"advocates" lacks the passion that the subject matter deserves

At every turn we hear the term ‘racist’ or ‘racism’ or some other word to describe our differences, and the issues that ‘different’ implies. Dhati Lewis focuses mostly on ‘Black’ and ‘White’, mainly because his skin is one color, and that of his wife is the other.  This ‘different’ has caused him problems within his family, because they were focused on their skin color and found it difficult to accept that one of their own would wish to be with someone of another color.

All in all, the discussion about racial profiling, racism in general, and racist comments and behavior needs to be addressed, and it would seem that a book like Advocates: The Narrow Path to Racial Reconciliation would be the perfect vehicle to start the discussion.  Lewis is Black, his wife is White.  He is Black and pastors a predominantly White church. He has a perspective that most of us lack, yet the passion that he writes about having for seeing reconciliation doesn’t come across in the book.

He starts by telling us how Webster defines certain words, and then how he will use them; you can go to a dictionary and see how most people would use ‘advocate’ and ‘aggravator’.  Lewis puts his own nuance on the words: an advocate has the goal of reconciliation. An aggravator describes any type of interaction where the goal is not reconciliation

And when it comes to ‘reconciliation’ he says he prefers to use the word in the biblical sense, (which isn’t defined as clearly as I would have liked to see since he is making it a major part of his thesis statement)

                So, in this short book, Lewis address 4 main points. First is an awareness of the current situation—where we are. Then he moves into a discussion of where God wants us to be, and what that looks like. Next he moves on to developing a strategy for making that move, and ends with a discussion of the courage that we need to face the fears and challenges ahead.

                Given the seriousness of the subject, this book had the potential to change our world, starting with our churches, unfortunately it falls short.

                I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own.

3/5