Race: An Invitation to Conversation
Change my Mind
Let’s be honest, it’ll be hard for any of you to change my mind.
I mean, that’s the way it is, isn’t it? We believe what we believe at the time we believe it and it’ll take a shift in the way we see the world to make us change our minds.
But I’m opening the door and promising I’ll try. Will you?
Race is an insignificant difference between people much like height, hair color, eye color, or propensity for cancer. You’re born with it, you can’t erase it, and ultimately it relates to very little in your life... until it does.
See, some people found it a useful tool.
Populations were branded with a race that then determined a whole collection of rights, privileges, suffering, or destinies.
“In Virginia in the 1600s, Anthony Johnson secured his freedom from indentured servitude, acquired land, and became a respected member of his community. Elizabeth Key successfully appealed to the colony’s legal system to set her free after she had been wrongfully enslaved. By the 1700s, the laws and customs of Virginia had begun to distinguish black people from white people, making it impossible for most Virginians of African descent to do what Johnson and Key had done.” ~Facing History
So you see, after Bacon’s multicultural uprising, it was perceived as a good idea to keep the various groups from colluding. Divide and conquer.
Duality
The names are probably worth noting as well. Now, since the dawn of time, humanity has existed in a duality. Night and day. Day, of course is good. It brings warmth and vision and restores life. The Sun is life. The sun is Rah and so many other Sun deities. Night, of course, is cold. It is scary. It is downright dangerous and even deadly. The night is Set and other deities. The night, in short, is black. The day, is white. What better way to characterize the lowest and the most Godly? What better way to differentiate them, divide them, and conquer them all? I mean, after all, the Whites are certainly lighter than the Blacks - even though the Whites are really pink rose, wheat, sand, and champagne colored. The so called Blacks are brown and mahogany and walnut and cinnamon and maple syrup colored. But black and white, that’s way more effective in this situation. Some other colors such as yellow and brown are reserved for not the bottom, but definitely not the top tier. The top tier is “Whites only”.
They ignored culture. Nigerians, Jamaicans, Sudanese - all black. Irish, Swedish, Greek? All white. They weren’t always, but, for a seat at the big kids table, people will turn their backs on 10,000 years of cultural history and replace it with ...White. Why? Because they have little choice. They’re lives or livelihoods depended on it and the rest are just born into it.
The Yoke
I mean, think about it - most of us just accept the reality we’re given. We buy what we’re sold. Only a rare person sees through it, and likely only with some luck. Children of Christians often become Christians. Children of Muslims often become Muslim. The odds of a poor kid from a terrible neighborhood looking to wealthy criminals and joining that life is higher because that is the way he’s raised. Children of abusers often learn to abuse. What are we to expect of so called “white people” - they will unconsciously believe they are white and, without even thinking, act in entitled ways. Ask a woman what it might be like to be who she is without being a woman. The question hardly makes sense because that is part of what she is. Society has foisted feminine expectations and mostly, she has accepted them. Why? She just doesn’t know another way. You know how long and hard it was for women to convince other women of their own womanhood and what it meant and what it didn’t have to mean during the civil rights era? Who would you be without your American-ness? You couldn’t even say - unless you’re not American… because it is in you from day one. So it is with whiteness and blackness and all the rest. We all just accept it until we are shown something else.
White people have to come to terms with the fact that they are not white. They’ve just been told they are. Dave Chappelle said it “you people only think you’re white. But when you make 50 million dollars, they pull back the curtain and show you the real White people.” Or something like that.
Similarly, Black people have had that label foisted upon them. And it comes with a lot of painful and misery laden baggage and a ton of problems. And I believe it took a ridiculously powerful act of courage for James Brown and others of that moment to stand up and say: “say it loud! I’m Black and I’m proud!” Because black was the weapon. That was supposed to be the weight that held them down. But like the N word, it was transformed by the human spirit’s desire to have dignity. Honestly. Honestly... Is that not one of the most beautiful acts of subversion you’ve ever thought of? A tyrannical oppression orchestrated with a word and like a flower - the perceived as lowly soil and tiny seed blooms into something bigger and more beautiful.
Brotherhood
So, when I was a kid in the city, there came a moment when we were all just using the N word. Saying it to each other as simply as we might say “dude” or “man” or “yo”. KRS-ONE had a song and one line was “Word, what go around come around I figure, Now we got white kids callin' themselves n**gas”. Now, I don’t know exactly what he meant when he wrote that but to me it sounded like: times are changing and we’re winning the culture war. You thought you were White but your kids want nothing to do with it.
To be honest. I bought it. I was living it. And I was actually really inspired by those lyrics. They made me feel like “yeah, there are two teams but it’s not black and white - it’s those still trapped in a white supremacy mindset of black and white and those who’ve moved to the next level. Those of us who grew up in multicultural spaces. Those of us who could shake hands, hug, or kiss other people without much more of a thought than “I really like her.” Those of us who saw mahogany and sand and rose and honey and caramel instead of the supremacy designations.
Don’t get me wrong. We saw it. We knew what it meant. We weren’t stupid. It just doesn’t matter most of the time when you’re good friends. Actually, we cracked racist jokes all day at each other! But again, once you know a person pretty well, their skin tone is not always on your mind.
Conversation
So the way I see it today? Race is a social construct that has no basis in reality but can have small and very large real world effects when racism rears it’s head in all of its forms. Unconscious, conscious, structural, implicit, etc. But I’m not a critical race theory person. The effects of racism in our society are real. But they are one of many effects. Gender and sexual orientation are others but there are many more. Are you able bodied? Are you short for a man? Are you really objectively gorgeous? Are you cognitively impaired? Were you born poor or rich? Are you socially awkward or charming and witty? Race is a big one - but it’s not the only one.
Interpersonally, I try and look at people’s eyes, listen to their voice, try and understand what they like and dislike, and watch the expressions on their face. When I fail to do this, it’s because of my lack of attention only. Those things add up to something much more human than a color.
In finance or politics or whatever the rest of our lives are called, I support movements and candidates and books and films and art and schools and companies and organizations that seek to uproot inequity when they catch it on their watch. I support them with my word of mouth, my votes, my patronage, and my money. I reject all of those that continue to stress the value of race and identity as central to most things and most conversations and most conclusions. That includes people who say they dislike or hate white people. Which has been said directly to me, in classrooms that my wife teaches in, and by the children of family friends when they said it to my kids. Reiterating that value of the supremacy of race is not in the interest of those of us who see a better world with many cultures and colors - even those that once thought themselves black or white.
That’s not to say ignore it. It is to say, appreciate that and many other aspects of the people you meet. Identify and respond to systems and structures and people that intentionally or unintentionally box people into those constructed roles and let people be themselves. Professionally, personally, interpersonally, and in every way - leave them to live their life and call out those who curtail that effort.
But call out and invite in. If housing practices are racist. Call them out. But don’t burn down all of the houses. Root out the barriers and let the houses stand. If a person is trapped in a mindset of the 1670s, invite them into the 21st century. We could use the votes, and the donations, and the rolled up sleeves. There’s plenty to do. Combat pandemics. Control artificial intelligence. Battle misinformation. Curb the effects of climate change. Avoid nuclear war. Cure disease. And so much more. Not to mention, like the child of an abuser will often abuse - we can’t let them get away with it - but in our best moments we can see that they are human beings who suffered trauma and are unconsciously passing it on to others in a vicious chain of pain and indignity. I’d rather a world where we work to save the abuser, the criminal, the wicked - and make them whole. A restorative world.
So, what do you think about race in 2021?
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