Calvin University, the Michigan-based University belonging and affiliated with the conservative CRCNA (Christian Reformed Church in North America) has been lost.
We knew there were deep and abiding problems with them ever since the teachers got mad in 2009 and overwhelmingly voted against a policy that would have prohibited them from supporting homosexuality and same-sex marriage- due to their desire for “academic freedom” and differing opinions from the faculty- but this 15-minute promo released by the University praising Black Lives Matter and regurgitating Critical Race Theory froth shows in a frightening way the depths of which they’ve descended.
The video features a host of students and professors after professor after professor proclaiming that “Black Lives Matter” and all the ways racism is as pervasive and commonplace as air in our society, and as a result must be repented of. Here are just a few snippets from perhaps 100 separate clips all collated together.
“We repent of our complicity and structural racism.”
“We repent of our silence in the face of injustice.”
“We repent that we prioritize our own comfort while our neighbors live in fear.”
“We repent of the racism that runs deep in our tradition and our churches, our communities, and here at Calvin University.”“We know that we all have implicit biases that impact the way that we think and the way that we behave. Racism isn’t something that’s perpuated by a few bad people, it’s in all of us through our socialization. We’re committed to deconstructing these biases, reckoning with them and helping our students do the same. We study human flourishing and we can’t all thrive we can’t all flourish unless black lives matter.”
“Educational systems for too long have perpetuated systemic racism. As teachers, we have a unique opportunity and responsibility to speak and act against racism and for justice. We commit to actively and continually dismantle racism and white supremacy in our classrooms, schools, and society.
“As geographers, geologist, and environmental scientists we recognize that oppression and inequality have been written into our maps. Into our cities. Into our infrastructures, and even into the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink. Therefore we commit as a Geo Department to building communities places and regions where all God’s children can enjoy peace and the goodness of God’s creation.”
“As scientists, we acknowledge that we working in a field that has long excluded and marginalized our colleagues and students of color much to our own detriment. And as educators, we commit to choosing pedagogies and structures that will help to amplify those voices of chemists of color and to prepare pathways for underserved students to contribute, to be heard, and to see themselves within STEM.”
“As world language teachers, we bring learners into practices of humility and empathy. As we work to express ourselves in a language not our own, it forces us to recognize our linguistic privilege, to de-center ourselves, to learn to respect the perspectives of others and briefly to experience what it’s like to occupy a position of less privilege. So we commit to help develop a radical empathy; one that grows our will and our ability to stand alongside our black and brown brothers and sisters.”
“As engineers, we acknowledge that whenever the work or products of engineering shuts out or marginalizes groups of people, it perpetuates injustice rather than building Shalom. And frankly, it’s just bad engineering. It is diversity that leads to innovation and the development of enduring solutions to global problems.”
And on and on it goes, teacher after teacher, professor after professor, until all that’s left is the echoing refrain of ‘Black Lives Matter’ ringing in the eardrums and the distinct impression that things for them will only get worse from here.
