Friday, December 4, 2009

Differently the Same

Our similarities are fundamental and our differences are central.

The study of genetics has shown that our racial differences are entirely superficial. There is actually more genetic variation within racial groups than between them. The vast majority of physical differences among us are simply in the shape, color, texture, etc… of our outer coverings.

In some very real ways we are “all the same under the skin.” And yet, many people I know shiver when they hear that statement uttered. “All the same under the skin” is one of the ways that people who “don’t see skin color” describe their attitudes about race. This “colorblindness” to race confuses the ways we are the same with the ways we are different. While the genetic-based differences between us are superficial, the cultural preferences and lived experiences of people who are of differing racial and ethnic groups can be vastly different.

This is the fundamental reason why I choose to focus so much on the differences between races in my strivings to contribute to building racial equity rather than how we are “all the same.” Many Non-Whites have been brave and generous enough to risk frankness about race in the face of White dominance. If I listen to them I can hear how their lives are different from mine because of their identities. As a White man, I strive to understand the impact of my own race on my experience and the impact of the collective and individual behaviors of Whites on others if I am to have any chance to be a positive force for racial equity in my world.

Another reason to focus on our differences is something more specific to US culture: we often have a sense that we have no culture, that we just see things the way they are and do things in the way that makes most sense, especially us Whites. This is a bit different than what many people in other groups may feel about their own cultures. People who come from cultures that are not as dominant as White US culture often have a sense of what culture is and how all of us use culture to make meaning. They may prefer their own or denigrate others’ cultures, but the concept of culture itself exists in their psyches. In White US culture, the sense that there is no culture means that we can’t even have the conversation, or that if we do, we are arguing from a stance of superiority that is greater than most. We are the enlightened ones, standing above the quaint concept of culture, showing respect for the concept because other people seem to need it while we don’t ourselves. It dampens our ability to invite cultural differences into our experiences and makes us less skilled at inviting culturally different people into our lives.

The way we are most fundamentally the same is that we are human beings with 100% valid cultural and identity experiences that deserve equal consideration.