Atlanta megachurch pastor Louie Giglio has issued an apology for his comments during Sunday’s virtual church service, where he suggested that whites use the phrase “white blessing” as opposed to “white privilege.”
Christian rapper Lecrae and Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy joined Giglio of Passion City Church for what was referred to as an “open and honest conversation around how racism has plagued our city for generations, and the steps we can all take to confront it head-on in our church, our neighborhoods, and our hearts.”
During the sit-down, Giglio said that white people regret slavery, but also acknowledged that they benefited from it.
“We understand the curse that was slavery, white people do, and we say, ‘That was bad,’ but we miss the blessing of slavery — that it actually built up the framework for the world that white people live in and lived in,” Giglio mindlessly said.
Giglio went on to say that the phrase “white privilege” is too harsh and should be replaced with “white blessing” instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DECbgf3QR5M
“When you say those two words, it’s like a fuse goes off for a lot of white people because they don’t want somebody telling them to check their privilege,” he said to Lecrae. “I know that you and I both have struggled in these days with ‘Hey if the phrase is the trip up, let’s get over the phrase and let’s get down to the heart, let’s get down to what then do you want to call it. And I think maybe a great thing for me is to call it ‘white blessing.'”
” That I’m living in the blessing of the curse that happened generationally that allowed me to grow up in Atlanta,” he continued in an attempt to drive his point home.
Giglio’s comments were met with immediate backlash online. Lecrae also came under fire for failing to correct the pastor or speak up for blacks at that moment.
The pastor took to Twitter on Monday to explain himself, saying that he was “not seeking to refer to slavery as a blessing — but that we are privileged because of the curse of slavery. In calling it a privilege/benefit/blessing — word choice wasn’t great. Trying to help us see society is built on the dehumanization of others. My apology, I failed.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed7OgvaQuAQ
He apologized again the following day in a video message also posted to Twitter, where he issued an apology to everyone watching, especially his “Black brothers and sisters.”
“I like so many and am so burdened by what is happening in our nation right now, and I’m heartbroken about where we are as a nation,” he continued.
Giglio said that he and other white people have a long way to go in realizing that “white privilege is real,” but deeming it as a “white blessing” was a “horrible choice of words.”
“It does not reflect my heart at all.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHbvnrabuiA
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