All
around the country, across the world even, wherever there are Christian
Communities, the Feast of Pentecost will be marked by multicultural services,
the honoring of diversity and a lifting up of the variety of people who have
been called into unity by the power of the Holy Spirit. But Sunday morning is
generally the most racially segregated hour of the week. Catholics are the most
integrated because many Catholics go to Mass in their neighborhood. Integrated churches are found in integrated neighborhoods.
But
in Portland Oregon, there are only a few racially mixed Catholic churches. Online
I found a site that graphed the diversity of major cities in the United States.
I was not too surprised to discover that the major city with the highest
percentage of people who identified as “white” is Portland Oregon.
I
grew up in southeast Portland. There was no diversity in my grade school. Of
the 600 people in my freshmen class there were two African American students. I
lived in a racist home, absorbing racist ideas without any conscious desire. I
heard comments about the exceptionalism of the few people of color that my
parents actually knew and had a lot of warnings about the others. How could I
know any different? And my parents were raised the same way.
Racism is invisible to people of the dominant race.
I
was 21 years old the first time I was invited to visit in an African American
home. I was shy since I didn’t know anyone but not uncomfortable, nor was I
conscious of race until someone turned on the TV and the contrast between all
the white people on the TV and the people in the room became abundantly clear.
It was then that I felt an enormous wave of discomfort – I had never thought about the fact
that nearly all television actors of note were “white” at that time. I never had a reason to think about it before. The year
was 1972.
Later
we were transferred to Prineville, Oregon. Across the street from our house lived
a Latino family. My oldest son liked to play with their grandson. One spoke
English and the other spoke Spanish but it didn’t seem to matter. There were no
public kindergartens in Prineville at the time. People with money paid for
private kindergarten for their children. The Latino children were mostly children of poor farm workers. They started school
without the advantage of kindergarten which meant that they were in the
remedial first grade class. The system worked to keep the two populations segregated.
When
my brother called me to announce his engagement to person to whom he has been
married for the last 40 years, a Japanese American, I responded with
congratulations and asked when they were planning to marry. My brother was
quiet for a moment and then said that I was the only one in the family to say
congratulations.
Later
I lived in Yakima WA. I volunteered as a recruiter for the Girl Scouts. I had
done that for a while before moving to Yakima and was excited to get started. I
was told by the official organization not to recruit south of the railroad
tracks because those families were “not stable.” Turns out they were mostly
Latino and Native American.
Years
later, I took a class in anti-racism. It was a powerful experience. One
thing I learned was that as a white person – and I will offer a definition for
white – I was enculturated to be racist, but, I also learned that with hard
work and a willingness to try and face the issues, I could become an anti-racist --
a person who worked to recognize racist ideas and reactions within myself and then
deliberately, consciously, work to resist them.
In
Jim Wallis’ book, America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege and the
Bridge to a New America, he says that people of other races tend to view racism
very differently than white people. He says “White people tend to see racism as
an individual issue, about good and bad behavior by moral or immoral people.
And because most white people don’t think we are “bad” or “immoral” and
certainly not deliberately “racist,” racism can’t be applied to us. …“I am not
a racist” is a regular response in the white community, either expressed or at
least strongly felt. And defensiveness is a common reaction, as opposed to
trying to really hear what black coworkers or fellow citizens are saying. For
many whites, it’s all about me, or us, and we don’t believe we are responsible
for racist behavior, even if we believe that some other white people— the bad
or immoral ones— are.” (Jim Wallis, America’s
Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege and the Bridge to a New America, Grand
Rapids: Brazos Press, pg. 92)
Wallis
refers to Robin DiAngelo who has written extensively about the defensiveness
that white people feel when they are challenged regarding racism. DiAngelo who
is a professor of multicultural education at Westfield State University, refers
to the defensiveness as White Fragility. She notes that "white privilege can be thought of as
unstable racial equilibrium."(Robin DiAngelo, White Privilege, http://libjournal.uncg.edu/ijcp/article/viewFile/249/116)
And when this equilibrium is
challenged, the resulting racial stress can become intolerable (for whites) and
trigger a range of defensive moves.
Given
today’s political discourse, I would say that there is a great deal of
challenge to the “unstable racial equilibrium” that many people have grown up
with in America – and the majority population is experiencing “white fragility”.
The racial mix in the United States is shifting even if it is not as visible in
our own city. The other morning I heard Pat Buchanan – former political
commentator, and a Catholic who twice ran for the presidency-- react to the
shifting racial equilibrium saying that he too, wanted America to be great again
– it was great he said when he was a child in the 1950s and there was nothing
wrong with wanting his country to be great again.
The
question of course is great for who?
In
1950, which was the year that I was born, the sundown laws were still on the
books in many towns across Oregon. Sundown laws stated very simply that no
Black person was to be in town after dark. Oregon was one of the states that
forbade slavery– while at the same time prevented free blacks from becoming
permanent residents.
In
1950 the LGBTQ community was still firmly locked in the closet. There was no
talk of same sex marriage laws and there was certainly no concern in the media
or State about anyone going into a restroom that didn’t match the sex of one’s
birth certificate. It was a non-issue since there was no legal recognition that
the community existed.
In
1950 women did not need any rights since they had their men to take care of
them- unless of course, they happened to be women of color who worked for
minimal wages in order to have enough money to care for their own families; or
didn’t have a husband who could take care of them - which of course was their
own fault.
In
1950 every public school had a Christmas pageant that featured Christmas
carols, a nativity and Christmas Tree. I still remember my first kindergarten
pageant… I held up a large cardboard picture of a cow and recited: “I am the
cow all white and red, I gave Him my stable for to make His bed.” No one considered the sensitivities of Jews,
Muslims, Buddhists, atheists --- or anyone else for that matter- this was
America – and we were great—but completely blind.
Let’s
be clear. The reactionary talk in political America today is immoral, deceitful
and sinful. We say that we are one nation under God but what some people are
really saying is that to be a real American is to be - a wealthy-white-straight-follower
of a fair skinned Jesus – and honestly, for most of these voices being male
gives you even more “greatness’.
Around
the nation people of faith are being challenged to speak out against racism,
homophobia, sexism, fundamentalism, religious intolerance, and xenophobia.
Jim
Wallis says that the Bible offers us the story of a pilgrimage of inclusion. “The
movement toward inclusion starts at the beginning of biblical history when God
addresses the most basic and root matter by creating human beings “in the image
of God”— not some human beings, but all of them. (103-104)
Sin
– he says “is the right word to use for racism – and I would add for the other
isms as well, … because it’s something that seeks to undermine the very
creation of human beings as being equally valued, loved, and cared for in the
eyes of God. Our
worth as men and women comes from all of us being the children of God, all
human, all creatures, - and all other political affirmations of our equality
derive not just from governments but directly from our identity as God’s
equally valued children.” (103)
“The
beginning of the church happened at the first Pentecost with a dramatic
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, an exciting expression of many tongues and
languages, and the call to spread this multicultural gospel throughout the
world (Acts 2). The origin of the church occasioned a glorious multicultural display
of unity and evangelism with three thousand converts that first day— clearly
including many ethnicities and races. All this made the early churches quite
radical.” (105)
To
identify as white today is to ascribe to a racial class that is entirely made
up. It began in the late 1700’s when there was a perceived need to justify and
explain slavery based on race. White became the term that denoted the
dominating race. White in short means prejudice with power. Anyone can be prejudiced but only those with
dominant power can turn their prejudice in laws that shape a culture.
When
I look at my skin I know it is not "white" – and Jim Wallis says that those of us
who have been categorized that way should resist accepting a term that comes
out of and perpetuates racism. On any form that asks for race we should fill in
the “other” box and where possible write “European American” if that is what we
are – just as other people check Native American or Asian American or African
American. We should not be excited if we are asked to denote our sex and there
is more than male and female listed. People have a right to identify
themselves. We need to read our history; get to know people who are not like
ourselves and if we are of the dominating race, creed, or gender, allow others
to tell us about the ways that we participate in racist behaviors without
becoming angry or defensive. Only when we get to know others, listen well, and
trust what others can teach us can we hope to overcome the systems we have been
born in to.
I
ask the forgiveness of the non-white community reading this if I have offended
in anyway because I have not talked directly to you, but rather about and
around you. Racism is a white issue. Please help us learn.
May
the Holy Spirit infuse us all with the power to be inclusive and truly united
into one human family.
