Sunday, October 26, 2014

Dear White, Black, Brown, Yellow or Red People

I know that satire, humor and wit can become a divisive tool to hurt people that are different from yourself. I was raised by parents that should have been racists because of the neighborhoods of their youth changing radically over a short period of time. It wasn’t until I visited St. Louis in elementary school that my grandma enlightened me about the superiority of our race. My dad was very quick to silence her and explain to me that God made us all in His image with the same rights. Yet, he continued to explain how the outcome of fear, misunderstanding and hatred could make a person into a bigot that truly believed he was superior to others.

My wife and I decided to do a movie date on Friday and watch Dear White People. The clips for the movie had some humorous ways of showing how racism still exists amongst all people groups and not just ‘White People.’ I have purposely chosen to live and work in a multi-racial neighborhood where most of the time I’m the one in the minority. Often I realize that I’m viewed as an outsider who has no business of doing community work unless it is solely with my own race.

The movie used the college campus of a prestigious institution to poke fun at the extremes of how people of different racial backgrounds treat each other. My purpose in this blog isn’t to critique the movie. I will allow the various movie sites to do this but I will reflect on the sad fact that racism still exists to such an extent that a movie like this has to be made. The reality is that most people don’t believe there is racism today or use racism as an excuse for inaction. Just like the issue of equal pay for women is a huge issue today in addition to the cry of the need for racial diversity for most high tech companies. Yet, few are willing to fight for equal pay or diversity in the work place.

I’m fortunate to have many friends from a large variety of racial, socio-economic and educational backgrounds. What I’m learning is that it takes real effort to befriend someone that is different from you. Often this has little to do with race but with our interests, i.e. are you a sports fanatic or an educational snob? Yet, the onus is on me to pursue friendships with those that are outside my interest box. Initially it can be a little scary! I recognize that everyone is different from what foods they eat, what type of clothes they wear and even something as silly as hair care products can cause confusion unless you ask the obvious questions.

It’s clear that everyone reacts to the extreme stereotypes that the movie displays. So the discussion between the White President and his Black Vice President made it clear that too many today, regardless of age, don’t understand the impact of ongoing racism. The College President is too quick to address his counterpart in a diminutive fashion only to discover that the V.P. is doing something similar as he empowers his son to purse the President’s daughter as his girlfriend.

The part of the movie that strikes deep for today’s confused generation growing up is answering the ultimate question of who am I really? The smart gal in the movie is someone who has a Black mom and White dad. It isn’t until the end of the movie as this college gal’s dad is dying that she realizes how difficult it was not only for her but also for her dad who clearly received criticism. It was using the ‘M’ word, that describes our present President’s racial background and brought quick screams of don’t say that because it means that you might not fit in either world. Clearly this gal was the brightest and best in her class yet because of her being of a mixed race she could end up on the outside all-alone.

The hero of the movie is someone who is watching and writing from the sidelines about the extremes of all the different racial groups and how they treat each other. It took a Halloween party to push this student to stand up against the blatant racism of the President’s son. The difficulty with the movie and the response of most people today about racism is that it doesn’t do anything to create a path for multiculturalism instead of ongoing segregation in the community, church, work place and universities.


So yes I do need to hear a little about Dear White People or the reverse Dear Black people to help make my neighborhood healthier and more capable of accepting people from a diverse background. The difficulty is that it is easy to laugh at the movie but racism isn’t a laughable matter!

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