Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.

[Music]

eleven years ago i wrote a book

on race called oneness embraced

tracking the both the historical

theological

biblical and spiritual elements of

issues related to race and justice and

like topics in light of all that

has occurred in our culture over the

last couple of years

it was determined to update that book

which is in process

now relative to include

a response reaction and the critique of

the more contemporary issues related to

uh what’s happening in our society today

so we’re

currently in that process as we speak

that’ll

come out in january but it’s being

worked on currently

at the core of the racial debate

today and racial conflict

and in many places animus

is the issue of critical race

theory crt

on the fourth of july they’re fire

crackers that

explode all over things are shot up into

the air

things that start off as solid

once the explosion occurs spreads

and so lights are flickering everywhere

so that

you can no longer see what was

originally launched

because what was originally launched has

exploded

this is what has happened to the issue

of

race in america and critical race theory

in particular

an explosion has occurred from an

original

uh theory that has left

everybody asking me and each other the

question

what in the world is critical race

theory

it’s hard to find a definition because

of the explosions that have occurred so

i want to give you a definition

before the explosion so that you can

grab

what we are saying it is and what

the originators of it say that it is

just a group of about five who

crafted critical race theory

and then i want to look at the explosion

that occurred that has led to the

crisis and confusion that we deal with

today

and then i want to conclude with a

biblical response

how should we as christians uh respond

to this because we ought to be people of

the truth

and so let me start with a

definition of critical race theory

before the explosion that is at its core

at its foundation

critical race theory crt is a post-civil

rights

social construct i’ll say something

about that in a moment that seeks

to demonstrate how the embedded

foundation

and filter through which racist

attitudes behavior policies

and structures have been rooted

throughout

the fabric of america american life

and systems even after those laws were

changed let me say that again

it’s a post-civil right social construct

a social construct

is where people have come together

on a conclusion about a matter

in society you can have social

constructs related to education you can

have social constructs

related to money you can have social

constructs related to uh

sexual orientation those are we we’re

facing

a social construct related to what is

being concluded

about a certain matter so this social

construct

of crt

wants to look at how unjust laws

that were racist in nature

filtered themselves into the operating

systems of the culture

so when the unjust laws filtered

themselves it became a way of life

these unjust laws

racist in nature

accrued to the benefit of one part of

the population

meaning the white race to the detriment

of another part of the population

meaning african americans and to

a lesser degree uh other minority

groups because these were laws

it was the way that things

were operating by permission

because they were laws

we all know about slavery laws and there

were many of those

many of us grew up with jim crow laws of

the south

where there were official standards

inculcated and established

that allowed one group to benefit

and another group to be disenfranchised

when the laws changed

and bad laws were made right

like the 1964 civil rights act the 1965

voters rights act when the laws

changed the

system had already been infiltrated

with the previous unrighteous laws and

unjust laws so that even though

laws changed the effect

of those laws did not automatically

end to varying degrees still today

did not change with it so the fruit

like adam’s sin carries fruit the fruit

of unrighteous laws still expressed

themselves

in the structures of society

whether they’re educational whether

they’re political

whether they are social whether they

deal with criminal justice issues

whether they’re economic because the

laws previous

affected all of society it therefore

infiltrated all of society the argument

of crt goes

so even today

many people have to struggle with

the issue of racism not because it’s a

law

but because it’s an environment that was

affected

by laws so critical race theory seeks to

track

how the legal implications

of the unjust laws

manifest themselves today

take the law for example of redlining

redlining in the 1930s was established

to

segment populations tied to location

and race and the color red which is why

it’s called red lighting was given

to predominantly african-american

communities

and a red line meant this was a

hazardous community

a hazardous community meant that

mortgages

would not be loaned out to home buyers

it meant this investment you wouldn’t

invest in a red

lined community because it was viewed as

hazardous well what that meant for those

communities that was the ability to

to buy a home to establish neighborhoods

to

get loans to put in businesses were not

allowed

well in those red line districts

what happened was generations were born

into those districts

and when generations were born into

those districts

that meant the repercussions of the red

line

was being transferred to one generation

after

another because they were locked out and

weren’t

fully allowed to participate well

redlining laws

got changed but some of the generational

influence of those laws still had effect

because the people uh who were affected

by it

were transferring that reality because

they were never able to get out of

it and they were locked into it and so

that is the concept

of of this now when the subject

of systemic racism comes up which is

where this winds up

racism tied to systems well let me let

me first define racism

uh so that we make sure we talk about

the same thing

racism i define as the conscious or

subconscious or unconscious belief

in the superiority of one race over

another race or ethnicities

which manifest itself in a variety of

dismissive

oppressive exploitative ways racism

shows

up in the use of the power of influence

use of power to influence resources or

communication

which is employed to discriminate

against marginalize

exploit or subjugate people of another

race or

ethnicity let me put in a little

syllogism when unaddressed prejudice

gets married to power

there is going to be an unintended

pregnancy that will give birth to the

evil of racism

when when an unaddressed present

prejudice

gets connected to power gets married to

power

then it’s going to have an unintended

consequence

which gives birth to the evil of

racism so racism is

the decision consciously or

unconsciously

to discriminate against a person of

another race

when we talk about systemic racism

i’ll define that because all this comes

together

systemic racism is the presence or

secular resultant effects

of racist practices and processes

embedded in

and shaped shaping the social political

economic legal educational

infrastructural medical

uh systems and policies of a society

initially established and perpetuated by

the government

these then overlap and interconnect in

such a way as to give an

unjust advantage of resources rights

mindsets

and privilege for majority number of one

race while denying

or limiting it to a majority

number of another race or ethnicities

now this is often called white privilege

the benefits that accrue

because of the laws that were

established and the systems that

continue to benefit those who benefited

from the original laws

to the disadvantage to

minority groups and so let’s talk about

systems

crt is not concerned

with your individual racial profile it’s

not concerned

with whether you are a racist crt is

concerned

about racism infiltrating the structures

and the systems of society and how

those structures continue to have

negative

effects on minority people

let me give you a relevant illustration

that you and all of us are participating

in be

white or black

as everyone knows we now own the golf

course across the street

that is 155 or so

prime acres in the southwest section of

oak cliff

i wanted us to buy that land

not having anything to do with golf but

controlling what happens in our

community

so the motivation was related to golf it

was related to

kingdom influence in the community but

let me tell you the story

of the gulf coast cross street

it used to be a farm in 19

mid 1950s a man or sold it

and it was purchased and turned into

a golf course

the rule was

black people could not play on the golf

course that was the rule

so we’ll call that an unjust law

it then got turned over into membership

ownership so it was owned by like a

hundred members

the rule was we don’t have the law

because things were changing in society

we don’t have the law that blacks can’t

be members

but we’re going to set up a system that

does not allow them to be members

so what the system was was

before you become a member an existing

member

had to recommend you okay

but when the existing member recommended

you

two-thirds of the membership had to vote

for you

so let’s say

an anglo-man has a great black friend

nothing about him is racist and he goes

to the club and he says

i want my african-american friend

to become a member of this club

well he’s gotta do that up against the

system

and that system says two-thirds of us

have to agree with the way you feel

and no until 1994 no

black would be voted in because of the

system not because

there was this law it was this

system that came from a law

but let’s say you’re part of the

one-third if you’re anglo

you’re part of the one-third

that voted to let him in

well you still lost because the

two-thirds

did not vote that way now you could come

out and argue

but i am not one of those people

i am not a racist and you could be

absolutely right

but the system that you are a part of is

and because you’re part of that system

you get swept up even though you’re not

a personal racist

and even though you voted the other way

because the system didn’t allow

your non-racist perspective to win

crt is concerned with systems

that operate unfairly in all of these

different areas

that doesn’t allow in health for people

to get good food

or proper care or whatever them

because systems were set up that have

rollover effect

even if people in the system

are not personally racist so when a

person says

i am not a racist they could be

absolutely true

absolutely true but crt is concerned

with the system

not with an individual person so you

make that distinction

so that is the concept

of crt now

that’s fine that deals with laws that

deals with infiltration that deals with

contemporary effects

so far so good probably don’t have too

much of a problem there

until the iteration set in

so this is where it gets interesting

uh in august 2019

nicole hannah jones

wrote a series of articles

in the new york times magazine

and it became known as the 1619

project

in jamestown virginia in august of 1619

20 african-american slaves came to this

country

as indentured servants meaning you work

for so many years and then you can work

out your freedom

but they came when these

20 or so slaves came

that led to a growth in slave trade to

make a long story short

where indentured servantry was replaced

with slavery

which was cheap or free labor in order

for the profitability and the economic

development

through workers here in the colonies

the 1619 project said

that the american revolution was not

about freedom from

england the american revolution

was about 13 colonies preserving slavery

so the 1619 project says america really

didn’t begin

in 1776

america began in 1619

when slavery was first introduced

codified so there’s a revolutionary war

because the 13 colonies want to be free

from england for the purpose

of not having england interfere with the

economic productivity

of slavery so they threw

a whole nother concept into the race

discussion

and when they threw this concept now the

issue became

the definition of america

does america exist for freedom

from england english tyranny or does

america

exist to protect slavery

well once that happened follow me now

that got plugged into crt

crt was concerned about racist laws

crt was not concerned with 1619 1619

came after crt

but it got plugged into it so now the

issue is

is crt

saying that america was established to

be

a racist nation so now crt has gotten

pregnant

with a bigger issue about the definition

of america

may 2020

george floyd is killed in minneapolis

minnesota

when george floyd is killed in

minneapolis minnesota

there is this national

outcry about systemic racism

particularly with related to

police brutality and the like

and the growth of black lives matter

black lives matter though is two things

not one

it’s an emphasis and an entity

it’s a movement and

an organization the movement said the

lives of black people

matter

in the same way that uh

white evangelicals would say the lives

of the unborn man or all of us as

evangelicals say that

uh the lives of the unborn man well

black lives matter okay

so there was this movement

out of the movement or concurrent and

concomitant with the movement

is an entity that says

black lives matter but they both use the

same name so when you say black lives

matter are you talking about the

movement you talk about the entity you

talk about both

well because the entity

black lives matter if you look it up on

the web

wants to dissolve the black nuclear

family

because the entity

wants to promote transgender rights and

they say this

that’s the entity but you got an entity

in a movement using the same name

it gets plugged into crt

so crt is growing now

on one side that’s 16 19 plugged into it

on another side

there’s the black lives matter so now if

you’re against black lives matter

the entity you could also be accused of

being against black lives matter the

movement

because folks are not necessarily making

the distinction if you agree with the

movement you could be accused of

agreeing with the entity

and all of that gets plugged into crt

something else comes to the forefront

are y’all with me now i hope i’m gonna

bore you it’s silly so something else

comes to the forefront

[Applause]

because the originators

of crt some are overtly marxist somewhat

more socialist than marxism we can get

into a

discussion between the difference

between socialism communism fascism and

all of that that’s

but but to varying degrees of marxists

at the core of marxism to make a long

story short

is dividing people into tribes into

groups into divisions

uh marx would call it the proletariat

the worker

versus the bourgeoisie so what are you

seeing today in schools a clash what are

you seeing today

white’s feeling like you’re calling me

part of the oppressor i haven’t done

anything

black’s feeling you calling me part of

the oppressed you got one group that

wants crt you got another group that’s

against crt

because it’s got now convoluted the

in other words the firecracker has

exploded now

and it’s all over the place and we are

we

are divided because now

the disciples of these movements

depending on their own bent toward black

lives matter their own bench was 1619

their own bent toward marxist philosophy

when they talk about crt they’ll put

that spin on it

and so when parents hear this in the

schools

white parents are saying what are you

what are you doing teaching my child

this

some black parents are raising up what

are you doing teaching my child is

then you have the other side the

teachers union said we going to teach

this because we need to teach

true history well the problem is

so much has gotten attacked to it and

convoluted it

that it is now taking on a whole new

life

of definition so

this problem of race and there’s so much

we could talk about i don’t have time to

go to it i mean

when i started getting on radio there

was a system in place

all the all the the christian radio

stations across the

the nation they would not let on a daily

black speaker

but not because there was a law but

because there was a system

and that system would not allow for it

and one told me why

he says the reason we can’t let on a

black speaker daily

is that would offend too many of our

white listeners

okay so so so he gave me some inside

scoop

and so we set up a system where where we

just don’t have

room we don’t have times available we

don’t have so so you get these denials

and of course god will rule that but the

point is that there were

systems in place that weren’t

necessarily based on laws and crt

at its root wants to track

how that is showing up today in

different ways

and i don’t i don’t know how to get off

through all this stuff but anyway

uh that’s some of the see because now

it’s been blown up

uh i didn’t get into intersectionality

because now all other kind of things

sexism

has gotten attached to it and

transgender has gotten attached to it

and now you’ve got critical sex theories

and all that that gets plugged in this

critical race theory so it’s it’s now

all over

the place we’re leaving lack of clarity

confusing christians christians across

racial lines are divided on this thing

my phone’s blowing up

from all over the country what are we

going to do my congregation is divided

i got parents calling me saying the the

black kids or the white kids we used to

play together not think about it

now we can’t even have fellowship

because we got we got voices coming over

here and voices coming over there

and and now it’s it’s interfered with

our personal relationships and all of

that

that’s because of the iterations have

taken one thing

blown it up made it a bigger thing the

bigger thing is confusing

and it is infiltrated now all or many

or most of the sectors of society

including the military

so now everybody talk about critical

race but they don’t know what they’re

talking about because they could be

talking about any iteration

of critical race which means they’re

never going to agree

so that that that’s where we are now

where do we go with this

all right i would like to propose

in humility

the tony evans theory

[Applause]

and i’m going to call it krt

not crt krt

krt kingdom race theology

all right

all right so let me define kingdom race

theology

i define kingdom race theology as the

reconciled recognition

affirmation and celebration

of the divinely created ethnic

should be ethnic differences through

which

god displays his multifaceted glory

as his people justly

righteously and responsibly

function personally and corporately

in unity under the lordship of jesus

christ

now my concern

is that we as christians will spend so

much time

fighting off a crt we don’t get around

the krt

now let me defend

my new thing okay

go to ephesians 2

ephesians 2

and i’ll highlight i’ll walk through

this and and hit the high points

therefore remember that formerly you the

gentiles

in the flesh who are called

uncircumcision

by the so-called circumcision okay

that’s the way the jews the circumcision

called the gentiles they called them

names

they called him the n word

the jews circumcision would look at a

gentile

and call them uncircumcision or and

sometimes they call them uncircumcised

dogs

so it was a demeaning

this is paul writing the christians at

ephesus these are

jews and gentiles in the same church

and paul says y’all used to call each

other names

you know why they did because that was

their history

their background it was their reality

black and whites have a history

and it included laws and name calling

and oppression the jews were privileged

they had benefits that the gentiles

did not possess but now the gentiles

have entered in

and paul has to make this point y’all

are now christians

you’re going to the same church so it’s

time for new rules

in other words i know you got your

background i know they used to call your

names

i know there was racial division and

there’s a lot of racial issues in the

bible

i know all of that but let me tell you

how we gonna move forward

from here he says

call the uncircumcision uh by the

so-called circumcision

remember that you were at times

separated from christ

excluded from the commonwealth but

here’s the word beginning in verse 13.

but now i know how it was

i know how bad it was i know they didn’t

like you

i know they had benefits you didn’t have

but now

he now is going to give a

crystal-centric perspective

a kingdom if you will send it

perspective

in christ you were formerly far far off

have been brought near by the blood of

christ

now watch this verse 14 he himself

is our peace who made

both groups into one broke down the

barrier

barrier of the dividing wall look at the

end of verse 15.

make the two groups into one

new man thus establishing peace

verse 16 reconcile them both

into one body verse 17

preach peace to you who are far off you

who’ve been isolated

and peace to those who were near the

jews

verse 18 in one spirit

to the father verse 19 no longer

strangers

outcasts second-class citizens aliens

but you are fellow citizens with the

saints of god’s

household verse 22

being built together into a dwelling

place of god

my two words are but now

now here’s the deal if you’re spending

more time discussing crt

then you are krt that is this

then you’ve been tricked by the world

you should know about it you should

understand it i’ve tried to give you a

brief overview

but but no no no he says no we got to

start now we got the history

he even says we were calling but now

in christ there are new rules and

if you will abide by the new rules of

christ

we will create something new

so while they’re fighting out there we

have peace in here

because we’re operating on one new

man

[Applause]

when i drink my coffee

i got black coffee

but i got white cream

i got black coffee but i got white cream

well what i do is i put white cream

in black coffee when i put white cream

in black coffee i got something new

because what i started with is not how

it looks right now

what was white and black is now brown

because i have put something new

together

which makes it drinkable for me

god can’t drink what we’re offering him

because black people are offering him

black white people are offering him

white

and god said you better put some cream

up in this coffee

one new man

we are to be crafting something new

but let me make sure you understand god

is not colorblind i know people don’t

well we need to be colorblind no you

don’t god is not colorblind

revelation 5 9 revelation 7 9.

john says i saw people from every nation

every tribe

every kindred and every tongue and i

could see their differences

god is not colorblind but he doesn’t

want us to be blinded by color

he doesn’t want our hue to define

our relationship we are going to be

different

we’re supposed to be different but he

says christ

is supposed to be all in all so the

issue are what

are his rules kingdom rules

that all of us are so supposed to abide

by

and he says when you decide to do that

you become

part of one new man

when an orchestra is warming up and

everything and they’re warming up

uh and uh uh it’s discord it’s just

noise

this instrument’s playing this this is

it’s just noise until a conductor comes

out

the conductor comes out and he taps down

everybody gets silent and now what was

noise is now a song

but the instruments aren’t the same

there’s the saxophone is the violin

there’s a there’s that piano that i mean

all the instruments were as

different than as they are now what’s

the difference the conductor has come

out

and once the conductor is coming out he

is controlling

what the instruments are playing even

though the instruments are still

different

but they’re playing his song see what

we’ve got

is black and white playing their own

songs

well you can do that in the world if you

want to still cuss and fuss and fight

but in the kingdom of god we’re playing

his song

and when we’re playing his song you can

use your own racial instrument

as long as you’re playing his song and

so what he is saying is

i am after one new man

and in this new man the bible makes it

clear

racism as we’ve defined it not racial

differences

is to never be tolerated

okay but now let’s make sure we

understand

because of history

there are racial sensitivities

okay

i was um talking to a gentleman he was

about five years younger than me

angelo guy and i was talking to him at

the house

and in the conversation he called me boy

okay now there’s a history to boy

and black people okay for those of you

who don’t know that history goes all the

way back where

old men will be called boy by kids

because they were black and the kids

were white

and so they had the privilege of

demeaning an older man

so there’s a history so when he said boy

i felt that i felt that okay

because there’s history to the term

so i felt that and and i’m debating now

do i say something and do i sound like a

christian when i say it do i

say something no just kidding

now a few minutes later

another guy comes in who’s like my

age who’s white

and he called him boy

when it when he called him boy it

changed how i looked at him

i looked at him one way because i just

heard boy but when i saw him do that to

his own race it was my age then i

concluded well

this is evidently how he talks but

because i had

sensitivity that i didn’t have clarity

on

i reacted out of my sensitivity

when black’s wife come together they

come together with the sensitivity the

reason

why we have a talk with our boys the

talk

is because of sensitivities when the

police comes up behind me

i’ve had experiences of being pulled

over asked being asked

why are you in this neighborhood so that

creates a sensitivity

and when i know how some might feel

toward

african americans that sensitivity is

there at a higher

level now that policeman may not be

racist he may be as scared as me as i am

or him

okay he may not be but the sensitivities

are there

that’s why at least in the body of

christ

and our racial commitment to each other

has to through the bible

give deference

to people creating the opportunity

to either correct or to clarify because

when you don’t do that

you could be passing illegitimate

judgment

okay some people do what they do because

of the system they’re

in not because of the person they are

but if you take the system

and put the system on top of the person

you may be letting a system judge a

person

when the person is not agreeing with the

system

and unless that exists at least within

the church

within the body of christ we will not

have the kind of impact

and influence that god wants us to have

paul

corrected peter when peter was a racist

uh

god uh corrected uh mary uh miriam

when she objected to moses marrying a

black wife

uh uh moses married black wife god

turned miriam white

because of her her rebellion against a

god ordained a god authorized

relationship

uh so god judges sin so sin of racism

should not be skipped

it should be judged but it must always

be done

with the biblical principle of love

where we give the opportunity to correct

or to clarify so that we come with an

understanding

the the church of jesus christ right now

is a bad testimony

to the healing that needs to occur in

our country and in our culture

well that may be true out there but it

won’t be true at oak cliff bible

fellowship

because we are one new man

okay and the white person or the indian

person

or the because we’re predominantly

african-american or the hispanic person

is to be given as much value as much

significance as much embracing

as you would do a black brother or a

black sister why

here’s why because i’m crucified with

christ nevertheless i live yet not i is

christ who lives in me the life which i

now live

i live by the faith of the son of god

here’s the principle

win your race

trump god’s word you have made your race

an idol

when you’re raised trumps god’s word

you’ve made your race an idol

and god rejects idolatry okay

whether it’s white privilege idolatry

or whether it’s black overreaction

idolatry like the movement black lives

matter

not the emphasis but the movement that

becomes idolatry okay

and so where you have idolatry god

rejects it but now this thing is all

over the place it’s now in politics it’s

there

all kind of division it’s all now in uh

in social arenas educational arenas

and it may not be able to be fixed out

there i don’t know they’re trying

but they don’t agree so when they don’t

agree can two walk together unless they

agree

bible says no our kids to agree in there

and hear and let it be known what our

agreement is out there

to stick with god’s standard to tell

history and tell the truth you don’t

marginalize it you don’t whitewash it

you tell the truth the whole truth you

know slavery was horrible

uh and then jim crow you got 4500

men who were who were slaughtered you

got black wall street

who was uh burned down you got rosewood

uh a whole town that was burnt out

simply for illegitimate racial reasons

you go

on and on and on you don’t skip those

stories you don’t pretend

like they’re not in history but you come

you must move forward to one new

man okay so that’s where we are going