I recently came across the following quote by Pastor Kenneth L. Samuel in the Stillspeaking Daily Devotional: “The journey of self-discovery is the most amazing journey of all, because worlds outside of us have little meaning unless they touch and inspire the worlds inside of us. Dr. Fred Craddock said that the greatest distances in life are actually the distances between head and heart.”
Years ago I attended a racism workshop with a racially mixed group. At the leader’s request the black participants began, reluctantly at first, to unfold their personal stories about being black in a white person’s world. I remember an articulate young woman, an administrator in a local company, telling about how, when she shopped, white clerks followed her, suspicious that she would shoplift. Her story, told with some anger, conveyed the indignity she felt. After sharing her story, she announced to the group that she was tired of attending “racism” conferences because nothing ever changed. Then she exited the room and never returned. That evening I couldn’t get her story out of my heart; since then I have often thought about her with great sadness.
Understanding the part that white people play in racism requires a journey of self-discovery. I think what hinders us in making progress is our tendency to approach examples of racism first with the head rather than the heart. Our mind works hard to protect us from feeling responsible for racism and shifts blame to the “other,” leaving our conscience clear. A common head response might be: “Civil rights were addressed in our country in the 1960’s; Black people need to take advantage of the opportunities available to them!” The problem with head responses is that, unless we do the work of digging out the whole truth, it’s easy to dismiss the issue, satisfied with only partial truth. Digging requires that we study history we never learned and look at issues from new perspectives; it takes time and commitment.
Friends from my interracial book group have shared life stories that are filled with racism experiences. Their stories range from being made to feel unwelcome to having a childhood home set on fire by whites. I cannot dismiss their experiences using my head. I am angered and saddened by the stories they share. Theirs is a world outside of me which will have little meaning for me unless I let myself be touched and inspired within…in my heart. For white people, this journey confronts a moral question, a question that probably must touch our hearts before we will choose to deal with it meaningfully in our heads.
I invite my church family to join others who have begun this journey. Read stories of their lives told by African Americans. The book “Waking Up White” by Debby Irving is one I would also recommend. From a white perspective Debby shares her struggle with both heart and head, for ultimately it takes both to make the journey toward acknowledging the role all of us who are white play in racism.—Deb Miller
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