Throughout our nation’s history, people of different races have displayed just how much we don’t know about each other. And our educational background and social standing don’t necessarily matter all that much. In 1905, Alvin Borgquist, a Clark University graduate student, was conducting one of the first psychological studies on crying as a way to express one’s emotions. Seeking to find more data for his study, he wrote W. E. B. DuBois, a scholar and the first African-American Ph.D. from Harvard University. He asked DuBois “whether the Negro sheds tears, and if so, under what general conditions?” Consider the question and who’s asking it. Borgquist is a college-educated White person who lived such an isolated existence that he didn’t even know if Blacks were capable of crying.
More than twenty years ago, Phillip Milano and Larry Lane wrote a book about all those questions we want to ask people who aren’t like us, but we hesitate because we’re afraid. Where did their material come from? These two journalists created a web site called “Y: The National Forum on People’s Differences.” Interested people went to “Y” and asked questions anonymously. Many revolved around race, such as this question from a Black person: “Why do White people smell like wet dogs when they come out of the rain?” Another Black individual writes, “Why is it that Caucasians seem to spend so much time on lawn care?” And Whites asked a bunch of hard-to-believe questions as well, including “Is it true that Black people have an extra muscle in their calves?” and another, “What would take place during a typical weeknight in a Black family?”
In many respects, the social distance separating races and particularly Blacks and Whites seems as wide today as ever. For instance, once the video of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police became public, some Whites confessed they had no idea this kind of police brutality took place. Other Whites assumed that police brutality toward Blacks was limited to a “few bad apples” rather than something more pervasive.
If we are to achieve real change, locally and beyond, we can’t simply read a book or two or keep up with current events. Nor can we wait for others to educate us. We need to be willing to get uncomfortable and start with our own “blind spots. Recently, I reread parts of Race Matters, the classic by Cornel West that continues to shape my thinking about race. In it, Professor West addresses the here today, gone tomorrow discussions of race that make it impossible for us to confront this “issue in a candid and critical manner.”
Regardless of our background, we need to repeatedly venture outside of our comfort zones and stay there for a while. Often I’ve found I learn much more about race when I’m most uncomfortable. Where this learning takes place doesn’t really matter. For instance, during the pandemic some members of my church have had discussions each month with another church via zoom. Even though participants come from two churches with a markedly different racial mix, our discussions on racial reconciliation have been refreshingly open, honest, and productive I think.
For too long, racial ignorance has kept us divided. In this day and age, there’s no excuse for that. Learning opportunities are there. We just have to take advantage of them.
Links to more from Dr. Bucher:
Buy A MOMMY, A DADDY, TWO SISTERS AND A JIMMY: AUTISM AND THE DIFFERENCE IT MAKES at Amazon.com