Reflections on Race Relations in this Country




I heard Barack Obama's speech this morning on race relations in this country, and was moved to offer some thoughts on that subject. First, I thought Obama's speech was an excellent attempt to frame the issue(s). He gave a historical overview, and reminded us of many painful truths from our past. He gave credence to the concerns of whites as well as blacks, latinos, and other ethnic groups, as we all react to the events that sometimes overwhelm us and often bewilder us. He tried to explain his own view of race as a man with a black father and a white mother, and his unusual upbringing in both worlds. I thought it was an excellent attempt to begin a dialogue on this important topic. It is a topic most of us don't really want to talk about. It makes us uncomfortable at best, and angry and reactionary at worst. I will attempt to talk about it without creating too much of any of those reactions!








Obama gave an excellent overview of our nation's aspirations from our founding as a nation "with liberty and justice for all". It is fascinating, and disconcerting, to read of the high aspirations expressed in the words of our Constitution that "all men are created equal..." and recognize that as these words were being written all women and all slaves, and most Native Americans, were excluded from the "all men are created equal..." passages. In actuality, only the white male property owners were truly first-class citizens of this new nation. Women could not even vote until the 1920s, and slaves and their descendants had a much longer struggle. It took a horrible civil war and then one hundred years later a civil rights movement in the 1960s to gain reasonable voting and other rights. The civil rights movement is often viewed as being solely about blacks, but in fact it benefitted women and poor whites as well. I remember my father's deep resentment of the "poll tax". That tax had the clear intent of disenfranchising the poor--black and white--and it remained until the 1960s.





All discussion of race relations today has to begin with our history as a backdrop. That history deeply impacts the psyche of everyone, and for some much more than others. While it is true that blacks today were never slaves, and only those in their late forties or older can readily remember the days of legal segregation, the real changes have been slow in the ensuing years. All blacks today have experienced the pain of racial prejudice and discrimination in one form or another. We need to acknowledge that fact as a starting point. I found it interesting, and wise, that Obama acknowledged that some whites have also experienced some adverse effects of the racial changes we have all lived through. If we approach our discussions with honesty and openness to the other person's viewpoint, we are far more likely to have a productive exchange.





My own life experiences have greatly shaped my views on race. I grew up in the segregated South, and in a part of north Alabama with very few blacks. I remember conversations with only two black people in my growing up years. I also grew up in a cotton mill village, and experienced the discrimination that comes from being a "lint head". Nothing like blacks experienced, of course, but painful and real nonetheless. I served in the U.S. Army in a unit that was roughly 50-50 racially, and almost all from the South. We learned to live together quickly and well for those two years in the 1950s. I then moved back to my segregated South and remained very segregated through colleges and work experiences in the 1950s and 1960s.





In my academic career, I had the good fortune (I believe Providential) to begin my teaching career at an HBCU (Historically-Black College or University) and to also end my career at a different HBCU. In between, and for most of my teaching career, I taught at a very-white Southern university. The first HBCU experience began in 1970, when the Civil Rights movement was still very much alive and feelings and emotions were still quite strong. Our VP for Academic Affairs called all the non-black faculty together and explained that some of the students may not be receptive to us, or may even be hostile, and proceeded to tell us some truly horrible racial experiences some of them had lived through. In fact, I never had a single bad experience there, and I count those two years as truly formative in shaping my life. I had a very limited experience with blacks to that point, and they likewise with whites. I remember my dismay when some of the faculty seemed truly surprised that I was a Christian! They had concluded that few, if any, whites were Christians, as they had seen so few examples of Christian love from any of us. When Jesus was teaching about that very subject, "love thy neighbor", he was asked "who is my neighbor?" His answer was the story of the "Good Samaritan" (Luke 10) in which Jesus used a person of mixed race and despised by the Jews to make his point to the Jews. What better teaching on race relations is there?! Somehow, many Christians miss that teaching point. I also experienced the results of our "separate, but equal" segregated schools, as too many of the students were not well prepared to begin college. Bright and eager to learn, for sure, but too many were missing the rudiments of a basic K-12 education.





My experience at the other HBCU was in recent years leading to my retirement, and the students were quite different. They were from racially integrated environments of schools and communities and their perspectives were so different from my first HBCU students. They were generally much better prepared for college, and were like the students I had taught at other colleges. Discussion of "sensitive" topics was also much easier. I taught Business classes where we talked about the Business culture and covered topics like racial stereotyping. They readily discussed some of the typical stereotypes of blacks as well as whites. One exercise was especially fun and instructive. It consisted of naming a particular car (make, model, condition) and then asking "who is driving it"? We all know the stereotypes along this line. They offered the answers and laughed freely at the black stereotypes, and then also, when a pickup truck was described, gleefully answered "white redneck" as the driver! I drove a pickup truck at the time, and quickly insisted I was not a redneck! We all had a lot of fun with that exercise. When the students at both HBCUs understood that I was there to help them succeed in their education and life, they responded with warmth, friendliness, appreciation, and effort in almost every case. I think I enjoyed my teaching experience there maybe more than at any other place.




Some of my friends ask me why black students attend HBCUs today. I certainly can't answer for all of them, but my impression is the following: First, black pride. For some, their parents, and grandparents, attended this HBCU because they were not allowed to attend the white colleges and universities. They feel a strong emotional attachment to a school, such as Tuskegee University, which Booker T. Washington founded, and where George W. Carver taught for so many years. Admirable men and women were pioneers in black education at the HBCUs and achieved much under very difficult circumstances. Second, if you are black, and want to find a mate of the same race and similar background and interests, the HBCU certainly offers that opportunity. Third, the HBCU offers an environment in which a person can freely experience his ethnic identity. He is in the majority there for probably the last time in his life. I can certainly see why some black students want to have the HBCU experience.



Teaching at an HBCU was for me a very beneficial experience in seeing how the world looks through their eyes, and I am grateful for the opportunity. No one who has not lived it can truly know another's life experience, but by teaching at two HBCUs at very different times in our nation's racial history, I have gained a little more understanding and appreciation and believe I can much more readily think about and discuss racial issues.



I will close this blog with the following strong recommendation. It has been my experience and observation over a long period of time, that the key to better race relations occurs on a one-on-one basis. We simply must get to know at least one person of another race on an equal and personal basis. I am not talking about liking your black maid. I am talking about a friendship with an equal from work, church, or wherever. No one who is honest and fair can know a person of another race in a close personal friendship and EVER be the same again. I am certain of that. I have observed it many times. People who are really racist, whether black or white, are those who do not truly have a friendship with someone of the opposite race. It completely changes one's perspective. No racist joke is really funny, no derogatory thought or expression is acceptable, if you play it against that friendship; it is only embarrassing. You will think "how would my friend feel if they heard this, or saw me listening, or worse, saying this". I hope this challenge will be met by many. It is the key to our growing more like our Savior in loving our neighbors, and also growing as a nation.