Theological school dean says 'White grievance and rage' are 'baked into the DNA' of America

One dean at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio is claiming that “White grievance and rage are baked into the DNA of this nation” after the Capitol riot on January 6.

Valerie Bridgeman, the dean and vice president for academic affairs as well as a professor, made the comments in a piece for  Church Anew focusing on how Christian leaders are responding to the Capitol riot.

The passage begins with Bridgeman’s experience as she watched the Capitol Riot unfold on her screens. Bridgeman says, “I want to be clear to note that they were citizens. They’ve been called a number of things, including by me: rioters, insurrectionists, seditionists. But they were citizens who believe that the election was ‘stolen’ from them.”

Continuing, Bridgeman states, “They were citizens who believe that the election was “stolen” from them, who believe that the votes of (mostly) black and brown people should be rejected, that there is ‘proof’ that the current president has been wronged. And so, they were there for the revolution and to ‘take back their country.’ For them, those of us who voted against their will are not true Americans.”

In the eyes of Bridgeman, these events were “predictable,” for the sole reason that she has “been in conversations with (white) people who have said directly that they can’t wait for a revolution to ‘take our country back.’”

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The events of Jan. 6, according to Bridgeman, were “as American as baseball and apple pie.”

“White grievance and rage are baked into the DNA of this nation. I know what I just wrote is offensive to people whose myth-making about this country deifies it and demonizes anyone who says such things,” claims Bridgeman.

To end her piece, Bridgeman connects the difficult times Americans experience today to the lives and roles of a preacher.

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“Bravery requires precision. It requires thinking clearly about what all the issues are. It requires using language carefully. It requires resisting pablum and platitudes. It requires resisting ‘what about-ism’ when calling out wrong. It requires truth-telling, even in the face of rage and handwringing. It calls for wisdom. But it also calls for friendships, love, and laughter. It calls for strength and God-given companionship. And preachers must invoke all of that. So, friends, may you be brave as you prepare to preach in the breach of these difficult days,” Bridgeman wrote.

Campus Reform reached out to Bridgeman for a comment, but did not receive a response. 

Follow Logan Dubil on Twitter: @logandubil