Is racism an addiction and a disease? Is the first step to recovering from racism admitting you have a racism problem?
A white church leader in North Carolina has partnered with a local woman to approach the problem that way, hosting weekly Racists Anonymous meetings modeled after 12-step programs that help people deal with alcohol, drugs, overeating and sex addiction. The group's creation, in part at least, seems to have been spurred by recent police shootings.
Rev. Nathan King of Trinity United Church of Christ in Concord, N.C. tells WCNC-TV that the group began after, "It seemed like every week we were coming into worship and we were doing another prayer because someone had been killed in the street. ... It's to deal with the racism within ourselves and to eliminate the racism within ourselves."
The group reportedly sits in a circle of chairs, drinks coffee, and introduces themselves by first name before saying, "and I'm a racist."
The group even posted its own 12 steps toward recovery from racism to the church's Facebook page in order to clarify its mission. They include the first step, "I have come to admit that I am powerless over my addiction to racism in ways I am unable to recognize fully, let alone manage," and the second step, "I believe that only a power greater than me can restore me in my humanness to the non-racist creature as God designed me to be."
The final step includes a promise to "share this message with other race addicts as I seek to practice these principles in all my affairs."
King himself admits the difficulty of discussing something that "may not be the first thing you want to talk about at the table at the Thanksgiving dinner with your family," admitting, "From day to day, I find myself in that place of racism."
