December 12, 2014
I am not an expert in racism, but for eight years I was the pastor of a community of African Americans in Memphis, Tenn. At St. Augustine Church, the number of jaw dropping racist stories that I heard in everyday conversations were amazing. It was the subtle stuff that was most disturbing – rushing in and out of a McDonald’s in Mississippi because a group of five black parishioners were the only black people in the store. Or how a black deacon, lost at night in an upscale section of Memphis, was nervous because he looked for directions at a golf course and found he was the only black in the clubhouse.
Michael Eric Dyson writes about racism in this way, “It is nearly impossible to convey the fear that strikes at the heart of black Americans every time a cop car pulls up.” I find it hard to identify with that moment. I’m white. I may not like it when a police officer stops me, but my experience of police officers is that they are doing their jobs, and I was probably at fault in bringing their attention to me for speeding, or not having a headlight in good repair, or for having a brake light that doesn’t work. It would never occur to me that the police officer was stopping me just because I am white. It doesn’t happen. But stops without clear cause, do happen to black people.
Reflections about racist attitudes in our country have been deepened by what happened in Ferguson, Mo., when a white police officer, Darren Wilson killed a black teenager, Michael Brown. A grand jury found that then officer Wilson was not liable for any of the four charges, including murder, for which the grand jury had been convened. Nights of violence and looting followed the grand jury decision. Few will justify the looting and rioting. But there are many voices being raised to question whether or not Michael Brown received justice.
A larger issue is why are we still so divided by race in America? Black people enjoy the same restaurants as white folks do. White and black we enjoy sports events together. Black and white we attend schools and universities together. But we go home to different places and different kinds of places. When we list our friends are there black people among them? When we intend to go to the movies do we call black friends to go with us? The stereotype of the black person often causes people’s negative reaction. We don’t think about the fact that all of us are human regardless of our color, we only think of color. And so black people get stereotyped.
In the world of being a Catholic Christian, we are called by our God and the Lord Jesus to recognize what Jesus recognized … all of us are human. Samaritans, Jews, Christians, people who are black, yellow, red, white or brown – all of us are human, and when we recognize that about each other we have begun a dialogue that is essential today as we sort out the pain of Ferguson, Mo., and try to learn from that pain about climbing along a different but necessary path of justice and peace.