What If Everyone Were Green?

What if all of a sudden we were all green? No more red, brown, yellow, black and white? Just green. How would the world be different?

The news would sound different. “A green man shot and killed a green man in a St. Louis suburb last night.” “A green woman heroically rushed in to save a green child in downtown Minneapolis early this morning.” I suppose we would fairly quickly drop the designating adjective and just speak of men and women, girls and boys.

The designation of colors has become an important code in our various cultures. When you speak of a white woman or a black child or an Hispanic man, you have instantly summoned up all kinds of unconscious, preconceived notions of what that person is like. We instantly think we know much about them - what kind of food they like; perhaps their intelligence level or their education level; maybe their propensity for violence; possibly their attitude toward people who look like me.

A sociologist might call those preconceived notions “prejudice” or “stereotyping.” 

But if we all were green, we would not so easily be able to access our stereotypes about what we call “race”.  We would have to wait until we got to know someone before drawing any conclusions about their likes or dislikes or about their proneness to loving or giving.

Try this – whenever you meet someone or read about them in the news, think of them as being green and see if it doesn’t change your attitude toward them. If it does, then your attitude needed changing.

Click here to Check this blog on Stereotypes

Race and Fear

I have read a lot of books about race, written by honest people earnestly trying to understand and to explain the racial tensions in America and the world. Ever since I wrote one, people have frequently recommended others to me. Until now I have read a lot of them. But I have hit the wall on them. They are becoming more alike.

The most recent two or three have used the method of redefining a common term and then building their whole book on their redefinition. I blogged about that a few weeks ago. I really don’t like that method of argument. It seems unfair.

I don’t like the “all people are racist” approach either. Maybe we are, but it is to strikingly different degrees. And to argue that we are all alike, bringing the white supremacist into the camp with the modern progressive, just muddies the issues.

But here is why I am writing about it today. In one of my more recent conversations on the topic I had an epiphany that I want to share with you. Maybe you have known this for a long time, but realizing it answered a lot of questions for me. The root of all racism is fear.

 

Black people are understandably afraid of White people, especially cops. White people have long been afraid of Black people, hence the chains and the brutal treatment. White people are afraid of immigrants and refugees. That fear drives us not to want to mix. We didn’t want “our” kids going to school with “those kids.” The Black families are afraid of how their children will be treated and the White families are afraid of the Black culture. “Those” people will take “our” jobs. The beat goes on.

If we are going to solve the race issues, brother and sister, we must get past the fear. And the only cure for fear is knowledge. If you are afraid of roller coasters or Ferris wheels, you are going to have to ride some roller coasters and Ferris wheels to get over it. If you are afraid of airplanes, you will have to get in an airplane to find the cure.

If you are afraid of a Black neighborhood, you must spend some time in one to get past it. And if you have a deep-seated fear of people of a different color, you need to spend some time with a few. We must become friends. Not passing acquaintances, real friends. You have to spend enough time with someone of a different race that you become comfortable enough to discuss your fears and for them to tell you about theirs. It will be hard work.

Argument Made by Redefining Terms

Recently I have run into three books all with the same malady. I hope it is not contagious. What these authors are doing is beginning their works by redefining one of the words that is central to their subject matter, then proceeding to build the entire argument of their book on the redefined word. It is not a fair way to approach a topic. 

I first ran into it in a religious book that began by redefining “created’ as used in Genesis. Now it would have been okay with me if the author had simply explained that the ancient Hebrew word translated as “created” had a broader or deeper meaning, but it seemed to me that he had explained away the creation by redefining the word. To him “created” meant that God had moved into the world He had made earlier.

But then I ran into the book I am finishing now. It is about race, one of my favorite subjects lately. In fact, I wrote a book on the topic titled “Growing Up White in the Heart of Memphis” (amazon.com/author/davidmay). I’ve done a lot of thinking about it and I truly believe that I am not a racist. This author, a white woman, writing about what makes it hard for White people to talk about race, began with a redefinition of “racism.” She defined it very broadly, then painted all White people with a broad (White) brush, concluding that all White people are racist. She says we cannot avoid it. It is a result of the White privilege we have grown up with and the White dominated culture in which we live. Then she went on lay out an argument that strongly implied that if you disagreed with anything she said, that proves you are a racist. 

The woman writing about race had some good points and pointed out some things I need to pay more attention to, but her stereotyping of all White people as racists and her redefinition of terms colored the rest of the book. Likewise, the man writing about creation made some interesting points and the group that was discussing the book had some good conversations about it. Nevertheless, redefining commonly accepted terms is not a fair way to begin a conversation, especially a one-way discussion like a book.