If you have two seconds I’ll sum up my 2 most important points real quick:
1.) No, we don’t get it - Not only is it extremely complicated, but we are living a different sort of existence culturally in America than the majority of African-Americans.
2.) We are a HUGE part of the solution - If we don’t speak up, it only looks like ‘angry black voices’ that can be tuned out. The responsibility is on us to step up and bring clarity, help, hope and change.
If you have more than two seconds, I have a lot to say.
We don’t get it. We think we do. We are kind and sweet and intelligent enough to sort through all of our memory banks to relate and what we come up with after digging, is woefully short of reality for those impacted. I have tried to remain relatively silent until I could get my hands around the subject in a way that I could not only understand but convey to other Caucasian brothers and sisters, but each time our nation explodes in violence that timeframe shortens. What I’ve been trying to do is avoid more perpetuation of ignorance. Unfortunately I need to share what I do know and leave the rest uncovered for now. So, what I’m about to share is incredibly limited and embarrassingly weak on research and insight. But I cannot remain silent any longer.
When the Trayvon Martin situation happened back in 2014 it triggered something in me. I watched my black friends recoil in terror and I was relatively unmoved beyond the sadness over the needless death of a young man. I hurt for them, but I didn’t hurt for the situation. I couldn’t understand the reaction I was seeing. Yes, a terrible event occurred, but how was this different from the millions of horrific events that fill our news every year? Why would we link this with racism?
That got me thinking, talking with friends and beginning my stunningly immature studies in the situation. The answer to the Trayvon Martin reaction was simple: I didn’t understand at the time but found out that particular situation highlighted a series of continual problems and injustices in the racial tensions of our nation. Those same feelings are stirred once again (this time mixed with added vigor) with the needless deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Some of those I would like to highlight for you here (primarily those that white people need to understand):
1.) We Don’t Get It – I cannot say this enough, because too many of my white friends (me included) keep thinking we do. Why don’t we get it? Because we aren’t living the same cultural existence as African Americans. We keep putting ourselves in ‘their shoes’ and trying to figure out how we would act, but it’s like trying to figure out how we would feel about being a P.O.W from the safety of our own home. We aren’t factoring in the intangibles. It’s about atmosphere, it’s about historical impact, it’s about cultural layers, it’s about fears and anger. It’s easy to say that everyone should act perfectly and think perfectly on paper, it’s another to realize that life is not on paper. You and I have been treated one way and so we react one way. They have been treated another so they react another. Both sides are humanity reacting to their situations, only with different outcomes. But bottom line, there are a hundred different significant details that would make you go, ‘oh, I get it’ if you only knew.
2.) Racism is Not Dead – If one more person tells their black friends that racism is dead because we have a black president, someone is going to snap. Racism is not dead. Racism by definition means, ‘poor treatment, harm or superior attitudes toward someone due to their race.’ That is alive and well. The challenge is that in addition to the racism there are other issues going on as well. There is selfishness, apathy, ignorance, fear, anger and personal issues compiling the racism. Many of us look at situations and see these other issues and say, ‘it’s not racist to be a jerk’. You are right, but that doesn’t mean that racism is dead. It’s underlying a lot of the other issues and is still an issue in it’s own right. Everyone should be offended by racism; it’s not okay. Blaming someone for something they can’t change (nor should change) is wrong.
3.) African Americans are Viewed Significantly Different Than Whites – This is the problem of trying to get in ‘other people’s shoes.’ We don’t have the same scenarios to walk through. Statistics show that blacks are viewed more dangerous than whites. Why? There are a million reasons, one of which is historical, another is media. The stereotypes of black males have been ‘tough’ and ‘violent’ for as long as TV’s been around. Add this to the hundreds of other unfair negative stereotypes about African Americans and you begin to see that their world is different than ours. When they walk in any given room, it’s different than if we do. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of stereotypes of whites among minorities, the difference is that “white” is both the majority and the dominant race in America (majority is changing rapidly to Hispanic, but the dominance is firmly entrenched). When you are the dominant group you are treated differently and given certain allowances. Therefore, your ‘world’ is different.
4.) It’s About Protecting Children – African American parents are more fearful for their children than themselves. They have to face the judgments and unfair treatments of their children every day. They know the statistics. They know the stereotypes. They know the uphill battles. They know the cultural landscape. It’s one thing for people to treat them wrongly, it’s another to treat their kids wrongly. It stirs the mama-bear in them. They are afraid that their sons will get hurt because of the clothes they choose to wear (even if it’s a hoodie). They worry their daughters will be mistreated due to lack of respect for their color. They worry their children will never get a fair education, opportunity or allowance that their white neighbor’s kids get and the impact on their future that will have. Don’t we all want the best for our children?
5.) It’s Historically Set Up – This is perhaps the most debated and socially agitating part of the challenge for white folks. Despite the overwhelming statistics showing the discrepancy, whites refuse to admit that the black population has been historically segregated out into a brutal situation that lasts today. We want to think that the abolishment of slavery equalized things. It did not. We want to think that the ‘unfair Affirmative Action’ forced us to take a hit to let ‘them’ have ‘our’ stuff and now we’re cool. We’re not cool. We want to think that they have the same opportunities that we do and that a little hard work will get them what we get. It doesn’t. We simply can’t accept that history has screwed the African American population so significantly that huge change has to occur to make it right. We just want it to go away. It’s not going away.
6.) It’s Layered – No matter how many ‘aha moments’ I gain or that I share with you, we still haven’t dug very deep. It’s layered. Once you pull back one layer you see that there is still yet another of a different sort. And then you see that ‘this issue,’ is caused by, ‘this issue’ and that to root out one is to disrupt the other. For example the plight of minorities is heavily interlaced with systemic poverty. What some feel is racist based, is really poverty-ism. But when a few groups tend to be poor (for systemic reasons), then those groups are the ones receiving the unfair treatment regardless of where it started and it feels like racism. Take for example the staggeringly inequitable statistics on incarceration of minorities. Although minorities make up one percentage, the incarceration rate is ridiculously higher. Why? Does more melatonin automatically mean more evil, more sinful, more crooked, more crime-ridden? Of course not. So what systems are causing this? It’s layered.
7.) The Solution Seems Hopeless – A great deal of the reaction in recent days has to do with a sense of hopelessness. The African American population has been trying to be patient and is not seeing enough change. They are afraid that it’s never going to fix and so something drastic has to happen to force it. Everyone tells them that it takes time, but they are worried about their children right now. While there is great change happening in one place, there is little to no change happening in another. If it’s all related, it’s hard to celebrate the victories when they happen. The minute they celebrate one, the white population acts like they have done their part and they stop advancing the ball. So, you see radical reactions. It’s not the ONE situation; it’s the culmination of ALL the situations.
8.) The Police Aren’t Always the Good Guys – I’ve grown up with a great respect for law enforcement. I think that they put their lives on the line and aren’t respected enough. I think that they are shackled from getting their jobs done and that people expect them to be robots when they aren’t. I remember having a completely different view of the Rodney King beating back in 1991. Although I knew the officers were way out of line, and condemned them, my mind went next to the way that people don’t understand the life of a cop. They have fear, they overreact, they are angry at being mouthed off to. They get disrespected, while they try to protect others. What I didn’t know was that I was thinking like a white man. In 1988 the rap group N.W.A. released the controversial song, ‘Fuck the Police’. I remember being stunned as a white kid and didn’t understand at all. I figured they were just being controversial to sell albums (after all their name: Niggaz with Attitudes, implied wanting to irritate). But behind that song was a million painful memories of the African American community that didn’t see police like I did. The police in my world were the good guys, the protection guys, the safe guys. In their world they were the harassers, the racists, those taking advantage of their authority & power. They had story after story of being stopped, embarrassed, humiliated, fearful, degraded, physically harmed, shot, killed. I think you and I would have a different opinion if we were ‘Straight Outta Compton’. I don’t have police drive through my neighborhood, ever. I don’t get pulled over for looking ‘suspicious’. I don’t get derogatory looks or words because of the color of my skin, from officers. I don’t get less trust because of my look (at least not since I stopped having long hair as a rock star). In my world, police protect and my only complaint is them writing needless tickets to raise more money. In the black experience, police are feared and untrustworthy. Until we can understand that, we don’t get this part at all.
9.) We are a HUGE part of the Solution – Until white voices rise up; little is going to get done. Why? Because we are the ones in the dominant group with the power and authority. We run the power structures. We have the money. We have the voice. As long as it’s left to black voices they just look angry and can be tuned out as bitter. If someone is in a pit, they can struggle all day long until someone outside of the pit helps them out. If there is a separation between the black and white worlds, then the black side won’t get the ears of the whites until the whites start to talk with and for them. Therefore the first step is to understand their situation. The second step is to care that they are hurting. The third step is to care ourselves about the injustice and own it enough to do something about it.
10.) The African American Community is Working on Their Part Too – No thinking person is ignorant enough to assume that all the problems facing the African American community are imposed from the outside. The African American community is quite clear on their cultural problems. They realize that there are some things they are doing to perpetuate some of the problems, and they are clear that there are some things entirely out of their control. From my vantage point they are doing a lot to address their issues and it’s time that we join them in the battle to help them with the pieces that they don’t have access to.
I’m done…for now. I’ve only scratched the surface and even what I said will be argued with and challenged and resisted and ignored. But, my job is to speak the truth that I know, to encourage hope and change and then allow the Lord to do the heavy lifting.
With love, Pastor Lance Hahn
