Critical Race Theory and Dawn Raids Apology

Good Morning and Welcome to this week’s Gospel and Culture update, by Alan Vink
Critical Race Theory and Dawn Raids Apology
Monday 2nd August 2021

Critical Race Theory (CRT)

I am a middle class white male. I have been all my life. My family roots are in Holland but I was born in Wellington, New Zealand 2 years after my parents immigrated. I am very grateful for my family background, the entrepreneurship, the commitment my parents had to a good education for their four children and the commitment they made to follow Christ when I was 6 years old at ‘The Park’ in 1959 when Billy Graham was in town. It changed everything.

One of my good friends at high school was a Maori boy. He was a funny guy and very good at sport. Sometimes I wished I was like him. I can still remember visiting him at his home and meeting his parents. They were equally as nice.

Then as a teenager I remember Dad taking us to the Wellington Town hall on a Sunday afternoon to hear a Black Preacher from the States, Tom Skinner. The old Town Hall was packed and I remember to this day the impact Tom Skinner had on me. Then a few years later I heard our very own Evangelist Muri Thompson preach. I was mesmerised.

I was just 15 when Dr Martin Luther King died and I remember the shock and sadness I felt all around me. At that time I hadn’t heard about his famous ‘I Have A Dream’ speech but my goodness I have been so inspired by it during my adult life. It’s one of those speeches that could easily be in the Bible itself. It is truly powerful.

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today”.

Honestly, when I read this speech again early this morning I could feel myself getting emotional. That’s exactly how our world should be……you nailed it Dr King!

And then during the late 90’s and into the early 2000’s I had the massive privilege of having a Maori couple serve alongside me as Elders and Music leaders at Hamilton Central Baptist Church. Tania and Steve became like a brother and sister to me and Jeanette and to this day I love these folks dearly. They exemplified amongst other things kindness and understanding and in their unique and special way helped my four sons develop a positive image of our indigenous peoples. Our oldest son married a Maori girl.

I say all this to say this. I am still dismayed and upset that when I was at high school that I was offered French, Latin or Esperanto - for crying out loud - as language options and not Maori. When I showed up at History class it was the World Wars, American and European History that we were dished up and very scant reference to New Zealand history, The Treaty and bi-culturalism. I am so upset that some (maybe many) Maori children had their names ‘anglicised’ because that would be less disadvantageous for them. And that’s just for starters.

So I am one Christian leader that does believe that there has been systemic racism in NZ…….yes I do. However, that said I don’t think that the new push to address this injustice called Critical Race Theory is right either. In fact I am deeply troubled by some of its underlying assumptions. To be honest I deeply resent that proponents of CRT are wanting to tell me that I am a racist simply because I am a middle class white guy. That’s outrageous!

There is so much more to say about this but for now can I urge you to take 12 minutes and listen to this excellent talk by Justin Giboney at The Gospel Coalition called, “The Lies That Serve Us: Christians and Critical Race Theory”.

Dawn Raids

I so hope you will listen to our Prime Ministers apology given humbly and ever so sincerely yesterday at the Auckland Town Hall for the 'hurt and distress of racially targeted policies’ of the 70’s toward our Pacifica peoples. It’s a stunning 15 minute speech.

Alan Vink is currently the Executive Director for LeadershipWorx. Prior to this role he has been the Executive Director of Willow Creek Association NZ (WillowNZ), a Baptist pastor (23 years), Bible College teacher, and church consultant.