Screw it, emotional already. I was one of two white kids in an all black Christian school for a good part of my adolescence. It wasn't the best time of my life and I didn't wind up there because I was stellar student. My father was friends with the principal and I was not doing

well in school. I got accepted more or less to get me caught up to grade level (and that they did). During my time there, I wrestled with my faith, a lot. Especially because so many of my classmates were just so absolutely committed to their walk with God.

I wound up rejoining the public school system when I got caught back up, but there were more than a few lessons I drew. The biggest one, and one I can recall with great succinctness, was the pastor's willingness to tackle social issues from the pulpit. I went to my (mixed race)

Presbyterian Church on Sundays, but I attended more or less the same sermon my schooldid on Sunday during "chapel" on Fridays. And it always struck me how quick the pastor was to identify social crises and speak to them without hesitation. My home church pastor did this as well

but it took a lot longer, and while he spoke to the same issues and with serious compassion, they were broached quickly and we moved on. My church wasn't overwhelmingly white, it was representative of the community. But our community was largely upwardly socially mobile and at

least lower middle class. Even as a middle schooler the difference in weight and time in sermons spent on difficult topics became super apparent.

All that to say, if you're not religious, don't feel compelled to join a church. But pay attention to what black spiritual leaders

are saying. My pastor was (is) a good man who valued his community and truly strove to replicate what he thought God was and wanted. But he was very much disconnected from what the black leaders and community in our city felt and had to say.