Interview: Trillia Newbell on Speaking and Writing About Race

This interview was published in Faithfully Magazine No. 2 (Fall 2017). Trillia Newbell is an author, speaker and the Director of Community Outreach for the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission (ERLC), the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Newbell is passionate about God’s heart for diversity and often speaks and writes about race. I n this Q&A, Newbell explains why she believes talking about race is inseparable from the gospel, and encourages others to speak out about the topic as well. You have blogged about choosing to speak and write about race against the advice of publishers who warned that doing so might harm your platform. Why is it important that you continue to write and speak about race, even amid pushback? I just think that race has been politicized, but it really is a church topic. We need to take it from politics, and it needs to be a part of the language of the church because God has created people (from) all nations. For me, not to talk about it seems that I would be bowing to fear, specifically in the area of politics, when this is something that God addresses throughout His Word. It’s important to me because I believe it’s important to the Lord. Otherwise, He could’ve created us without any distinctions. But He didn’t, and He said it’s good. So I think it’s something we have to address. Another reason we have to address it is because we have a sin struggle in our hearts and racism has, again, been politicized rather than talked about in the church. So we need to talk about our hearts and how we treat our fellow neighbor. If we’re supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves and we are continually divided in this area, it must be talked about because it divides the church. It doesn’t just divide the nation or countries; it divides the church so we need to talk about it. Christians who talk about race are sometimes called divisive or complaintive. How would you respond to such accusations? I’ ve heard those comments. I’ve been told, “Well, we can just ignore it.” Again, I would say that if God celebrates the nations—if every tribe, tongue and nation will be together worshipping in heaven—then we should be able to talk about this without it being a topic that we assume is either political or that we are bringing up to divide. It should be something that unites us. In Ephesians 2, we see that Jesus tore the veil of hostility—abolished in his body—and we are one new man. So this has gospel implications to talk about race and ethnicity. Secondly, I think I would probably go back and ask, “Well why wouldn’t we? Is this something you struggle with and, therefore, you don’t want to address? You don’t want to face your own sin?” D o we realize that racism—any kind of pride against another person—is actually sin? We need to name it as such. If we believe that lust and self- righteousness are sins and we address those things, we should also talk about the sin and pride of believing that you— one person—are greater than another person in the kingdom based on skin. We’ve got to talk about those things because they have great implications in the church. So me bringing up something like “racism is a sin” is only to the benefit of other believers because it’s a way of loving our neighbor. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” [Proverbs 27:6]. So if I pretend like these things are not real, then I am not loving my neighbor. Another thing is that we see throughout the history of the world that people have been divided based on skin and based on culture. It’s something that we just cannot ignore; otherwise, we are ignoring, to be frank, that we are assisting people into hell by ignoring these very real and deep and troubling sins. Someone left racist comments on one of your blog posts, and you drew attention to them on Twitter. What goes on in your head and heart when you receive racist comments? How do you process and respond to them? I typically don’t respond to racist comments from strangers who clearly don’t truly care about me or Black people in general. This particular commenter, I don’t think, was really willing to engage in a conversation. It’s different, though, when I receive a question or a comment from either someone that I know or someone who sincerely lacks understanding. There’s a difference there, and I have received racist comments that were unintentional. They didn’t realize that what they were actually saying was racially insensitive. When I am handling people like the alt-right or white supremacists, I don’t comment back to them because there’s no use. I will pray because God can do great things. That’s my first line of defense: prayer. If it’s someone I know, I’ll ask more questions just to make sure I know where they’re coming from, and then I am just not afraid to help correct. If they are going to come to me or make a comment, then I am going to try to help and correct their error. But there is a difference there. You are also Director of Community Outreach for the ERLC. What does your job entail? How does the ERLC actively engage in race-related matters? I really could sum up what I do in writing and speaking. That’s really the sum of it, and I will help develop content and think of special things that we can do within the ERLC. As for the ERLC, they’re constantly working towards racial reconciliation. We’ve hosted a national conference on racial reconciliation. We have a conference coming up in April for the 50th anniversary of MLK’s assassination in Memphis. It’s called MLK50. Dr. [Russell] Moore [president of the ERLC] has written and spoken and signed declarations. There’s probably an endless list of ways that the ERLC has engaged in this topic and continues to. This is something that Dr. Moore said is “a hill worth dying on,” and I agree 100 percent. It is a hill worth dying on, and I am grateful for his leadership in that. You were vocal on social media about the SBC’s apprehension to denounce the alt-right at its annual meeting in June. What was going through your mind as you watched the situation unfold? I was supposed to be there, but I was sick so I was not there. I was trying to figure out what was going on, and I started to see tweets about it. I kept asking, “What is going on?” I didn’t mean it like, “What are they doing?” I literally meant, “What is going on?” I was getting information just as everyone else was, and it all looked very disturbing. I guess I would say that I was disheartened at first as I was getting these reports and trying to figure out what was going on. As I learned more, I was still confused by the process, but I know some of the men on the committee. It could’ve been done better, but I think, because of procedure, it was done the way that they did it. But I think that they all would look back and say, “We could’ve done that better.” In fact, they’ve apologized profusely. Yes, I was discouraged at first, but then I was encouraged. I think, in the SBC, there’s work that we’re doing and work to be done. If it was completely solved and there was nothing going on ever, that would be an issue, but I have hope because I see that work is being done. But my hope isn’t in these men. My hope is in Jesus. They’re going to fail. They’re not going to do this perfectly, but my hope and foundation is not in them. It’s in Jesus. So that’s where I’m placing my hope and putting my faith. But I am encouraged that progress is still being made and there’s still effort taking place. You work in a predominately White space, and are married to a White man. It also seems you reach many White readers. What is your advice to Whites who want to speak about race but feel inadequate? You are inadequate. We are all, in some degree, inadequate. The moment I start to step away from talking about just Black-and-White culture and start broadening and talking about other cultures, I feel my inadequacy. I think that is an okay place to be in—to just know that there is probably a racial bias. There’s probably some sort of ignorance that’s there. What we don’t want to do is stay in that ignorance. We want to move into knowledge by getting to know people. I would start by saying, if you’re feeling inadequate, it’s probably because we are all inadequate, and we need God’s help and the knowledge of other people to help us to speak on these topics. What I would also guard against is letting that inadequacy and fear silence you. So many people don’t speak up because of fear. You’re going to get pushback. You’re going to get pushback from everyone, even those you are trying to help, which is unfortunate but true. I would say to speak up. Be bold and speak out. And celebrate the nations. Don’t just talk about racism. Also talk about the beauty of the nations. I think that is really an area where we’re just lacking. It could be a game changer. It could change the way we approach this topic if we would celebrate it more than just talking about the errors. Talk and trust the Lord. Don’t be silenced by your fear. How do you practice self-care? Stopping for a minute. If you look on my Twitter feed right now, you will see that I spent a couple of weeks addressing and talking, and now I’m pulling back so that I can think about all the other things that the Lord is doing and all the other ways that God has equipped me to walk out my faith and encourage the church. So I pull back a little while, not in my heart, but in communicating just so I can be refreshed because I am attacked every time I speak about race. So I need to get that refreshment and encouragement so that I can go back into it. Sometimes, I remind myself of what I’m talking about. There’s a reason to celebrate. There’s a reason to engage this topic beyond just correction. I think about those things. I talk about it with my kids. Our family talks about it. But pulling back a little bit after spending a couple of weeks really engaging it helps my soul and helps me to be refreshed so that I can share again when and if the Lord leads. Are there any upcoming projects that you would like to mention? I have a children’s book called God’s Very Good Idea , and it’s about the beauty of diversity. It’s about celebrating those things and teaching our kids at a very young age so I’m really excited about this book. You can pre-order it now on Amazon, and it comes out September 1.

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