Victim Mentality
Christian Living

Revising the Victim Mentality

Taelor Gray

I am a person that seeks to understand different perspectives. I often place myself in settings where I feel like an “other” and I have to re-learn the cultural/social parameters of a particular space in order to better understand experiences from a different lens. Sometimes, this is even a journey within the Black community.

Over the years, I have had many opportunities to explore the notion that Black people are not a monolith. Across the board, we express from different places on political opinion, social experience, education, and even theology. I’ve taken the time to listen and participate in fascinating discussions about different points of view and I’m sure I’ve been “canceled” by a few people as well.

The Props

Along this journey, I discovered voices like Larry Elder and Thomas Sowell. They more formally introduced a term to me, one I’d heard in fragments from different influences throughout my life: victim mentality.

I’d often heard variations of “You can’t blame all your problems on the white man” from family members, Black bosses, and older voices in my predominately Black church. Sowell and Elder, however, were using this term as part of a case to say racism doesn’t exist in our society. I had never heard the influences I grew up around say that.

Elder and Sowell explained that many in the Black community had not achieved the level of progress they complain about because they don’t work hard. They said Blacks tend to adopt a victim mindset when things don’t go well for them and start blaming their problems with society on imagined notions of white oppression. Elder and Sowell often pointed to the Civil Rights era as the turning point in American history that disallowed Blacks to have any more excuses. They repeatedly state that Blacks are now on equal footing, have the same access to all that American society has to offer, and there is no statistical proof for racism.

I can’t tell you how much I disagree with their conclusions. I heard Elder and Sowell out, and I do believe they could have valuable contributions on other topics, but I find their stance on racism to be the highest form of cognitive dissonance. It is almost comparable to living in a complete fantasy world. Much of my disappointment lies in the fact that these are both brilliant, highly-educated Black men. Instead of applying their intellectual wealth to substantive social equality efforts, they are too often propped up by conservative white platforms as the model Blacks who “get it right.”

The Facts

Another major critique I have with this presentation of victim mentality is that it dismisses true Black victimhood. It doesn’t take long to research disparities in education quality, prison term convictions, economic advantage, and police violence to discover that racism is still having a profound impact on our country. The more you take the time to look, you will find that the subtleties of systemic injustice toward Black people are not so subtle at all.

Consider this example of an average Black woman who lives in a poor community. She may live in a rental property. She may be a single parent of multiple children. She may receive welfare assistance. She also may be in poor overall health. In the minds of the Larry Elders of the world, she is criminalized and rejected as a non-contributing member of society. She is the scourge of our economy, the shameful product of laziness and immoral choices.

hat we must realize is that this situation is not simply a series of individual choices by a person.

First, we shouldn’t ignore the reasons the community is poor. This neighborhood at one time may have been economically healthy. Either suddenly or over time, a sequence of industry change, limited economic opportunity, and city planning may have decimated this neighborhood. The community in which I live has this story.

What was once a proud, working-class neighborhood was abandoned by its residents, businesses, and local government. The developing suburbs were offering living opportunities for certain kinds of families based on particular demographics (income and race). The practice of redlining had a swift effect on this community, causing a mass exodus of middle-class families. The businesses followed, closing down and relocating based on the industrial and economic change of the times. With the evaporation of jobs in the immediate proximity, families started to struggle. Finally, city planning decisions were made to develop an interstate that provided easier access through the state. This interstate development would need to run directly through the neighborhood, effectively demolishing hundreds of homes and splitting the community in half.

The Black woman profiled earlier may have only been one or two generations removed from these events. The effect is still felt for many who lived through them, and the same story could be shared in different cities or states across the country. It is difficult for any one person to overcome these circumstances.

Gospel of Grace

The concept of victimhood is treated irresponsibly when presented incompletely. Systemic injustice makes victims of groups of people, irrespective of an individual’s effort to overcome their problems. In short, if you’re going to address a “victim” mentality, at least acknowledge the complete profile of the victim.

In the case of the conservative’s victimhood commentary, the victim mentality is pigeonholed into a person who simply doesn’t want to work hard to change their outcome. What often comes alongside this presentation is a disregard of the “victim’s” human dignity. The critiques are often articulated with language that questions a person’s worth based on their socioeconomic profile. Whether or not they respond appropriately to their crisis is used as a measurement of whether or not we should care about them.

This is the antithesis of the gospel picture of grace, where the sinner-person most destitute and unable to pull themselves out of their circumstances is shown a rich kindness. The rescue we receive in Christ isn’t contingent on our “appropriate response” to our poverty or any kind of Darwinistic philosophy pointing to our ability to save ourselves or die. God is good and he alone determines to save those who need saving—whether the person acknowledges it or not. We should consider the grace we receive before we conclude someone else is not worthy of human dignity.

I would call those who maintain the views of Black victimhood from influencers like Larry Elder, Thomas Sowell, and more recently Candace Owens to take an honest look at the circumstances of the “victims.” There is often a story of systemic oppression that brings shape to the current circumstances and even mindsets of Black people working to achieve a better life in this society. There is no cause to disregard their stories, nor to look down on the outcomes of their lives.

Many times, quick judgments are aided by a lack of proximity to the individuals navigating these difficult circumstances. The truest form of laziness is a decision to avoid learning and refusing to contextualize in order to feed truncated conclusions. Do the work, read the history. Prayerfully you’ll find that the conclusion to be humbling, and the work of compassion better equips you for interacting with Black victimhood.

11 thoughts on “Revising the Victim Mentality

  1. Anonymous

    The woman you speak of she chose to get pregnant
    Out of wedlock that right then and their damned her

    I’m assuming she voted Democrat so no change to the job opportunity I. The city has been ruined by democrats
    And the welfare system has decimated the black community GET OFF WELFARE
    All the problems that have plagued this woman are if her own doing
    These problems will not change until black Americans look in the mirror

  2. Eric

    While I liked a lot of the article, your comment on disparities in police treatment of black people is based on what? Over 775 more white people have been killed by police since 2016 alone, in 2019, double the amount of unarmed white people were killed over black people, and it’s insanely disingenuous to go off of pure population statistics, since, unfortunately, black people overall commit over 50% of violent crime, and per capita, its NUMEROUS times more than white people. Thus, leading to more violent encounters with the police than their overall population would suggest, and over the MILLIONS of encounters police have with people each year, a minuscule number of those end with a shooting, with VAST majority of those being against someone who was armed and the shooting was justified.

    What about interracial homicide? Again, white people are killed hundreds of times more each year, for example, in 2016, 533 white people killed by black people and 243 black people killed by white people, and this has been case for the last TWENTY plus years at least.. Where is the epidemic of black people being hunted and killed by white people? Bc the stats show not only isn’t that true, its COMPLETELY opposite, with white people being the victims hundreds of times more each year, and overall interracial violent crime statistics show an INSANE disparity with black people being the perpetrators about 88% of the time agaisnt white people…

    What about white supremacists? From 2001 to 2020, white supremacists were responsible for 111 deaths COMBINED over that 19 year period, that averages to 5.8 people per year, you didn’t read that wrong, under SIX people per year, that’s not even a SINGLE day in Chicago, yet we hear about white supremacists DAILY and the insanely disingenuous narrative of them being biggest obstacle to black community today. In 2019, about 7,500 black people were victims of homicide, with 91% of them being committed by other black people, let’s use 7 thousand as the avg per year then, that means over 130,000 black people have been victims of homicide over that same 19 year period where white supremacists killed 111 people…… 111 to over a HUNDRED THOUSAND, and white supremacy is the big issue right? Ridiculous. 130,000 to 111, c’mon.

  3. dan w.

    Thomas W.,

    Your comment was the most informative thing about this article. Thank you for taking to the time to write it. I will now copy and paste it into a word document and save in my file titled; “Informative Comments Off the Internet”.

  4. Thomas W.

    Why does it matter what their politics are that I should choose not to associate with them? I would gladly associate with you all the same as a West or Obama.

    Can you not find the value in others? I value West for his capacity to not only reject a victim mentality he’s entitled to, but his ability to love those across the aisle. Is that not worth something to value? Should I care how the world treats him or others like that in return?

    I value Obama for his image of strong family. Is that not something to value?

    I value you, for your willingness to engage.

    What do you value in them? What do you value in me? And can you find the capacity to associate with people who are different than you?

  5. Ghana123

    I agree with some stuff but these are gross misrepresentations of elder and sowell…. I don’t think you have really read these people… Sowell is very nuanced in his discussions of the plight of black community.. Reducing his work to only victim mentality shows me you know nothing of his works…

  6. Toviyah

    Mr. Thomas W.,
    Weren’t you the one fawning over Kanye West before he proved to be a real jacka– that Obama correctly called him ? And what about characters like silk and whats-her-name? Do you really want to be associated with people like that (i.e. black conservatives)? Would you like for a white leader to point to you in a crowd a say “there goes my African American”. Really ???

    Toviyah

  7. Thomas W.

    Pastor Gray,

    I appreciate your reply, but I gave a lengthy reply because I valued what you had to say and took the time to engage.

    A dismissive response from you is part of why it’s hard to hope at all that these things can be addressed.

    But instead of worrying about what I sound like or the length, please engage.

    I do speak with someone in person regarding these matters. And on top of that, as Mr. Tisby lives in Mississippi, I have repeatedly requested a discussion in person with him, multiple times and have even attempted that through others he knows more directly.

  8. Thomas W.

    Not at all what I said if you’re referring to me. And if you’re calling my remarks ignorant, that’s not helpful to discussion. It’s dismissive and devaluing.

    To clarify, I don’t believe that Mr. Tisby needs to be validated by me, other white people, visit the white house or anything else.

    My point is that Mr. Tisby comes across poorly to white conservative christians. And I don’t think it’s because he doesn’t want to value them. It just comes across that way as he rarely says anything positive toward them. And you can see the contrast in response to someone like Owens.

  9. Taelor Gray

    You sound triggered, but God bless you. You may have placed too much hope in one article to change the world. A “comment” is typically not an article in reply. I hope you have opportunities to process these thoughts with someone in person.

  10. Mark R Mollenkof

    Mr. Tisby we met one time at LDR at Covenant College some years ago. I’ve followed you and The Witness for some years. I’m sorry that you have to put up with such ignorant remarks. This notion that you should have to call a white man (or anyone else for that matter) or be welcomed at the “White” House to be validated or somehow acceptable is ludicrous. I a white, used-to-be conservative, man have and continue to learn and be blessed by The Witness. Keep up the good work and fight the good fight. God Bless You.

  11. Thomas W.

    Good article, Pastor Gray,

    A few comments as I think you both get some things right, and are honestly just talking past each other for the rest:

    “I’d often heard variations of “You can’t blame all your problems on the white man” from family members, Black bosses, and older voices in my predominately Black church. Sowell and Elder, however, were using this term as part of a case to say racism doesn’t exist in our society.”

    I’m not as familiar with Elder and I follow Owens on twitter, but I would bet that’s not at all what they would say as a blanket “racism doesn’t exist in our society”. I think this is largely a mis-characterization of their context. Unless you have quotes and quotes within their context, I’d argue this is talking past and strawmanning their side of the “victim” discussions. In other words, it’s where your own dissonance wants to creep in.

    “Instead of applying their intellectual wealth to substantive social equality efforts, they are too often propped up by conservative white platforms as the model Blacks who “get it right.””

    You’ve devalued them as human beings in this statement.

    “Another major critique I have with this presentation of victim mentality is that it dismisses true Black victimhood. ”

    I’d disagree. It’s an acknowledgement. The point is not that there is or isn’t victim hood. I’d bet they’d all agree there is systemic and aftershocks of systemic injustice that still perpetuate society. The point is, where do you want to be, NOW? Still a victim, or changing that? Still defined by your past, or free?

    “It doesn’t take long to research disparities in education quality, prison term convictions, economic advantage, and police violence to discover that racism is still having a profound impact on our country. ”

    The problem with these links is that there are these too: https://www.dailywire.com/news/31880/new-study-no-systemic-evidence-racism-when-police-hank-berrien

    This allows for us to believe whichever side we prefer when studies contrast. Either you are not aware of that study, or your dissonance refuses to acknowledge it. In addition, on prison terms, I’ve actually read the entire study. It’s isolated to only black males vs white males. Black females get less sentences than white females. I would encourage you to read the full study. Look at where the disparity occurs, precisely. It may not be from a racial injustice, but even if it is, IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO SIMPLY ARGUE A CORRELATION. That’s not helpful at all to making changes or establishing causation. It’s just talking past each other.

    “Consider this example of an average Black woman who lives in a poor community.”

    What establishes “average”? I concede the description, but my point here is this is also where subjectivity can creep in. You present an assumption that it’s average.

    Further, Candace Owens is one such person born in poverty and in a broken home.
    More on that shortly.

    As to the example. I and many many other whites and black conservatives concede the historical past, systemic injustices, and leftover effects. I bet Sowell and Owens would agree.
    Their framework is not a dismissal of that on the subject of victim hood. They just refuse to stay there.

    The point of rejecting victim hood/mentality is the same as in any situation by which we’ve been harmed or oppressed. The physically abused who sees themselves as a victim has to reject that worldview if they want to overcome what they’ve been through. They have to move forward, forgiving, and not letting how things were or currently are allow that image to persist in which it cripples their life. But to do so, entirely acknowledges the reality that they were a victim.
    Not allowing that image of victim status to persist provides freedom, as that image is compounded and established by the oppressor who wants you (in general, not you specifically) to keep believing that you’re a victim. If it’s hard for you to see that in racial situations, look for it in other areas such as people who have been abused.

    Also, a rejection of victim hood does not mean one can not argue for changes that are needed in broken systems. Are we afraid of common ground with the Sowells and Owenses because of that?

    “The concept of victimhood is treated irresponsibly when presented incompletely.”

    I don’t think you’ve been any better at completeness today. Nor will I be though. It’s hard to present precisely, complex issues in short write ups.

    ” In short, if you’re going to address a “victim” mentality, at least acknowledge the complete profile of the victim.”

    Who hasn’t? And once acknowledged, how long do you wish to dwell there?

    Owens is a good example. She is part of entirely the type of situation you describe, born a victim. But, she didn’t care to stay there and be labeled such. Her rejection of that label is not a rejection of the reality she was born into. She’s proof there isn’t a rejection of her own story.

    “In the case of the conservative’s victimhood commentary, the victim mentality is pigeonholed into a person who simply doesn’t want to work hard to change their outcome. What often comes alongside this presentation is a disregard of the “victim’s” human dignity. ”

    Which conservative? I agree people descend into poor commentary; however, treating that as an in general description of a group or person to allege a disregard for human dignity is just a dismissive attempt at lumping in the good commentary too.

    “I would call those who maintain the views of Black victimhood from influencers like Larry Elder, Thomas Sowell, and more recently Candace Owens to take an honest look at the circumstances of the “victims.” There is often a story of systemic oppression that brings shape to the current circumstances and even mindsets of Black people working to achieve a better life in this society. ”

    What I perceive, not just from you Pastor Gray, but even Jemar Tisby is that this framework/worldview you describe is busy trying to argue and thus prove the past. To prove the victims.

    Meanwhile, the Sowells and Owenses of the world’s framework/worldview accepts this, but you don’t hear that because they’re busy talking about how to move forward. Their context is now a rejection of victim mentality, not a disregard that victims exist. They are two different things. But as you pull through your filter I’m sure it sounds like that.

    None of us do a good job of communicating to the other though. And I hope and pray that changes. To do that, we all have to do what you describe as not making quick judgments or being lazy. Understanding someone else’s framework/worldview is incredibly, mentally exhausting.

    Lastly, Compare Owens with Tisby. She has over 1M followers on twitter, been to the white house, influence in politics, and is now helping to make changes despite her childhood, and all because instead of arguing the past and pointing fingers at white conservative christians, she values them. She has the potential to do more than any other black person ever will for black Americans because in pacing white conservatives, they will follow her wherever she asks them to go. Pacing raises acceptance, allowing leadership to thrive. She’s also not afraid to sit down and talk with people who disagree on these issues. Her conversations with Hawk Newsome, Russell Brand, etc are great, even if we disagree with all of them on different points.

    Tisby, likewise has the gifts and potential to bring great influence, but he and the Witness will not get there if he continues to point fingers and argue over history in the way he has toward those he’s continually devaluing. For instance, where’s the phone call to John MacArthur and a podcast to discuss with him these issues?

    Where does the Witness want to be: arguing over history and who’s a victim or racist or even a dissonant Sowell?…or does it want to be in the now, pursuing changes to the system with those who are ready to do so? Because right now, that’s happening, and it’s happening without the Tisbys.

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