If I were allowed to speak on the topic of racism, I would say that treating people differently because of their skin color is stupid at best and evil at worst. I’d call out white people for mistreating people of color. I’d loudly denounce racism wherever I found it. But my skin color disqualifies me from participating in conversations about racism so I’m going to discuss gardening instead.

“Gardening” is the term I use for what Samuel Sey calls “racism” in this article. It is his review of Robin DiAngelo’s bestseller, “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” which he describes as, “…one of the worst books I’ve ever read.”

I’ve never thought of myself as a gardener. I don’t like getting my hands dirty and I’m kind of afraid of bugs. So I found the following quote from DiAngelo’s book laughably inaccurate:

“…a positive white identity is an impossible goal. White identity is inherently [garden related]; white people do not exist outside the system of [lawn and garden care].”

White Fragility (words in brackets added)

Samuel Sey is a black guy so according to White Fragility, he cannot be guilty of gardening. On the other hand, since I am not a person of color, I have been gardening since the day I was born even if I’ve never touched peat moss or potted a plant. Gardening is defined by skin color, not activity.

“[this fragility] is rooted in the false but widespread belief that [gardening] can only be intentional…the simplistic idea that [gardening] is limited to individual intentional acts committed by unkind people is at the root of virtually all white defensiveness on this topic.”

White Fragility (words in brackets added)

In other words, I don’t need to grow anything to be a gardener.

Mr. Sey says otherwise. It is his belief, as a guy who’s not white, that the Bible has a more useful (and truthful) perspective on the topic of gardening. He claims White Fragility is

“…a complete rejection of the biblical and logical definition for [gardening]. [Gardening] is biblically defined as a form of partiality or hatred against another person because of their skin colour. The Bible says: “show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory…have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1)”

Samuel Sey – slowtowrite.com

When Christians allow the culture to define the terms of sins (like gardening) we are guilty of idolatry. We need not bear the weight of sin that God has forgiven. The Christian is defined by Christ, not by our past sins; especially if we’ve never committed those sins.

True gardeners will find White Fragility useful because it is a gigantic load of manure.