Although I was raised in Southern California, my family roots are found in West Texas. So, reading our brother Mark Wallis' book was an intensely personal experience. Wherever you find your own family roots, I encourage you to get a copy of A Profound Contradiction. I am thrilled that Mark agreed to write this week's blog.
Tim Kelley
I grew up hearing that I was a descendant of Texas pioneers and a “true Texan.” My heritage in the Church of Christ movement went back to the early 1800’s. My status as a sixth generation Texan, a descendant of Dallas County Pioneers, and a seventh-generation member of the Church of Christ filled my upbringing with a rich sense of history. I had only done some casual research of my family history over the years but that changed with the events of 2020. In the fall of 2020, my wife Susan and I participated in an online small-group Bible study via Zoom led by some friends at the Southwest Church of Christ in Amarillo, Texas. The study was based upon The Color of Compromise Video Study by Jemar Tisby (available on Amazon Prime). That study was eye-opening and encouraged me to be more proactive in examining my racial history. I believed that I was in a unique position to come to grips with my own blind spots and prejudices—especially as it related to how my church and family’s record on race had been hidden and sanitized.
I engaged some professional researchers at Ancestry.com to research some of the history around two of my third great grandfathers, John B. Floyd, and Moses Mackoy. Both were from Kentucky and involved in founding Churches of Christ in Richardson, Texas, and Greenup, Kentucky. Both of them also owned enslaved Black people. The trail of my family’s history with enslaved people led all the way back to the year 1619. I grew up hearing the myth that the Floyd’s owned enslaved Black people—but that “they were happy slaves.” I had not heard any details of the Mackoy’s ownership of enslaved Black people. The research revealed some regrettable family history that I had not known. It also made me confront my own personal sins and blind spots related to race. I then decided to write a book: “A Profound Contradiction—A Racial Autobiography.”
America lives by myths that do not match up with history. The Bible does not sugarcoat history. It tells the good, the bad, and the ugly. Christians are instructed to confess their sins to one another. As Christians, we should look at well-attested historical information and learn from it.
“Slavery has always been a profound contradiction at the heart of both the United States and the American church.” …Jemar Tisby, The Color of Compromise
Many white people like to say: “I’m not a racist…racism ended when slavery ended after the Civil War.” However, racism did not end when slavery was abolished, rather, it flourished in America. The temptation for me is to throw my forefathers under the bus and pretend I am not infected by these old practices and thoughts. However, the reality is these ancestral blind spots are not extinct. They are like a virus continually mutating into variants that are fogging my vision and distorting my perceptions. We need to not just listen to things that we almost automatically agree with and even give us a dopamine hit of affirmation. We need a dose of humility, confession, and love—and expect that this may cause us to feel uncomfortable. We need to move from simplistic belief to faith. A faith that doubts, confesses, and ultimately trusts and loves.
This historical journey has been interesting and fun but has also led me to a season of lamentation. However, that season has also shown glimpses of a humbler way to approach life with more empathy for others. I learned that I don’t need to be a “Proud Texan.” Instead, I need to be aware that I am a Texan who is often blinded by pride.
Mark Wallis
