Curing The Whitewashed Black Man is an anthology of poetry that reveals the spiritual introspection journey of Smiley's ethnic identity. As a black man who grew up in a multiethnic Christian church, he often considered himself a peacekeeping reconciler. However, God convicted him of sacrificing his righteous indignation against systemic racism and injustice for the sake of surface level racial reconciliation. Smiley soon realized that for years he drank the Kool-Aid of white supremacy in his theology which distorted his understanding of Jesus Christ and the world.
These poems reflect the process of Smiley de-colonizing his theology. This poetry book is divided into four sections that share his honest and painful cries for black America, his appeal to white evangelicalism, his honor for black heritage, and reflections on the scripture through the lens of his black identity.
