In Lenny Duncan's vitally important book, Dear Church, he explores the critical ways in which the ELCA is systemically racist, among other things. From a place of love for the church, Duncan calls for a future informed by the hurt inflicted by the church upon black, indigenous persons of color.

One of the many elements of church life that Duncan explores is the ways in which our liturgies are racist and injurious. "The truth is," Duncan writes, "that our entire liturgy and worship are dripping with the affirmation of whiteness."* He voices the threat that he experiences from the white hooded robes that are common place in our churches. Duncan insisted to church leaders that "White, hooded robes were a symbol of terror for black folks..."** And yet, his concerns were not paid attention to. Duncan even received threats for challenging the Lutheran church to consider its identify "separate from any of the white, northern European cultural markers."*** Lenny's response to those threats?

"...Now I where a black cassock when I lead worship,

because whiteness does not equal holiness,

and blackness does not equal evil, brokenness, or self-denial.

Black is holy."***

*Lenny Duncan, Dear Church: a Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the U.S. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2019), 45.

**ibid, 63.

*** ibid, 65.