Biblical Racism Is An American Tradition

We are seeing more of the same in 2026. Religion and Scripture used to harm others for the sake of power for a few.

Back in 1998, I decided to gather some information about Bob Jones University’s ban on interracial dating and marriage among students and faculty. So, I called and a staff member sent me a letter that outlined the “Biblical justification” for their prohibition. It was utter bullshit, as you can guess. I’ll post a link to the letter in the comments below. Now, the next thing I did was post it on my magazine, The Multiracial Activist. Then, I went to get a cup of coffee. Days, weeks, and months later the letter went viral and was linked, quoted and cited in hundreds of articles, books, stories, postings etc. across the internet and in print. To say that BJU was mad would be an understatement.

No, they weren’t mad that I brought attention to their policy. Everyone who knew anything about the school knew they had that policy. The thing is…they never published the alleged “justification” for the policy. They only hinted at it. I changed the conversation by shining a great big neon light on the actual text of the justification.

Bruh, hijinks ensued. What is it the kids say now? Their evangelical apologists had a Big Mad. I got death threats, tons of hate mail and ignorant spamming to my forums.

Now, I didn’t have to do much else, but I did anyway. I created a curated page on the website to link to stories, articles, forums, etc. related to the Bob Jones University saga. I posted copies of the Supreme Court cases they fought in the past. I published commentaries from past students. That content went viral via syndicated print media services. I started off with an expose. I turned that expose into a movement and picked up allies along the way.

In posting the actual letter, I did something unexpected. I changed the conversation. People far smarter than I were able to parse the justification and eviscerate their fragile “logic”. It was a thing of beauty.

To be clear, they weren’t mad that I talked about their policy. They were mad that I changed the conversation and got EVERYONE talking about the loose logic used to justify their racism.

Two years later, in 2000, Bob Jones, III went on Larry King Live and announced to the world that they were rescinding their decades long, racist ban on interracial dating and marriage among students and faculty. Then he waffled back and then finally, permanently revoked the ban.

Folks, sometimes one well-placed rock can start the cracks that bring down an entire glass house. I didn’t do all the work. I just saw a weakness and exploited it. Then I waited. The internet, just coming into widespread deployment, didn’t fail. Fighting back against hate, bigotry, prejudice, and religious motivated violence doesn’t require you to be an expert or to do more than you can handle. Just find that rock and aim it in the right place. Someone else has another rock and another rock and yet another rock…