I have been to the supermarket, and I've seen the other isle.
With the 28th Martin Luther King Jr. day upon us
I’m going to take a moment to point out exactly what I mean by my assertions in
this blog that, “Racial Identity is a White Issue,” and, “We’ve Come Far but Not
Become Fair.”
I’m not going to make a complex argument about whose
responsibility it is to end racism. Those arguments are out there if you seek
them. I’m simply going to say that
racism is a problem in the racist
just like theft is a problem in the thief.
If the thief doesn’t steal there is no theft. If the racist stops his racism there is no racism.
I’m not going to quote statistics about racial inequity,
though if you go seek them you will see that Whites in the US hold power and
wealth disproportionately compared to People of Color.
If you believe that all races are equal in natural ability
then systematic, often-unconscious White oppression is the logical explanation
for the racial disparities in the US.
After all, 99 years after slavery was made illegal in the US we needed
to pass the Civil Rights Act to enforce equality among the races, and 49 years
after that there are still disparities among the races in achievement, power,
and legitimacy in our culture.
And of course, if you believe that racial disparities stem
from one race being superior to other races then you are, by definition,
racist.
But this is already more than I wanted to say today. Here’s
what I really want to say: Last year on MLK day I went to the supermarket and
there I saw the color line starkly. On this national holiday celebrating this
Black man who was a civil rights leader, every single person buying food was White
and every single person working behind checkout was a Person of Color. MLK day seemed to be a great
opportunity for us White folks to catch up on our shopping while for People of
Color, at least in my little corner of the world, it wasn’t a day off. Yes, they may have been getting holiday
pay, yes they may have been glad to make some extra money, but no White folks
seemed to be in the same boat. For us it was a day off.
At the time I wanted to say something to the person who
checked me out, to at least acknowledge that I saw it, but what could I say
that wouldn’t be some attempt to be viewed as a “good” White person instead of
one of those other, bad, unaware White people? “Boy, that racism sure is
persistent! Oh, I brought my own bag…”
All this happened, mind you, while the first Person of Color
to be President of the United States is in office, a thing that until it
happened many people thought was unimaginable, even in 2008.
And so my little experience reflects the philosophy of this
blog. With Obama in the White house we have “come far” in terms of what race
means in the US. With such
disparities among the races still in place, we’ve “not become fair.” It is my responsibility to continue to
do what I can about it because it’s doubly unfair to ask the targets of
inequity to take the responsibility for eradicating it: “racial inequity is a
White issue.”