I don’t have all the answers. I am definitely not always right. I believe that civil discourse with someone who has a different perspective than you can benefit both parties. I believe in seeking to understand rather than always trying to be understood. Empathy is important to me. With that said, there are a few things that I do not think should be up for debate that, at least according to my social media feed, seem to be:
1. Racism still exists. Some believe it is not prevalent enough in today’s society for people to be making this big of a deal about it. I have seen well-meaning people post a quote supposedly from a wizened old African American man about how racism is long gone and those who are bringing up the topic no are essentially troublemakers. I have seen friends and family I adore post a meme quoting Morgan Freeman that states that the way to end racism is to not talk about it. I could not disagree with these sentiments more. Just because in your face segregation and the earmarks of the Jim Crow era of our history aren’t as readily apparent doesn’t mean that the problem has disappeared completely. In fact, it has woven itself into our very social fabric, and because of it, is perhaps more dangerous than ever. It has been said that “the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” I would argue, “the great trick white supremacists pulled was convincing the world racism no longer existed.”
You cannot fix a problem by pretending it does not exist. As a white man who has lived in a predominantly white community his entire life, I would be putting my privilege readily on display if I claimed something did not exist simply because it did not affect me. (That statement is short sighted—the plight of African Americans has affected me, as in a perverse way, it has benefited white society for the past 400 years—which is all the more reason that it cannot be ignored any longer). We enslaved Africans and African-Americans for over two centuries. We segregated and treated African Americans as “separate but equal” for a century after that. It is naive to think we “fixed all that” and closed all those wounds in 50 years. For those wanting to learn more about this and expand their perspective on this issue, I invite you to reach out to real life People of Color (not parroting quotes or memes you find online) and talk to them about their experiences. Watch the 13th on Netflix. Read “Letters from a Birmingham Jail”, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, or some of the works of James Baldwin. Go to www.babynames.com and google some of the names you find there. Do something to escape the ideological echo chambers we sometimes find ourselves in when we get news from the same sources and talk to the same people about hot-button issues. Do something to learn and grow.
2. Color-blindness does not fix racism. Interconnected to the willful ignorance of pretending like racism isn’t an issue anymore is the idea of “color-blindness.” This is the lie us white folks like to tell ourselves sometimes to convince us and those in our circle that we aren’t racist. I have seen many different iterations of this pervading the internet and social media, but most share of what seems at first glance to be a benign message about how the best way to end racism is to somehow ignore color. Even if that were possible, why would we want to? Color consciousness is not racism. In fact, pretending like color doesn’t exist is, in my opinion, insidious because it allows racism to continue. In addition, it seeks to silence or erase an important part of African-American identity. One such example of this was a meme I saw that offered, “here’s how we fix the current situation: take the words ‘black’ and ‘white’ out of the statement, ‘an innocent black man was murdered by a corrupt white cop.” No, that is not how we end racism. We end racism by recognizing that people of color have their own glorious, unique identity that, sadly, often places them in the crosshairs of injustice because of their superficial appearance. We end racism by listening to people of color and letting them share their stories. We end racism by amplifying the voices of people of color—not seeking to solve this conflict for them, but rather by being their advocates so that they can work to solve the problem themselves. We end by voting people into office (Democrat or Republican) who will champion people of color and support legislation that will root out racism legally, socially, and economically. For additional perspective on this, I recommend reading this article, which as an educator, helped me open my mind to the disservice I do to my students when I ignore color: https://mobile.edweek.org/c.jsp?cid=25920011&item=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.edweek.org%2Fv1%2Fblogs%2F100%2F%3Fuuid%3D79622&fbclid=IwAR3AIcDp4y5EHMhqZVh2-gibbhasvBkYT2jv7_7tHtS_a8A-Q4lddR0HAbc
3. Black Lives Matter. This does not mean that other lives do not matter. It means that, currently, black lives are the victims of systemic racism that needs to be addressed so that they no longer have to unfairly die in larger numbers disproportionately to other races and so they no longer have to live in fear when venturing into situations that will highlight their skin color.
This doesn’t mean that police lives don’t matter. In fact, reform to limit the impact bad policing has on African Americans will help all lives—including those brave men and women serving as members of law enforcement who are conducting themselves admirably. We can debate what that reform should entail and what else needs to be done to curb systemic and institutionalized racism, but Black Lives Matter should be embraced by everyone who believes in our national creed of “liberty and justice for all.” Whether that means you embrace the call or the movement itself, we cannot continue to stand on the sidelines and watch in silence as people suffer.
While the false choice between “All Lives Matter” and “Black Lives Matter” continues to rear its disingenuous head in many places, I was disheartened to see many pseudo-racist or outright racist comments on a social media post from the Utah Jazz organization that affirmed “Black Lives Matter”. At the same time that I was prouder than ever to be a fan of that franchise, I became aware that Russell Westbrook and other people of color’s criticism of playing the Jazz may have more truth than I would previously have liked to admit.
Some disagreed with the post on religious grounds—which baffles me since, as Christians, we should take seriously our charge to “mourn with those who mourn” and “comfort those who stand in need of comfort.” While Jesus atoned and died for everyone, he was and still is concerned about “the one”, the lost sheep that is most in danger. When fundamentalist and traditionalist elements of society refused to abandon their comforts and status quo instead of heeding his charge to “love thy neighbor as thyself,” he sharply condemned and rebuked them. I cannot imagine Jesus being a silent or even passive ally of Black Lives Matter—in fact, he isn’t—he is speaking through his brothers and sisters lawfully protesting injustice right now and through his Prophet who coauthored an amazing statement on the issues facing society today with the NAACP. While I think it would be unfair for me to label myself as a member of the BLM Movement since I am not black myself, I am definitely their ally. For those of you who would like to learn more about the platform of the official Black Lives Matter movement, go here: https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/. (I will admit, I am sure that a few of the calls to action there will make my fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints uncomfortable and my conservative friends squirm—but I also think, if you read them with an open and objective mind, you will find more common ground than you might think.)
It would be extremely hypocritical of me to postulate that it is extremely important for people, even though they might not agree, to try to empathetically listen and understand if I did not afford that same opportunity to people here. I am still learning. I do not understand all of the complexity surrounding the current calls to “defund police” and am not sure whether I support those measures or not, but I do know there needs to be more transparency reform in policing so that the vast majority of heroic cops can continue to do their job well. I am still trying to wrap my head around the privilege I have as a white male and figuring out ways to still be an ally to both women and people of color, but I’ll save that for another post. I do understand, however, that there is much more that needs to be said and done to address this pivotal problem in society, and that if we are willing to have difficult conversations without resorting to entrenched defensiveness, we can take the first steps toward healing the deep-rooted racism that continues to divide us whether we are willing to admit it or not.
As previously stated, I am having a hard time understanding why these three “issues” are so controversial, so I would welcome the opportunity to engage in civil discourse with anyone who seeks an opportunity to build bridges rather than create chasms.
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