Review: Brown Faces, White Spaces

Brown Faces, White Spaces: Confronting Systemic Racism to Bring Healing & Restoration

By Latasha Morrison (WaterBrook)

Systemic racism is real, pervasive and corrosive in the United States. It also is not inevitable, and the fabric of American society can be healed from it in practical ways. Brown Faces, White Spaces makes this case clearly and compellingly.

Centered on a three-part framework of preparation, dedication and liberation, the book systematically addresses systemic racism and how its threads can be unwoven.

Preparation involves learning about and confessing the racist underpinnings of society’s systems. Dedication involves committing to bring about redemptive change in those systems, and actually working to bring about those changes constitutes liberation.

“Liberation” may be a disconcerting term to some readers. Morrison does not mean liberation in the Marxist sense, but in the sense of Exodus and Jesus’ proclamation that he came to bring good news and freedom from captivity (Luke 4:18-19).

Morrison, acknowledging she can speak only for herself and the experiences of African Americans, includes personal stories throughout. BIPOC—Black, Indigenous and people of color—stories also are included.

The book also contains concrete examples of systemic racism and its influence in each of nine spheres—education, health care, the justice system, the marketplace, military, property ownership, entertainment, sports and the church. The spheres are considered through the lens of Scripture and the life and teaching of Jesus.

Brown Faces, White Spaces—due out May 21, 2024—is a good conversation starter. This does not mean the book is gentle. Morrison states more than once the content will be uncomfortable. It means readers are encouraged to take stock of the way things have been and the way they things are, then decide how things can be and begin working toward a different future.

Eric Black, executive director/publisher/editor
Baptist Standard