've been digesting the book slowly for a few weeks and here is what most amazes me I have been reading and studying America's racial past for a while now but this specific history of the American church's leading role in maintaining racism has been for the most part previously unknown to me I think that there is a part of my heart that felt that all true followers of Jesus during the colonial era were abolitionists Not true  And I certainly thought that all abolitionists were free of racism Also not trueI thought that white churches during the Civil Rights Movement were either supportive or silent but I was surprised to discover that segregation was both preached from the pulpit and used as a core founding principle for the Religious Right It was not abortion that bound the Moral Majority together but rather move to establish private schools in order flee integrated onesUnderstanding the ways that racism has evolved since the slavery has repeatedly brought me to my knees in lament Reading that the church and many Christian leaders have lent their overwhelming support to that evolution is a whole new level of devastating I read A LOT of history because I think that it's important The parts of our history that we don't know or the stories we sweep under the carpet are the bits that come back to bite us Also reading history keeps me from naively believing the many false narratives that pervade our thinking about The Land of the FreeAnd so it follows that for a Christian reading and knowing the history of the American church's complicity in maintaining a racist society is the only way to begin to break the cycle of that complicityIt's been a long sad slog of complicity but Jemar Tisby graciously tells it under 300 pages stating himself that it is a historical survey rather than a comprehensive treatment Also he reminds us from the very beginning that it is his love of the church that compels him to tell this truth He is not writing from the perspective of someone who written off the church but as someone who wants to see a better day in the American church He maintains hope that we can still seek unity across racial and ethnic lines that we can still see God's kingdom come But first like the people of Israel who mourned when Ezra read them the word they had forgotten and forsaken we have some reckoning to do We cannot gloss over the sins of the past or we will continue to allow their subtle forms in the present Jemar closes the book with a chapter full of practical ways to address current racial injustice in America because when we know how hard those who have gone before us have worked to erect racial barriers surely we will want to know how to do the work of taking them down Here's a paragraph from the book that will continue to inspire and admonish me in the days aheadAlthough our eternal peace is secure a diverse but unified body of Christ will only come through struggle in this life A survey of the history of racism and the church shows that the story is worse than most imagine Christianity in America has been tied to the fallacy fo white supremacy for hundreds of years European colonists brought with them the ideas of white superiority and paternalism toward darker skinned people On this sandy foundation they erected a society and religion that could only survive through the subjugation of people of color Minor repairs by the weekend warrior racial reconcilers won't fix a flawed foundation The church needs the Carpenter from Nazareth to deconstruct the house that racism built and remake it into a house for all nations Amen
• 
  Jeffrey

  Oh JemarI want so badly to empathize with you And largely you just about had me Within a historically agnostic bubble this would be a good survey of the racist evils that have carried the American society since Columbus landed However we have some big problems with this work“The failure of many Christians in the South and across the nation to decisively oppose the racism in their families communities and even in their own churches provided fertile soil for the seeds of hatred to grow The refusal to act in the midst of injustice is itself an act of injustice Indifference to oppression perpetuates oppression History and Scripture teaches us that there can be no reconciliation without repentance There can be no repentance without confession And there can be no confession without truth”If you and I were to take these words from the very first chapter and apply the normal usage of the terms being used as Christians we would 100% agree I fully agree with this statement as written using the words as they are normally definedYes Christians have failed if they do not call out racism when it is seen and denounce it as the evil it is sin If we have people in society that specifically harbor this sin specifically the discriminatory hatred towards another human being purely because of their skin color and thereby let that person oppress those he hates we allow true hatred to germinate grow and blossom into full blown injustice Being indifferent to the sin of racism when encountered and not engaged when seen is sin I would think any Christian would say the same and would denounce other real injustices in society along with racism abortion sexism prostitution corruption etc Jemar is also correct insofar that the normal usage of the terms are employed there is no true reconciliation without repentance One cannot be reconciled to God nor to man if there is no regeneration and repentance and that comes by confessing sin and confessing Christ as Lord that can only be done by being exposed to the truthI just really wish Jemar said exactly what I stated in the previous paragraph If you continue in the book you’ll encounter this nugget “What do we mean when we talk about racism? Beverly Daniel Tatum provides a shorthand definition racism is a system of oppression based on race Notice Tatum’s emphasis on systemic oppression Racism can operate through impersonal systems and not simply through the malicious words and actions of individuals Another definition explains racism as prejudice plus power It is not only personal bigotry toward someone of a different race that constitutes racism; rather racism includes the imposition of bigoted ideas on groups of people In light of these definitions it is accurate to say that many white people have been complicit with racism”I am a second generation Asian American that grew up in white Appalachia I had little interaction with black Americans and the interactions I did have was always positive My barber for many years as a child was a black man and he was the coolest cat you’ll ever meet But given Jemar’s insistence of having racism be defined by sociology and not by Scripture “in light of these definitions it is accurate to say that” I a second generation Asian American that grew up in White Appalachia have been complicit with racism This is objectively wrong Substitute “black American” with “peg legged midgets that identify as unicorns” or “pedophiles” and I would be complicit in “racism” Absolute absurdity In case you don’t know who Beverly Daniel Tatum is just start strolling through Jemar’s footnotes and you’ll see what he relies upon to define his worldview Marxism Tatum’s work is submerged within RIDT which is just a precursor to today’s CRT all built upon Critical Theory as espoused by Columbia’s Frankfurt School Ironically Jemar writes “The people who will reject this book will level several common objections What stands out about these complains is not their originality or persuasiveness but their ubiuity throughout history The same arguments that perpetuated racial ineuality in decades past get recycled in the present day Critics will assert that the ideas in The Color of Compromise should be disregarded because they are too ‘liberal’ They will claim that a Marxist Communist ideology underlies all the talk about racial euality They will contend that such an extended discussion of racism reduces black people to a state of helplessness and a ‘victim mentality’ They will try to point to counter examples and say that racists do not represent the ‘real’ American church They will assert that the historical facts are wrong or have been misinterpreted They will charge that this discussion of race is somehow ‘abandoning the gospel’ and replacing it with problematic calls for ‘social justice’It is up to the reader to determine whether the weight of historical evidence proves that the American church has been complicit with racism”Holy cowI’m not going to waste my time walking through the reasons that Jemar will ignore in a one star review However I will assert that “Marxist Communist ideology” a representation of the “real” American church and retconning history are all exactly what is wrong with this book and Jemar commits all of these errors Race has been defined the way that CRT and ultimately Marxism defines race POWER An articulation of sin ontology and theology proper are not intimated in this work but general talk of “racial reconciliation” and “true repentance” and systemic oppression are demanded actions and adoptions by anyone who doesn’t bend the knee to the narrative History has also been retconned Newton Edwards and Whitfield are evil Robert E Lee is evil the Civil War didn’t really win the blacks anything only oppressed them because it forced integration letting whites exert MORE POWER over blacks yet the uncritical reliance and genuflecting at the altar of MLKJ who was a PAGAN and the Civil Rights Movement are the central sacraments of this work and Jemar is its priestWhat are the remedies Jemar recommends? Watch documentaries about the racial history of the United States diversify your social media feed access website and podcasts by minorities ask your black friends to explain black issues to you But awareness isn’t enough you must make black friends You must commit to action you must create things for minority communities you must be involved in some form of reparations you must celebrate Juneteenth and tear down monuments you must learn from the “black church” as opposed to the “church”? specifically black theology start new black seminaries or “diversified” seminaries host freedom schools and pilgrimages participate in #MeToo and #BLM because faith without works is deadWhy do you not see my people demand a movement for massive drug abuse and reliance in Appalachia? Where is the #HeroineHeroes movement? Why do you not see massive celebrations in May for Pacific Islander month decrying the evils of Asian slave labor to build American railroads and the internment camps during WWII?Marxism destroyed Germany and Russia in the 20th century real history if you don't baptize it in cancel culture like the rest of American history and if America isn’t careful they’ll be next The church is faced with the Isaiah 520 predicament sin is being refined and good is being redefined both as their opposites Jesus wants you to love so why shouldn’t you be involved in movements that decry racism which is now redefined? Oh your silence is complicity in “racism” making you a “racist” If you want to be a Christian now redefined as activism against “racism” then you must do xyz otherwise you aren't a “Christian” And Christians are buying the lie while Christians are trying to repent of sins they've never committed Did anyone read Ezekiel 18?This work is deception and Christians would do well to read it to know what demon doctrines clothed as ministers of light look like
• 
  Matthew Manchester

  I honestly don't know how to properly review this book and I've been trying to find words to describe what I just read Here is my pitiful attempt OVERVIEW I remember when I first read Stamped from the Beginning The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America I was horrified I knew some of racism in some of its blatant forms KKK etc but didn't grasp racist ideas and the influence power and history they hold While Ibram Kendi's book covered religion I longed for a Christian companion book that could come aside Kendi's work among others to talk about the racist ideas and the complicity with racism that the church has participated in This is that book in many ways Tisby gives the reader a short general survey of the church's complicity a keyword in this book with racism By the end Tisby gives some practical advice on how to begin fixing these problems which I found personally helpful THE GOOD This book left me speechless It's a really good and well structured book Tisby also states in the beginning that due to the large swatch of history and the shortness of the book he only covers certain events people and ideas within these pages It's almost a primer for a longer study But this primer will wreck you After reading this book I wonder how as the American church we are still using the exact same words and thoughts that we were using during slavery and Jim Crow times I know the reason we're still racist Whenever I've talked to people face to face about racism and racial reconciliation I often get the same few comments or uestions Everyone is eual now Slavery is gone and the Civil Rights era has past We're a post racial society now That's social marxism or generic terms like that Ok so what should we do? What do they want?Tisby through history and present events eviscerates these comments and uestions Honestly after reading this book I don't know how anyone without willing denying the truth could keep saying or asking the same things Tisby is clear and pointed He doesn't beat around the bush In fact when he gets to our present timehistory 1950 2018 he brings the fire I've watched the racial reconciliation movement in person and online and Tisby and his colleagues have been subject to much hatred false facts claims of heresy and turning away from the gospel among many other hateful things These people made one big mistake among manyThey tweeted Jemar Tisby wrote a bookIt's not revenge or a call out Tisby writes facts the histories and the documented conversations of many racist people that are still alive and working From Bob Jones University to the Graham family I think he handled Billy Graham masterfully From Phil Johnson to the SBC Tisby doesn't hold back showing how the church is still complicit in racismAgain I found the final chapters very helpful He gives good and hard practical information to combat racism and to grow into being an anti racist THE CHALLENGES I don't really have any problems with the book If anything I wish it was longer so it could be detailed There were moments where I wish he talked about a situation but I understand the purpose of a general historical surveyI do wish for a book that focused on all forms of racism in America but 1 I don't think a singular person could write that book and 2 I again understand the focus and restrictions the author takes I will need to read this book again and again Until current anti social justice warriors start writing books showing how the words and arguments they use don't come from racists then I'm not sure they have a leg to stand on Anyone can tweet Few have the courage persistence to research and write something that will endure than 16 hours Sadly most of them won't even take the time to read this book5 stars Side note to my Reformed followers How many books do we have to read before we realize that there are certain beliefs and connections in our reformed theology that allow for abusers and racists to stay hidden and thrive?
• 
  Lydia Anvar

  The refusal to act in the midst of injustice is itself an act of injustice Indifference to oppression perpetuates oppression Deeply convicting this book serves as a wake up call to complicit tepid Christianity Tisby walks the reader through a survey of American history starting in 1619 and going all the way up to 2017 Drawing from a plethora of Christian and secular sources he notes how much of history is white washed—down playing the real injustices black Americans were robbed of economic opportunity and even heartbreaking acknowledgement of their innate worth as an image bearer of God If you think you know a good bit about the history of black Americans this book will humble you real uickly It saddened me to see the many ways that individuals used the Bible itself to justify slavery and justify segregation A few chapters in this book were particularly hard to read as they focused on the violence and terror that white people mercilessly unleashed upon black Americans Moreover I was affronted with the fact that many American figures that we revere in our nation's history were staunch segregationalists Why do we not mention the fact that Abraham Lincoln was not in favor of social euality??This book merges historical context and Biblical truth to point out the ways that American Christians are complicit in racism towards our brothers and sisters of color even in 2020 Tisby speaks truth in love but he doesn't excuse our actions The American church has tended to practice a complicit Christianity rather than a courageous Christianity He ends his book with a call to be strong and courageous—to rely on God to give us the strength and courage to rid racism from our hearts our churches and our country
• 
  Josh Robinson

  The historical survey is fair and heartbreaking which is why I rated the book a three instead of a one The application is uite troublesome and overshadows for me personally almost everything good that Tisby has done in this work Now the reason why I find it troublesome is because Tisby uses explicitly biblical terms in his application like Jubilee and Restitution but divorces it from its historical context and entirely redefines them At a glance you may be tempted to say application doesn’t seem like a big deal considering it only takes up a small portion of the book However I’m I find the application that concerning I’m convinced that it’s not all that far off from Marxism Also Tisby anticipated this objection However anticipating it doesn’t make it any less true I have no issues with seeking biblical justice However in order for for it to truly be biblical justice the Bible has to serve as the foundation