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US: The Resurrection of American Terror
“The white racist has ruled the world for a long time, and the crises we are undergoing now are involved with the fact that the habits of power are not only extremely hard to lose; they are as tenacious as some incurable disease.” — James Baldwin
In this heart-wrenching yet stubbornly hopeful narrative, Evangelical Lutheran pastor Kenneth Wheeler exposes white supremacy as America's greatest threat. Transcending the boundaries of memoir, scholarship, theology, and sharp political critique, Pastor Wheeler takes readers on his own seven-decade-long journey that lays bare the terror of being Black in America. From his childhood in Jackson, Mississippi under the trauma of Jim Crow segregation to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Wheeler steadily holds a mirror up to a nation drowning in a rising tide of white supremacy.
This is a come-to-Jesus book in every sense of that phrase. Grounded in scripture and engaging in scholarly conversation with voices such as Isabel Wilkerson and James Cone, Wheeler demonstrates how the wound of white supremacy fundamentally diminishes all of our humanity.
“US” offers a deeply vulnerable and piercing portrait of the human toll of white supremacy and points to the Cross as a place of hope and reconciliation. This is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the toxic and deadly interplay between race, nationalism, and Christianity in America.
Intentionally resistant to providing cheap answers or an easy blueprint for the way forward, Wheeler instead uses his prophetic voice to call on white Christians in particular to engage in the deeply personal yet collective work of facing ourselves in order to turn away from who we have become. It is only from this place of seeing who we are, he argues, that we can hope to reclaim the fullness of our humanity and embrace what it means to be people created in the image of God.
“There are some things if you are white in America that you will never have to think about, worry about, or have fears about. This is the power and privilege of white supremacy.” — The Reverend Kenneth W. Wheeler
In this heart-wrenching yet stubbornly hopeful narrative, Evangelical Lutheran pastor Kenneth Wheeler exposes white supremacy as America's greatest threat. Transcending the boundaries of memoir, scholarship, theology, and sharp political critique, Pastor Wheeler takes readers on his own seven-decade-long journey that lays bare the terror of being Black in America. From his childhood in Jackson, Mississippi under the trauma of Jim Crow segregation to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Wheeler steadily holds a mirror up to a nation drowning in a rising tide of white supremacy.
This is a come-to-Jesus book in every sense of that phrase. Grounded in scripture and engaging in scholarly conversation with voices such as Isabel Wilkerson and James Cone, Wheeler demonstrates how the wound of white supremacy fundamentally diminishes all of our humanity.
“US” offers a deeply vulnerable and piercing portrait of the human toll of white supremacy and points to the Cross as a place of hope and reconciliation. This is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the toxic and deadly interplay between race, nationalism, and Christianity in America.
Intentionally resistant to providing cheap answers or an easy blueprint for the way forward, Wheeler instead uses his prophetic voice to call on white Christians in particular to engage in the deeply personal yet collective work of facing ourselves in order to turn away from who we have become. It is only from this place of seeing who we are, he argues, that we can hope to reclaim the fullness of our humanity and embrace what it means to be people created in the image of God.
“There are some things if you are white in America that you will never have to think about, worry about, or have fears about. This is the power and privilege of white supremacy.” — The Reverend Kenneth W. Wheeler
276 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 28, 2022
15 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 7, 2023
Referencing both the history of white supremacy in the United States, and his personal experiences with racism during his life as a Black Christian and ordained minister in the ELCA, Rev. Wheeler offers a persuasive and important challenge to white Christians, and particularly those (like me) who are members of predominantly (or solely) white congregations and/or denominations.
December 9, 2022
I found the book compelling and challenging as a practicing white Christian. The author, whom I’ve known for over 40 years, weaves together his story and the story of not just racism, but of white supremacy in the history of this country. And he isn’t just speaking of the past, but the present as well. He makes a forceful and convincing argument that in this country, “The cancer of white supremacy is as deep as it is dangerous.”
He lays out what that meant for him and his family growing up in Jackson, Mississippi in the time of Jim Crow. He tells of his trip to the zoo with his mom after a day of shopping. He was 8 years old and he saw the evil and ugliness of Jim Crow in the person of a white police officer who assaulted his mom for being too slow to give up their seat on a bench for a white mom with a child.
Ken reveals what it was like to be a black pastor in the whitest denomination in America. He and I were both pastors in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Like a prophet right out of the biblical narrative Ken calls us to face the truth when it comes to white supremacy. It is present in our country and in our churches. It was a reality he faced over and over again in his service to the church.
Ken challenges us to know just how dangerous this time is, using examples from his own experience in the church and for what passes as our national discourse in these days of Donald Trump and the January 6th insurrection. He speaks how portions of the greater church has been and continues to be co-opted by white supremest dogma. As he has always been, Ken is a truth teller.
He admits to being angry and he cries out that we in the white community might not rush in with another pat answer, but to listen, truly listen. I can’t blame him for his anger. To bear the weight of over 400 years of oppression is a heavy load for black bodies to carry, especially considering that they didn’t sign up for it.
At the same time I see grace and love in his narrative. In spite of all that the white power structure has done and continues to do to those black bodies, he speaks of the love he has for the church he served faithfully. He is calling the church and our country to a true repentance, where grace is not cheap and meaningless, but transformative. He calls us to truly follow the teachings of Jesus.
Ken is telling us of our own responsibility for keeping white supremacy in place. He is asking white Christians to own what we own. I needed to read this book. Not just because I know Ken and know of his integrity, but I need to change and own what I own, just as this nation needs to do likewise.
I highly recommend that we all read this book!
He lays out what that meant for him and his family growing up in Jackson, Mississippi in the time of Jim Crow. He tells of his trip to the zoo with his mom after a day of shopping. He was 8 years old and he saw the evil and ugliness of Jim Crow in the person of a white police officer who assaulted his mom for being too slow to give up their seat on a bench for a white mom with a child.
Ken reveals what it was like to be a black pastor in the whitest denomination in America. He and I were both pastors in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Like a prophet right out of the biblical narrative Ken calls us to face the truth when it comes to white supremacy. It is present in our country and in our churches. It was a reality he faced over and over again in his service to the church.
Ken challenges us to know just how dangerous this time is, using examples from his own experience in the church and for what passes as our national discourse in these days of Donald Trump and the January 6th insurrection. He speaks how portions of the greater church has been and continues to be co-opted by white supremest dogma. As he has always been, Ken is a truth teller.
He admits to being angry and he cries out that we in the white community might not rush in with another pat answer, but to listen, truly listen. I can’t blame him for his anger. To bear the weight of over 400 years of oppression is a heavy load for black bodies to carry, especially considering that they didn’t sign up for it.
At the same time I see grace and love in his narrative. In spite of all that the white power structure has done and continues to do to those black bodies, he speaks of the love he has for the church he served faithfully. He is calling the church and our country to a true repentance, where grace is not cheap and meaningless, but transformative. He calls us to truly follow the teachings of Jesus.
Ken is telling us of our own responsibility for keeping white supremacy in place. He is asking white Christians to own what we own. I needed to read this book. Not just because I know Ken and know of his integrity, but I need to change and own what I own, just as this nation needs to do likewise.
I highly recommend that we all read this book!
December 8, 2022
Important and so relevant today
This book is a page turner. Pastor Wheeler ties together past history, life experiences, and current events in such a way that made it hard to put down. I know that I will be coming back to it time and again for reference. It names some awful truths about white supremacy and its frequent companion, white Christianity. I agree with the author that they need to be named before they can heal. I am a white Christian church leader and highly recommend this book to all my colleagues. This is a priceless witness of a black pastor who loves his very white church, loves it enough to speak hard, uncomfortable truths to call us back to the central message of the Jesus
This book is a page turner. Pastor Wheeler ties together past history, life experiences, and current events in such a way that made it hard to put down. I know that I will be coming back to it time and again for reference. It names some awful truths about white supremacy and its frequent companion, white Christianity. I agree with the author that they need to be named before they can heal. I am a white Christian church leader and highly recommend this book to all my colleagues. This is a priceless witness of a black pastor who loves his very white church, loves it enough to speak hard, uncomfortable truths to call us back to the central message of the Jesus
January 2, 2023
Strong, open-eyed and open-hearted call to humanity.
Spot on…Rev Wheeler’s courage to examine and share his wounding by white supremacy helps me to uncover the wounds my white body and mindset have received as well from this death-dealing system as well. His story disturbs my stasis and encourages me to continue my walk in a repentant way. None of us are free until all of us are free.
Spot on…Rev Wheeler’s courage to examine and share his wounding by white supremacy helps me to uncover the wounds my white body and mindset have received as well from this death-dealing system as well. His story disturbs my stasis and encourages me to continue my walk in a repentant way. None of us are free until all of us are free.
October 1, 2023
This book makes the evil of white supremacy very clear from the personal perspective of a pastor. Read it to understand, from a Christian perspective, why we need to recognize racism as sin. It also addresses the political sphere from a Christian perspective. Pastor Wheeler shares his own painful experiences from his boyhood and beyond to help white readers recognize how hurtful racism and white supremacy are.
May 9, 2024
Pastor Wheeler is both a compassionate pastor and a concerned American who tells it like it is. Growing up in the Jim Crow south and as a Lutheran pastor in the Midwest, he parallels his life as a Black man in the white man’s church, with the prevalence of white supremacy that is stronger than ever in our country today. I see him as a friend and a speaker of the truth!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews