Unconscious privilege?

The following quotes are from Heal Us, Emmanuel: A Call for Racial Reconciliation, Representation, and Unity in the Church, which contains contributions from various pastors in the PCA. I started reading this in earnest over the weekend and could not put it down. I don't agree with everything, but there is much that I do. Regardless, this book is thought-provoking and uncovers assumptions and unconscious privilege that the Christian majority culture (white culture) may be bringing to the table. There is more that I could write particularly in how those assumptions trickle down in application for women, but it will have to wait. My day job is calling me.

You may disagree completely that there is any privilege whatsoever in play. Fair enough. My intent is not to point the finger but to encourage you to listen to a side you may not have considered before. Above all, my motive is for the peace and healing of the Bride of Christ.

I told them I was an elder of a church in the area and invited them to join us for Sunday worship. Their first question was whether the church I attended was an Asian church. I answered that it was, and they responded by saying that while they appreciated my outreach and invitation to them, they were going to look for "just a regular church." A regular church. This was not only a microaggression but a statement that reveals a deep-seated assumption about what people in dominant groups consider normal. Scholars have referred to this as "white normativity." White normativity is the idea that "Whiteness is assumed to be the racial and cultural standard in mainstream American society by which all other ethnic group values and actions ought to be measured. (Alexander Jun, pg. 23)

In one meeting, a Korean American student and an African American student discussed how a particular text related to issues of justice in our society. When several White students questioned whether these students had a valid right to give a different interpretation, someone asked when theologians from other ethnicities ever would get an equal voice at the table. Initially I thought, "What is the big deal who says it if it is the truth?" Then it occurred to me that's how privilege works. White people can easily not see how our backgrounds, cultural circumstances, and the issues of the day shape how we read, interpret and apply Scripture. (Dennis Hermerding, pp. 84-85.)

As we look to the future of the American church, there is a tendency to believe that those who have wealth, power, and privilege will be the ones who will serve and lead those who do not have wealth, power, and privilege. Power and privilege entitle certain groups to exercise an authority over those who are without power and privilege... But having privilege leads to a disconnect from those without privilege, from those who struggle particularly from oppression. This is problematic. Basically, to have privilege is to be one of the "haves" in a society of "haves" and "have-nots." (Mark Peach, pp. 91-92)

(Italics are mine.)