David W. Swanson

Pastor and Author

White Men in Leadership: A Response

As soon as I posted “On being a white man in leadership” on Sunday I emailed Christina Martinez (see Christina’s bio below) and asked if she’d be willing to read it over and write a response.  Christina is a co-worker in mission at New Community Covenant Church and someone whose insight and instincts I highly respect.  I appreciate Christina’s willingness to push this conversation further along and hope some of you will respond to her thoughts.

Let me first say that I don’t think that I (as a white, Cuban American who is light skinned and most often assumed to be white) have too much ‘authority’ to speak to these questions, but I’ll give you my initial thoughts nonetheless. I think that IzumiBayani makes valid and important points on both accounts. Taking into consideration his background, I would be interested in what he sees his role to be in leadership as I think his background (as my own sometimes does) provides him an opportunity to vacillate between roles and ‘groups’ making a significant impact. I think your first question is interesting, because I think oftentimes, the leadership that IzumiBayani speaks of tends to be to more homogenous communities, rather than diverse ones. Many factors affect the validity of IzumiBayani’s view that a white man “can’t be a dominant leader in a social justice movement.” I believe trust is a huge factor that affects this. If a white man comes in as ‘the leader’ to a community of color, trust is not and would not be automatic and would take a long time to build. Coming in as a ‘dominant leader’ could possibly erode the trust further, making it even more difficult for the white man to begin building trust. Even in a diverse community, trust is a factor and relationships between both the white man leader and the people of color whom he is leading as well as relationships between white people and people of color (whom he is leading) would need to occur in order to slowly build the trust necessary for redemptive and liberating leadership that could benefit others.

I have heard an example of a white man attending a predominately black church, and the white man being asked to join the all black preaching staff of the church, to which he was extremely hesitant. It took a lot of humility and mentoring (from the black preaching staff) and grace from the congregation to allow this leadership to occur, but it did and was fruitful. I think the difference I identify, though, is that he was invited to be on the staff and in a place of leadership after having built relationships and trust, and it was not something that he sought. I’m not sure that it’s wise to have a white man begin in leadership in something new, and that maybe that would be OK and accepted and helpful/beneficial to everyone if it occurs after relationships, trust, understanding, etc have been built to the extent that the white man is asked to step into that role.

I think part of equipping and empowering others for leadership requires one to encourage those who are a part of a certain community to take leadership within the community. Dr. Wayne Gordon’s 8 Components of Christian Community Development (Relocation, Reconciliation, Redistribution, Leadership Development, Listening to Community, Church-Based, Holistic Approach, and Empowerment; http://www.ccda.org/philosophy) come to mind in this conversation and seem especially important for a white-man in leadership with a diverse community.

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– About Christina Martinez: I am a white, Cuban American Resident Director who cares about learning more about and engaging in diversity and feel I have a responsibility to speak and act against injustice and oppression, especially as a white person, though I am still learning what that means in both ideology and practice.

David Swanson

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One response to “White Men in Leadership: A Response”

  1. Akiko Avatar
    Akiko

    When I saw David’s post, I wanted to write my thoughts to him. I agree with building trust and earning the invitation to the community is critical in any successful missions. I often witnessed that “white men” telling communities that what the community is doing is pretty much all wrong and they need the “white men’s help” to be better. That approach made me feel that we are not treated equally, we are below them, because we need their help. I believe those “white men” did not mean to be that way and meant well. But sometimes, its good to see things from someone else’s view.

    Whatever the case maybe, there got to be something the community is doing right. We are all human. I know its simple. But by;
    1) Carefully listening to what community has to say, no matter how insignificant a person might seem to you, and,
    2) Finding out what we are (the community is) doing it right and
    3) Recognizing we are “people,” too. It seems this is the hardest part…. We love our families just like others do. We eat food, etc. For some reason, our feelings or dignity seems less respected. In any case;
    In my mind, those are the things I wish “white men” did/does.

    Among the great memories and fantastic opportunities, there were few moments of “white men” situations in my own life. While I was at college, I wish if I could go into missions field. But it seemed that I could not even have one of my friend to listen to what I wanted to say. No matter how I tried. It seemed things what I say got taken out of context, twisted, spin, and I felt that some of them are putting words in my mouth, completely painting a different picture of who I am. Just to fit what they considered who “I ought to be.” I was even interviewed by couple of other students for their class papers for Religion classes. What they wanted was to find what they wanted to say in these papers in me. When they came to me, they already knew the answer, what they wanted to write, how the paper would be written. Instead of really interviewing me and listening to what I had to say.

    See, I could not even speak to someone like that. I am not good at trying to get into missions field. But you are in it. My hope is that you have a heart to listen and see a person instead of a project that need to be categorized, managed and changed. Instead of handing things down, be on the same level. I believe God did not approach anyone as a project. I believe God loved us in the beginning no matter what and cared about us. That’s how I want to believe.

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