Did you choose your parents? Did you spend time deciding
your ethnic or socio-economic setting as a baby? Did you ask your dad or mom to
go to graduate school so you could live a better life? Oops or what if you were
born into a family where your dad disappeared or is in prison is that your
fault? What if you have a mom who has been unemployed and lived off the safety
net of the State is that your path in life too? I was born into a ‘White’
middle class family with incredible parents so does that make me a bad person
because I was taught from the cradle to have morals, work hard, share and care?
Whereas my dad was born into a family where his parents divorced when he was 10
and he grew up in a ‘Black’ neighborhood in St. Louis so does that make him
disadvantaged and a thug?
I just finished reading an incredible article about Emily
Smith who is a ‘White’ urban school teacher that one day woke up to the fact
that her ‘whiteness’ did handicap her when it came to working with students of
color that came out of under resourced single mom homes. This last week there were peaceful but loud
protests taking place in Chicago because of a ‘White’ police officer that
gunned down a 17 year old Laquan McDonald.
Yet, there wasn’t any protest about a Black assailant that was in the
process of kidnapping a gal that was rescued by a doctor who was shot while
helping.
The racial battle continues to grow in our country as the
reasons for racial inequality continue without anyone doing much to see bridges
being built between very different communities of people. I applaud Emily Smith
for her willingness to recognize the need to teach in a different format to
reach her urban students who are very different from her. It wouldn’t be any
different if she were teaching in a magnet school where her students excelled
and she would have to adjust her subject matter to better help the learning
process.
The challenge today is that it is so easy to do the blame
and shame thing on everyone instead of considering what are the elements that
have caused both ‘White’ privilege and ‘Black’ oppression in today’s society.
Again I didn’t choose my racial, educational or moral level of my parents who
birthed me! Much as some of the kids and teens of color that I’m around didn’t
purposely choose a dad who is in prison for attempted murder. The opportunity
is for all of us to choose to work together to learn more about each other’s
stories and see positive avenues to pursue which helps us to better understand
each other. None of us can alter the past, whether that be parents that grew up
during the depression, WWII, Vietnam or the impact of the historical journey of
our country that allowed and promoted slavery.
Clearly the present dialogue or more accurately shouting
between racial groups over the present tense situation doesn’t accomplish
anything but to promote violence, hatred and more racial prejudice. I will confess to the fact that I react to
the term White privilege because the setting upon which I have been fortunate
to experience is a byproduct of hard work, determination and the grace of God
not an inheritance of a wealthy estate. Yet, the perception of many in the
Black community is that my success in life means the demise of their community.
Is it really my fault that many of the Black teen guys I’m around choose to
drop out of school, be unemployed, steal from the local Circle K Store, smoke
pot, be rude, crude and foul mouthed? Most
are going to react to anyone who acts out in an immoral fashion if it
intersects their lives.
As I relate back to many friends who come out of very
different social and racial contexts we have to purposely choose to dialogue
about the present day issues in a positive and constructive fashion. Yet, what
usually happens is the perception that could be reality is that another White
Policeman shot another Black teen in a totally unjustifiable fashion. Understanding of the why of what caused that
White Policemen to shoot are never considered much as the why of what caused
that Black young man to challenge the authority of the Police Officer is never
considered either.
It’s so easy for the White person to assume that all Black
males under 25 are thugs from the hood much as it so easy for the Black person
to assume that all White people are racists and will go out of their way to
make sure they oppress anyone of color. If we continue to live this way then
there will be more Black men killed by White Police Officers, protest will
continue and the divide between the different communities will only get worse.
What would happen if all sides involved would stop assuming
the other side is totally evil and out to do harm and instead take the time to learn
a little bit about the other group’s circumstances and life story. Imagine what
it would be like to have a ‘Black’ Emily Smith write about how she had to
adjust her teaching style to accommodate a group of Hispanic Students that were
learning to speak English whose parents were undocumented farm workers?
The simple fact is that we live in a complicated society
where everyone ultimately has a story that they believe should give them access
to what’s best in life. The sad reality is that too often our plight in life is
a byproduct of many factors that are beyond our control. So what is the best
path to pursue; ongoing violence, peaceful protests, pleading ignorance or
becoming like Emily Smith who purposely chose to admit to her blindness and
then do something positive about it?
No comments:
Post a Comment