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Writer's pictureBarbara Williams-Skinner

A Prayer to Defeat Systemic Racism

Updated: Dec 12, 2022

August 27, 2021 | by Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner | NCNW National Chaplain and President of Skinner Leadership Institute


Loving and gracious God, in the name of Jesus, we pray against the depraved concept of a superior human or race so deeply rooted in American life because your word says that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3.23).

Thank you for the undeniable truth of Genesis 1.27 that every human person born is created in the image of God, the “imago dei,” and has inherent dignity, worth, and value. God, today, we pray that you would call to repentance everyone who identifies as your follower, yet traffics in racial bigotry---bringing shame and disgrace to your Gospel of love and peace made possible by the sacrificial life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.


Lord, open the blind eyes of those who consciously or unconsciously benefit from the lie of white superiority and the inferiority of People of Color. Your word in 1 John 4:20 make clear that “whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” So, we praise you, God, for White American Christ-followers who consistently model the radical love of Jesus by using their power to oppose systems of racial bigotry. We pray you would strengthen Black, Latino, Asian Pacific, and Indigenous people facing discrimination in every system governing American life by the idolatrous notion that the color of one’s skin should privilege some and disadvantage others. May your followers boldly and courageously assume your mandate as ambassadors of biblical reconciliation with people of every race and background as evidence of their love for you.


And, then O God, we ask you to help us to fix our hearts to humble ourselves, pray, and turn from our wicked ways, so that you may hear from heaven, forgive us of any part we play in sustaining racial alienation in our time so that you might heal our land. In your matchless name, we pray, Lord Jesus, AMEN!






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