White Like Me
Once you say the words out loud – “I am a racist”, you can never unhear them, and you will never feel the same again about your participation in life. No amount of reading, studying, safe conversations in anti-racism book studies, or with a trusted friend of color, will reverse the deeply profound indoctrination that has poisoned our society for decades.
I recently watched the movie You People. While the movie is called a romantic comedy, it has throughout smatterings of painful reminders of the hold that racism has within our culture and within us. I found myself laughing at one moment and the next disgusted by the truth and reminders of who I am and the conditioning that I cannot seem to transcend to the degree that I will ever be left pure with an unstained heart. The most disturbing part in this movie is when two of the many characters played by Jonah Hill and Sam Jay discuss the reality that black and white people will never ever be able to be on the same page – not totally. This jolted me out of my chair because I am a diehard romantic with a deeply rooted belief in possibility. What the hell!
Can this be true? Is there no possibility that we can come to each other and bathe in the beauty of our individuality?
Your pure heart is not enough. The world cannot measure your heart, it can only see the result of your decisions and actions. Intentions are also not enough, this is what we learn along the anti-racism journey. To believe that we cannot come out from under the weight of our conditioning can be a slippery slope to self-condemnation, guilt, and shame. If you care enough to try and be part of the solution, you must avoid sliding down this slope and instead, with sheer determination, climb the mountain through radical self-honesty and education. From the mountaintop, the vista will always be more hopeful.
Consider this, you cannot be part of the solution while standing on the edge of the dance floor. A transformed world requires that you get in the middle of the dance floor with feet moving, arms flailing, and no regard for yourself or how you look. The only successful way to be on this journey is to surrender to all the discomfort that comes with it, to stay on the dance floor looking ridiculous, to be willing to be wrong, and to be teachable around each turn without putting your need for education upon your spiritual brothers and sisters of color.
We are each needed.
Join those of us who care along this journey. There is still room for you to participate in our fourth round of conversations with Healing the Divide, a book study whose focus is anti-racism. Be part of the solution.
