Raphael Warnock, a Democratic U.S Senate candidate for the state of Georgia, said in an October 2016 sermon at Emory University that, “America needs to repent of its worship of whiteness!”
In the Emory University sermon, How Towers Tumble, Warnock attempted to tie the then-2016 presidential candidacy of Donald Trump to a xenophobic reaction of a people that should be open to the changing “complexion” of the United States.
“When the wind blows, sometimes you have to bend,” said Warnock. “You have to recognize what’s going on in the world in order to keep from breaking. In other words, you have to repent. Recognize what’s going on in the world, and that the fierce winds of change are blowing through our nation, like it or not.”
Warnock continued, “Change is a-coming, like it or not. We have before us an opportunity to make a decision. Will we repent? And if it is true that a man who has dominated the news and poisoned the discussion for months needs to repent, then it is doubly true that a nation that can produce such a man and make his vitriol go viral needs to repent.”
“America needs to repent of its worship of whiteness!” declared Warnock.
Warnock is set to face off against Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) in a runoff election in January, 2021.
A transcript of the quoted section from the sermon is published below,
“Fierce winds of change are blowing through our nation in this moment. The judgement of God is upon us. We have a decision to make. We can either bend or break. Flexible trees are trees that last. When the wind blows they respect the wind. So they don’t stand up. They don’t double down, they bow down. Every now and then when the wind blows I see a tree just bow down. Some of us need as much sense as a tree. When the wind blows, sometimes you have to bend. You have to recognize what’s going on in the world in order to keep from breaking. In other words, you have to repent. Recognize what’s going on in the world, and the fierce winds of change are blowing through our nation, like it or not. The complexion of our nation is changing like it or not. Change is a-coming like it or not.
"We have before us an opportunity to make a decision. Will we repent? And if it is true that a man [Trump]who has dominated the news and poisoned the discussion for months needs to repent, then it is doubly true that a nation that can produce such a man and make his vitriol go viral needs to repent. I don’t, no matter what happens next month, more than a third of the nation that would go along with this is reason to be afraid. America needs to repent for its worship of whiteness!”