 |
| Die In for Racial Justice at Trinity College in Hartford, via Bishop John Selders... |
So let’s say that recent, well-publicized events of Police
brutality and overreach in relation to African Americans has awakened a desire
in you, as a White American, to do something about racism—to try and make a
difference.
First of all, let me congratulate you. You are on a journey
that can and very likely will be one of the most rewarding of your life—the
journey to learn about race politics and people whose physical appearance and
heritage are different from your own. I personally made the decision to do
something about racism while I was in college. At the time I was a liberal
feminist and peace activist. I grew up in a working class household with
parents who held liberal attitudes toward race. My brother and I both had Black
friends growing up. In the case of my brother it was his best friend in college,
and I still remember the time our two families dined together at Dominic’s, a
popular Toledo restaurant, during which I became aware that some of the other
patrons were staring at us--or at least, trying hard not to stare. It never
occurred to me that this was at all unusual—it was the 1980s. Events such as
this led me to the conclusion that I was at best naïve, and at worst ignorant,
about race in America, and I needed to learn more and do more. And so I embarked
on a journey of discovery and activism—reading, taking classes, talking to
people, engaging in political organizing and protests. I didn’t have a roadmap
for my journey, which is still very much ongoing and will be for the rest of my
life, and I don’t think I have a roadmap to offer others. However, I do think I
have a few pointers that might help people on the same journey.
1. Listen. Observe. Listen some more. Observe
some more. Read. Think. Stay humble. It is not the job of African American
people to educate you. They have busy lives and agendas of their own. You need
to educate yourself. It’s okay to ask questions—especially if you are taking a
class and they are the teacher—but do your homework first.
2. Empathy and compassion are your greatest
tools in this endeavor. People with
a different experience of life may see the world very differently from you.
Believe them. Remember what they tell you. Start to try and see the world from
different lenses besides your own. This is the essence of education.
3. There are other kinds of racism besides
White racism against Black people but this type of racism is especially
powerful in America because slavery it a primal wound of the founding of our
nation, went on for hundreds of years and
ended only after a war that was protracted and bloody and killed more Americans
than any other war. Please understand that this is a big, complicated issue.
Some people will try to dissuade you and say it has nothing to do with you
because you are White. It is an issue that touches everyone in America, even if your ancestors were in some other part of the world at the time, because it has had so much influence in our culture.
4. There is no such thing as reverse racism. It
is one thing to be prejudiced. Everyone has prejudices, which just mean you
think that something is better. I am prejudiced in favor of dark chocolate. It
just seems better to me than other kinds of chocolate. Racism is prejudice plus
power. Even if people of the same race associate in homogenous groups or even
exclude you it because you are not part of that race-based group it does not
make it racist, unless they are part of the powerful race and you are part of a
less powerful race.
5.
Don’t
expect anyone to trust you right away. Trust is built over time. Mistrust
across racial lines is not uncommon and is totally understandable. Put energy
into building relationships. Don’t give up quickly or easily.
6.
Take the
chip off your shoulder. If you spend time in the Black community, you may
hear people talking about racism or White people and painting with what seems
to you like a broad brush. Don’t take it personally. You don’t need to speak up
and them that this isn’t true about ALL White people. Be patient and listen and
try to see it from their point of view. Let your actions speak louder than
words.
7.
The Black
church is widely regarded as the primary engine of leadership development among
the African American community.Respect this and do your best to learn about
it—and experience it. This is changing somewhat as the larger society
becomes more secularized and religiously diverse, but the Black church has
historically been the number one place in the Black community where leadership
skills have been recognized and honed. (Historically Black colleges and
Universities, many founded by religious groups, are another such important
institution.) If you are one of those
liberal White people who are always going on loudly about how oppressive
organized religion is, you are putting off a lot of African American people
with your ignorance. Yeah, the Black church is not perfect, but if you are
making assumptions about how Christians in America think, act and believe
without knowing how historically Black churches think, act and believe, you
need to get off your soapbox, put down your megaphone and educate yourself.
8.
You need
to experience being the racial minority in some life situations to understand
race politics in America. The most eye-opening experiences in regards to
race in America for me came about when I was the only white person in the midst
of an African American community. My mom, bless her well-meaning heart,
honestly believed that African American neighborhoods are more dangerous than
other neighborhoods—or at least, more dangerous for a lone white person. I have
learned from copious first-hand experience that this just is not true. I am
sure that the reverse is true, however—that Black people are more likely to
face harassment and fear if they are alone in a White neighborhood. My best
experiences have happened in historically black churches and colleges. People
are not just polite, they are friendly and welcoming. It made me start to feel
embarrassed for my own race. Which brings me to…
9.
White
guilt is a wasteful exercise in self-flagellation.
Wallowing in corporate self-pity is a ridiculous waste of time that is
inherently only available to those who have privilege. Get off your posterior,
stop staring at your own navel and do something useful to reduce racism. Black
people don’t want your guilt or pity, they want CHANGE.
10.
You need
to learn to look beyond skin color when sizing people up. This is a big
thing for White folks—even liberals see a Black man and get afraid. You have to
unlearn this fear reaction. It is actually making you less safe. Deciding
someone is not a threat because they are small and white may be instinctive for
White people who grew up in overwhelmingly White neighborhoods, but it has no
basis in scientific fact. Also, deciding that someone is not as smart and
interesting because of their race and writing them off is equally foolish.
Striking up a conversation with a Black person might change your life for the
better. I don’t want to imagine my life without my African American friends and
mentors. It would have been immeasurably diminished in quality.
11.
Affirmative
Action isn’t hurting you—or anyone. Life is not fair. Studies of who gets
admitted to a particular college or hired for a particular job reveal that the
most advantageous factor is a personal connection. Leveling the playing field a
little bit to make sure a University or an employer has a more diverse mix of
people enriches everyone involved. Maybe you really had your heart set on going
to the University of Michigan or whatever. The sun will still come up if you
don’t get in to your first choice college. In fact, not being accepted is the
most common result for applicants of highly competitive schools. Welcome to the
human experience. Grow from the experience and take comfort in the fact that if
you are not part of a historically marginalized group you will get many more
awesome chances in life to better yourself, while it could be a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity for the person who took the slot that you thought should have been
yours. Honestly who to admit to a
college or hire for a job always involves taking a calculated risk, in that it
is hard to predict who will rise to a challenge and who will sink into a
pattern of mediocre performance. Get
over yourself and move on.
12.
Learn
when and how to talk about—and not talk about—race. Famed Director Spike
Lee came to the offices of my former employer for a meeting. “Who is Spike
Lee?” a (White) coworker asked, and I explained that he is a famous film
Director. “Denise, I’m really proud of you,” another (African American) co-worker
said. “You didn’t say he was a Black film Director.”It’s pretty simple—in a
context in which you wouldn’t specify that a person is White, then don’t
specify if they are any other race.
13.
You need
to speak up about your distaste for racism, even if you know you won’t convince
a person that they are saying or doing something racist. I understand you
won’t convince everyone, or maybe even anyone, to care about racism, but you do
need to make it clear where you stand and what sort of behavior you
expect. Periodically you may need to
remind people that you are still against racism. This doesn’t mean you should
engage in pointless arguments. State your position and make it clear that you
will not budge from it. Everyone may not like it but they will learn to respect
it, and you will learn who shares your values and be enabled to make decisions
accordingly.
14. You will lose respect for some people and
gain respect for others.You are having an awakening. If you’re doing it
right, it will bring rewards, but also many challenges and disappointments
15. African American people are people. You
will like some more than others. Some will be mentors and friends. Some may
become lovers and family to you over time. Others will disappoint you or worse.
You cannot judge an entire race on the basis of your interactions with any one
individual or with a subset of the entire group. I kind of can’t believe that I
need to say this but my own experience tells me that I do.
16.
You will
need to be a follower in your relationships with African American leaders when
it comes to racial politics. This holds true even if you are more
knowledgeable about Black History and culture than many African Americans. Be
humble, and understand that no matter how much you learn, you will always be a
student.
17.
Your
journey of grappling with racism will last a lifetime, and will continue to
yield many significant moments and insights. A (white, male) colleague once
remarked “well, now I guess we know all there is to know about diversity” at
the end of a staff retreat on the topic. Another male in leadership of an
institute of learning I attended once said, “We are a recovering racist
institution.” I got the feeling that he didn't think we needed to put so much energy into the recovering part. And of course there is the oft-stated opinion that since we have
a Black President Americans should move on to other topics besides racism.
These are attempts at weaseling out of the profound, ongoing commitment that
ending racism requires. They must be resisted. They most important part of the journey may
very well be ahead of you, no matter how long you have already traveled. For
example, a couple of years ago I was doing a genealogy chart and came across an
ancestor who stipulated in his will that his children would inherit his slaves,
but that they slaves would be released when they reached a certain age. It
actually took me a few hours to realize that those slaves were probably his own
children. It wasn't that uncommon under slavery for parents to own their
children, or siblings to own their siblings. How messed up is that? How does
that legacy affect us today? What is my ongoing responsibility to help us move
beyond it as a society? I'm only just starting to have some ideas about all these things.
18.
American
culture is, to a great extent, African American culture. Commit to put energy into learning about
this for the rest of your life. You will be amazed at how this makes your life
richer and better. In areas such as
music, art, religion, comedy and literature, the truly great, pioneering,
distinctly innovative and influential American voices are disproportionately
African American. You need to educate yourself about this history and ongoing
phenomenon. If you are a pop musician and you want to be great, you need to
spend some time learning about African American jazz artists. If you are a
preacher and aspire to greatness, you need to learn about (and from) Black
preachers. If you are a writer and aspire to greatness, your education is
incomplete without a thorough study of African American writers. Once you
scratch this surface you will probably become interested in studying the
contribution of other minority groups—Asian Americans, Native Americans, Jewish
Americans etc. America is less a melting pot than an awesome tossed salad of
greatness and genius. This could lead to an interest in the culture of other
countries, and before you know it, you could become a citizen of the world.
Congratulations. And keep going. There is always more to learn and try.
19. Being against racism and race-based
discrimination isn’t just the right way to be, it is the smart way to be. The
slogan for the United Negro College Fund really sums it up: A mind is a
terrible thing to waste. I don’t want the mind that could cure cancer or
negotiate world peace or become the perfect mate for one of my children to be
locked up in prison for years on a minor charge or gunned down in the street
over a stupid misunderstanding.
