close your eyes when I say Jesus what
picture comes to your mind now open your
eyes
does he look something like this as a
Christian and an african-american I’ve
been asked many times why I associate
myself with the white man’s religion but
my response is that religion doesn’t
have a race there is no form that
requires you to fill in the bubble for
your ethnicity before you can become a
Christian so why is it that so many
people see color when they think of God
the answer is the devastating lack of
representation in the visuals generated
by the church Christianity is
incorrectly perceived the white man’s
religion because unconscious bias leads
to a disparity between perceived reality
and verbal messages now you may be
thinking I’m not Christian why should
the speech matter to me but the truth is
lack of representation is everywhere not
just within the church ironically
unconscious bias does not discriminate
it affects our schools our communities
our workplaces and our places of worship
if you are working to create an
inclusive atmosphere in any area of life
then my speech applies to you so let’s
get started
if you were to look up Adam and Eve or
Jesus on Google Images the majority of
the photos would look like this these
characters have been depicted as white
Europeans for hundreds of years but is
there anything in the foundations of the
Christian faith to justify this to
investigate I went to the Bible the very
first book is Genesis which is where the
story of Adam and Eve takes place
Genesis to 10 through 14 states that a
river went out from Eden to water the
garden from there it divided and became
the source of 4 rivers the third river
is the Tigris which runs east of Assyria
and the fourth River is the Euphrates
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were in
a location called mess
tinea theologians believe that it is
based on this evidence that the Garden
of Eden was in Iraq in the Middle East
if we look at Jesus’s birth place we see
a similar pattern the Book of Luke
writes that Joseph went with his wife
Mary into the City of David the town of
Bethlehem in order to be registered
along with all of his people while they
were there Mary gave birth to his son
and his name was Jesus Bethlehem borders
the Gaza Strip on the left side which is
in Egypt which is in Africa biblical
evidence shows that these major stories
which make up the cushion faith actually
take place in Northeast Africa and
Western Asia not in Europe so if not
from the Bible then right is this
misconception come from that
Christianity is primarily the white
man’s religion this incorrect perception
is caused by an overwhelming lack of
diversity in the Christian mission field
in order to reach those who may be
hearing their message for the first time
missionaries intentionally go to
countries where people know little about
their religion therefore they’re
perceived as a sample group for
Christians everywhere and if the only
missionaries one sees are white it is
perfectly logical to assume that all
missionaries are white and that it is
therefore primarily the white man’s
religion let’s look at some examples
these are three teams from local
churches who went to Kenya Nicaragua and
Haiti this past year let’s take a closer
this is my mission team we were only in
Haiti for eight days but I found myself
wishing that I could stay forever I fell
in love with the bright colored
buildings the vendors riding donkeys on
their way to the market the joy of
calling to strangers in the street
bonesaw good afternoon the red dirt that
I could taste between my teeth and feel
between my toes after playing games with
little kids in the dirt and the call of
roosters
waking me up at four o’clock in the
morning so I could watch the Sun rise
over the mountains Haiti is a beautiful
country and we were there not just to
admire the scenery but to tell people
about Jesus in order to do this we used
a wordless picture book to overcome the
language barrier between us in the
Haitians this is the very same book that
we used and on every page Jesus is
depicted as white I noticed this while
we were training for our trip but I
didn’t want to bring any attention to
race because out of the 22 students and
leaders on my team I was the only one
who wasn’t white therefore I convinced
myself then maybe I was just
overreacting
and the color of our cartoon biblical
characters wasn’t really that important
but I soon saw the danger of this lack
of visual representation we shared this
white book with a black man on the side
of a dirt road he listened intently to
what we were saying and when we finished
he said I understand your story why is
Jesus white and we said he’s not worth
Jesus has no race and he said then why
have you drawn him is white and there
was nothing we could say ultimately he
rejected Christianity because he didn’t
see himself represented in our story and
this was not the only way that we
witnessed the lack of visual
while we were in Haiti my team visited
an organization set up by missionaries
from Minnesota that provides education
for Haitian youth the leader of the
school introduced us to some of her
students before informing us that most
of them would have to quit school in the
following year so that they could get
jobs to provide for their families a
common saying he or she said is that the
Haitian dreams for the block these kids
have gone dependent on white
missionaries to survive
her words broke my heart for as long as
I can remember I have been surrounded by
successful black lawyers missionaries
entrepreneurs and corporate leaders
their presence alone showed me that I
was capable of creating a future for
myself this vital catalyst for success
believing that you can be successful was
taken from the Haitian kids and the fact
that they saw primarily white
missionaries after an earthquake struck
Haiti in 2010 a USA Today article noted
that over 10,000 non-government
organizations flooded the nation in
order to help including churches
volunteer teams and charities that
consisted mostly of white affluent
Americans while the works that they were
doing was incredibly helpful their
overall presence showed the Haitian
children that they would never be able
to provide for themselves and that they
would always be the ones in need there
was no one to show them and they could
want me to be successful and support
themselves regardless of your religious
viewpoint please hear me when I say that
what people see when they look at you
will always speak louder than your words
while unconscious bias is a very complex
and difficult issue to solve we can
begin to tackle this particular facet
concerning the lack of visual
representation in three steps first do
your research it is impossible for one
person truly and accurately depict
multiple and diverse perspectives with
only their own experiences to draw from
we have to educate ourselves on the
ideas we wish to portray on our visuals
before we make them any good English
teacher will tell you that you need more
than one valid source to write a good
essay the same principle applies in the
case of Christianity we have already
examined that there is no evidence in
the Bible for all of its characters to
be portrayed as white this information
is easily accessible Christians simply
need to choose to actively educate
themselves on the images that they wish
to portray rather than using their own
experiences as the only source for their
visual representation second check your
work because unconscious bias is by
nature unconscious there is no way for
any of us to actively and accurately
identify our own personal prejudices
we need the outside opinions and sober
judgment of other people with different
perspectives to evaluate our images to
revisit my experience in Haiti the
unconscious bias of our where this book
prevented us from truly and passionately
advancing the message that we were
trying to portray in our visuals had we
actively pursued outside opinions while
we were still creating our visuals our
unconscious bias could have been
identified and so many conflicts would
have been avoided finally be intentional
in order to truly root out unconscious
bias we have to be intentional in
creating a space where people feel safe
enough to voice their opinions without
fear of consequence let me give you an
example
I’ve been running on the Edina girls
track team for two years now it is by
far one of the most inclusive and
rewarding activities I participated in
so far at the high school through
personalized notes on our lockers before
meats and encouraging speeches our
coaches inspire us to run after our
goals and do our best in addition to
this the captains and leaders all work
hard to create an environment where
people people feel safe enough to make
new friends and meet new people there’s
a lot of intention that goes into making
the track team an inclusive environment
this year our coaches wanted to try
something new to further of lift our
team they created a mascot Edna she was
similar to an American Girl doll when
our coach first introduced her to us she
held her out in front of the group and
said this doll represents every single
runner jumper and thrower on our team we
have girls of all different sizes and
body types and raceless on our team one
look at these pictures would tell you
that visually and it does not represent
every single athlete on our team the
idea of a team mascot still worked
really well but after talking with some
of the other athletes I found that I
wasn’t the only one who noticed that
Edna didn’t visually represent us as a
whole fortunately my coaches conducted
anonymous survey at the end of each
season to discuss things that well
things that went well and things that
didn’t without any fear of consequence
this allows me the freedom to redress
issues like a lack of visual
representation or unconscious bias
without worrying about whether or not I
will lose my spot next year
something as simple as this can serve as
therefore this is a serious issue that
needs to be addressed then not enough
people are talking about and although it
can be daunting to address the lack of
visual representation it is vital that
we do confront it had I found the
courage to talk to my mission team about
my apprehension concerning our way this
book while we were still in training
again a lot of conflicts could have been
avoided therefore the question is not
should we address unconscious bias but
rather how do we address it
it requires respect from both parties
you cannot point out an issue like the
lack of visual representation with the
intent of just shaming someone else in
making a scene rather you have to want
to move forward and actively look for a
solution alternatively when people
approach you in a respectful attempt to
address a lack of visual representation
don’t get defensive and don’t get
offended
instead when they feel safe enough to
come to you recognize the opportunity
for growth in conclusion lack of visual
representation causes damage and
communities across the globe it creates
a divide between those who see
themselves and those who don’t but it
doesn’t have to unconscious bias may
feel like too big of a fight for us to
take on but you have so much power at
your fingertips the next time you make a
PowerPoint presentation or a video or
sign or a poster you have a choice to
make it could be as simple as choosing a
different stock photo because our
visuals really do carry that much weight
will you join me in raising awareness by
correcting the lack of representation in
our visuals or will you close your eyes
and refuse to see what’s right in front
of you thank you
you
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]
picture comes to your mind now open your
eyes
does he look something like this as a
Christian and an african-american I’ve
been asked many times why I associate
myself with the white man’s religion but
my response is that religion doesn’t
have a race there is no form that
requires you to fill in the bubble for
your ethnicity before you can become a
Christian so why is it that so many
people see color when they think of God
the answer is the devastating lack of
representation in the visuals generated
by the church Christianity is
incorrectly perceived the white man’s
religion because unconscious bias leads
to a disparity between perceived reality
and verbal messages now you may be
thinking I’m not Christian why should
the speech matter to me but the truth is
lack of representation is everywhere not
just within the church ironically
unconscious bias does not discriminate
it affects our schools our communities
our workplaces and our places of worship
if you are working to create an
inclusive atmosphere in any area of life
then my speech applies to you so let’s
get started
if you were to look up Adam and Eve or
Jesus on Google Images the majority of
the photos would look like this these
characters have been depicted as white
Europeans for hundreds of years but is
there anything in the foundations of the
Christian faith to justify this to
investigate I went to the Bible the very
first book is Genesis which is where the
story of Adam and Eve takes place
Genesis to 10 through 14 states that a
river went out from Eden to water the
garden from there it divided and became
the source of 4 rivers the third river
is the Tigris which runs east of Assyria
and the fourth River is the Euphrates
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were in
a location called mess
tinea theologians believe that it is
based on this evidence that the Garden
of Eden was in Iraq in the Middle East
if we look at Jesus’s birth place we see
a similar pattern the Book of Luke
writes that Joseph went with his wife
Mary into the City of David the town of
Bethlehem in order to be registered
along with all of his people while they
were there Mary gave birth to his son
and his name was Jesus Bethlehem borders
the Gaza Strip on the left side which is
in Egypt which is in Africa biblical
evidence shows that these major stories
which make up the cushion faith actually
take place in Northeast Africa and
Western Asia not in Europe so if not
from the Bible then right is this
misconception come from that
Christianity is primarily the white
man’s religion this incorrect perception
is caused by an overwhelming lack of
diversity in the Christian mission field
in order to reach those who may be
hearing their message for the first time
missionaries intentionally go to
countries where people know little about
their religion therefore they’re
perceived as a sample group for
Christians everywhere and if the only
missionaries one sees are white it is
perfectly logical to assume that all
missionaries are white and that it is
therefore primarily the white man’s
religion let’s look at some examples
these are three teams from local
churches who went to Kenya Nicaragua and
Haiti this past year let’s take a closer
this is my mission team we were only in
Haiti for eight days but I found myself
wishing that I could stay forever I fell
in love with the bright colored
buildings the vendors riding donkeys on
their way to the market the joy of
calling to strangers in the street
bonesaw good afternoon the red dirt that
I could taste between my teeth and feel
between my toes after playing games with
little kids in the dirt and the call of
roosters
waking me up at four o’clock in the
morning so I could watch the Sun rise
over the mountains Haiti is a beautiful
country and we were there not just to
admire the scenery but to tell people
about Jesus in order to do this we used
a wordless picture book to overcome the
language barrier between us in the
Haitians this is the very same book that
we used and on every page Jesus is
depicted as white I noticed this while
we were training for our trip but I
didn’t want to bring any attention to
race because out of the 22 students and
leaders on my team I was the only one
who wasn’t white therefore I convinced
myself then maybe I was just
overreacting
and the color of our cartoon biblical
characters wasn’t really that important
but I soon saw the danger of this lack
of visual representation we shared this
white book with a black man on the side
of a dirt road he listened intently to
what we were saying and when we finished
he said I understand your story why is
Jesus white and we said he’s not worth
Jesus has no race and he said then why
have you drawn him is white and there
was nothing we could say ultimately he
rejected Christianity because he didn’t
see himself represented in our story and
this was not the only way that we
witnessed the lack of visual
while we were in Haiti my team visited
an organization set up by missionaries
from Minnesota that provides education
for Haitian youth the leader of the
school introduced us to some of her
students before informing us that most
of them would have to quit school in the
following year so that they could get
jobs to provide for their families a
common saying he or she said is that the
Haitian dreams for the block these kids
have gone dependent on white
missionaries to survive
her words broke my heart for as long as
I can remember I have been surrounded by
successful black lawyers missionaries
entrepreneurs and corporate leaders
their presence alone showed me that I
was capable of creating a future for
myself this vital catalyst for success
believing that you can be successful was
taken from the Haitian kids and the fact
that they saw primarily white
missionaries after an earthquake struck
Haiti in 2010 a USA Today article noted
that over 10,000 non-government
organizations flooded the nation in
order to help including churches
volunteer teams and charities that
consisted mostly of white affluent
Americans while the works that they were
doing was incredibly helpful their
overall presence showed the Haitian
children that they would never be able
to provide for themselves and that they
would always be the ones in need there
was no one to show them and they could
want me to be successful and support
themselves regardless of your religious
viewpoint please hear me when I say that
what people see when they look at you
will always speak louder than your words
while unconscious bias is a very complex
and difficult issue to solve we can
begin to tackle this particular facet
concerning the lack of visual
representation in three steps first do
your research it is impossible for one
person truly and accurately depict
multiple and diverse perspectives with
only their own experiences to draw from
we have to educate ourselves on the
ideas we wish to portray on our visuals
before we make them any good English
teacher will tell you that you need more
than one valid source to write a good
essay the same principle applies in the
case of Christianity we have already
examined that there is no evidence in
the Bible for all of its characters to
be portrayed as white this information
is easily accessible Christians simply
need to choose to actively educate
themselves on the images that they wish
to portray rather than using their own
experiences as the only source for their
visual representation second check your
work because unconscious bias is by
nature unconscious there is no way for
any of us to actively and accurately
identify our own personal prejudices
we need the outside opinions and sober
judgment of other people with different
perspectives to evaluate our images to
revisit my experience in Haiti the
unconscious bias of our where this book
prevented us from truly and passionately
advancing the message that we were
trying to portray in our visuals had we
actively pursued outside opinions while
we were still creating our visuals our
unconscious bias could have been
identified and so many conflicts would
have been avoided finally be intentional
in order to truly root out unconscious
bias we have to be intentional in
creating a space where people feel safe
enough to voice their opinions without
fear of consequence let me give you an
example
I’ve been running on the Edina girls
track team for two years now it is by
far one of the most inclusive and
rewarding activities I participated in
so far at the high school through
personalized notes on our lockers before
meats and encouraging speeches our
coaches inspire us to run after our
goals and do our best in addition to
this the captains and leaders all work
hard to create an environment where
people people feel safe enough to make
new friends and meet new people there’s
a lot of intention that goes into making
the track team an inclusive environment
this year our coaches wanted to try
something new to further of lift our
team they created a mascot Edna she was
similar to an American Girl doll when
our coach first introduced her to us she
held her out in front of the group and
said this doll represents every single
runner jumper and thrower on our team we
have girls of all different sizes and
body types and raceless on our team one
look at these pictures would tell you
that visually and it does not represent
every single athlete on our team the
idea of a team mascot still worked
really well but after talking with some
of the other athletes I found that I
wasn’t the only one who noticed that
Edna didn’t visually represent us as a
whole fortunately my coaches conducted
anonymous survey at the end of each
season to discuss things that well
things that went well and things that
didn’t without any fear of consequence
this allows me the freedom to redress
issues like a lack of visual
representation or unconscious bias
without worrying about whether or not I
will lose my spot next year
something as simple as this can serve as
therefore this is a serious issue that
needs to be addressed then not enough
people are talking about and although it
can be daunting to address the lack of
visual representation it is vital that
we do confront it had I found the
courage to talk to my mission team about
my apprehension concerning our way this
book while we were still in training
again a lot of conflicts could have been
avoided therefore the question is not
should we address unconscious bias but
rather how do we address it
it requires respect from both parties
you cannot point out an issue like the
lack of visual representation with the
intent of just shaming someone else in
making a scene rather you have to want
to move forward and actively look for a
solution alternatively when people
approach you in a respectful attempt to
address a lack of visual representation
don’t get defensive and don’t get
offended
instead when they feel safe enough to
come to you recognize the opportunity
for growth in conclusion lack of visual
representation causes damage and
communities across the globe it creates
a divide between those who see
themselves and those who don’t but it
doesn’t have to unconscious bias may
feel like too big of a fight for us to
take on but you have so much power at
your fingertips the next time you make a
PowerPoint presentation or a video or
sign or a poster you have a choice to
make it could be as simple as choosing a
different stock photo because our
visuals really do carry that much weight
will you join me in raising awareness by
correcting the lack of representation in
our visuals or will you close your eyes
and refuse to see what’s right in front
of you thank you
you
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]
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