Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi

Ok, here’s the deal, I was graced by the “opportunity” to endure another anti-racism training last week.  I say endure because, it was - as many of them are - nothing new, not ingenious or creative, and seriously outdated.  I saw the same image of the old lady/young lady, the same quiz on the “invisible knapsack” and the same videos about the children and white doll vrs the black doll and the teacher from Iowa who did the blue eye/brown eye experiment.  Each of these has been within the content of any of a dozen (probably closer to 18 or 20) of such seminars I’ve attended and while they are interesting and perhaps even moving at some level, it’s time to realize that the world is not the same place it was 30 years ago.

The ironic thing is that I don’t argue that we live in a society where color still effects people in ways that it shouldn’t.  I’d never question that we are a world of massive inequalities and that our history is plastered with indignities based on race.  However, I didn’t grow up in the world my parents and grandparents grew up in.  These “trainings” may be effective for a particular generation (although I don’t know) but they simply don’t take seriously some of the things that have changed in the past decades.

Unlike many of the white people in my parents’ generation, many in my generation…

• have been taught by people of color
• have been supervised by people of color
• have had academic deans and managers and school executives who were people of color
• have seen teachers, professors, deans and executives mistreat people of my color because of assumptions based on color
• have been told that color makes me ineligible for scholarships that I would otherwise be eligible for
• have been instructed to not persue career paths because my gender and color would disinclude me from employment
• have been instructed to not apply for specific jobs because color would disinclude employment
• have been passively (and sometimes actively) excluded from groups and clubs because of whiteness
• have been repeatedly told I can’t dance, jump, clap, sing, worship (and a variety of other things) because of my color
• often hear racial/ethnic/color-based jokes derogatory of my color that would not be socially appropriate if it were another color
• have assumptions made about my abilities and preferences based on whiteness
• regularly have my color described as a “lack” of culture, color, or ethnicity
• look at activities we would like to excel in and don’t see very many people of our color among the elite ranks
• have my ethnicity and cultural background lumped into a large category with people who are nothing like me and whose ancestory is nothing like my own
• are repeatedly reminded and held responsible for the sins of our ancestors (although my ancestors were not involved in them)

The list could go on and on, of course, but it serves to make the point.  Racial issues are still a huge problem in our country but they are not the same as they were 20 or 30 years ago. Trainings and “events” need to take that into consideration.  I also know that, even in the above list, arguments can be made about the appropriateness of the inequality “for the greater good,” and that there is an institutional side of things that must be balanced with the personal side - I’m not arguing with either issue.  The point is: the world is a different place now.  Perfect?  Of course not!  Equal? Nope, not that either!  But different.

The same old stuff simply isn’t going to work (if it ever did, I don’t know).

Grace and Peace,

`tim

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