Chris Walker, a native of Memphis, begins this episode by sharing more about himself and his athletic and spiritual history. Rick speaks about his and Chris' friendship over the years before starting the conversation about some of the current racial events in our country. Chris conveys that he sees some white people telling black people how to feel about racism or what you can and cannot say and emote, and it angers him.

Chris moves the conversation into sharing times where he has felt racism from others in actions and words spoken against him. He asserts that there have been times in his life where he has felt he had to "curb his blackness" in order to make people comfortable. Rick calls this out as "white expectations." Chris also references a time when a white person asked him "Why do you talk white?"

Rick then asks Chris to talk about the times and relationships he has with white people where their conversations are open and honest, and he doesn't feel racism creeping into their friendship. He expresses that his best relationships with white people are where they seek out Chris as a person and a brother in Christ, not as their token black friend.

Chris reveals that right now, black people just need support from the white people in their lives. Chris asks white listeners that if they have black friends, to reach out to them right now and just convey that they love them and that they are with them right now; that's all it takes to start healthy conversations, Chris says. He adds that we need to just sit with our people right now, not share how we might know how they're feeling, but just listen and be in the moment with them.

Lauren steers the conversation to talking about social media during this time; she asks Chris what is helpful on social media right now. Chris responds that he thinks social media has made it comfortable for people not to move into action because they think posting something with a hashtag is enough. We have to match what we post on social media with what we are doing in our circles, Chris communicates.

Lauren talks about raising a black daughter, and Chris jumps in by sharing how important it is to let her daughter feel black and not white.

For educational purposes, Chris has shared some books that would be great for listeners to read: White Fragility, Woke Church, The Color of Compromise, Divided by Faith, and I'm Still Here. You can find Chris on Twitter here and read more about his work with Fellowship of Christian Athletes here.

For more information on this podcast, visit podcast.fellowshipknox.org