Some thoughts on race

One weekend a month, I run a special educational program, in cooperation with the local public library, that helps low income high school students prepare for getting into college.  Some are white.  A few are black.  Most are Latino.

Two weekends ago, a student who happens to be Latino started acting out during a test.  Clearly frustrated by his inability to master the subject matter, and showing off to a couple of girls sitting next to him, the student began surreptitiously throwing pieces of broken pencil at me.    

I was not sure how to respond at first. I didn’t want to disrupt the class in the middle of the test, so I decided to wait until the break to talk to him.  Not happy with my seeming lack of interest in his antics, the student then started making funny noises that sounded amazingly like drops of water in a bucket.

It was then I noticed an earnest and extremely muscular student on the other side of the room staring daggers at the noise maker.  I knew I had to do something to quell the disturbance right there, not only for the sake of a class but also for the sake the disruptive student’s physical well being.

I asked the student pick up his belongings and follow me into the hall, where I told him that he was free to leave, but if he wanted to stay his misbehavior would have to stop.  

Then the student called me a racist. He claimed I was picking on him because he was Latino, and that I wouldn’t be pulling him out of the class if he were White.

I explained to the student that his race had nothing to do with my disciplining him, but that his behavior was simply unacceptable and disturbing to his classmates.

Of course, my protestations had no absolutely no effect on the student’s opinion that I was indeed a racist, an opinion which he continued to declare loudly and repeatedly as he confidently strutted out of the building.

Was the student race baiting? You bet he was. He was making specious and unsupported claims of racial victimization in order to distract from his own obnoxious behavior.

Was it extremely hurtful to me personally?  Right again.  Not to mention how I felt walking back into that classroom.

I tell this story not as an allegory for the unfortunate events of the other day, but to lend context to my argument that race baiting is a very real and insidious tactic used by opportunists of every color to cover for their alternate agendas.

Of course, that is NOT to deny that prevalent and often virulent racist attitudes do indeed exist practically everywhere humans with even slightly different skin pigments commingle, but when charges of racism are recklessly hurled without solid foundation and good faith belief, this ‘cry wolf’ behavior serves both to undermine the credibility of those with genuine claims and to alienate many who might otherwise be sympathetic to those claims.

Which brings me to my main point.

To be a truly color blind society, we need to consider everyone’s opinion and experience with race on its own individual merits, and not automatically assume anyone has the moral advantage simply because of that person’s skin color or ethnic background.

Let me show you an example of what I’m talking about.

Clue one: If a person of color says you are acting like a racist, it is incumbent on you to sit down and take a good hard look at your self.

For me, this statement completely ignores the substance behind the person’s accusations, and instead automatically assumes the credibility of those allegations based solely on the color of the accuser’s skin.  Taken to its logical extreme, this statement says I need to internalize my recalcitrant Latino student’s unfounded accusations, regardless of context or motive, simply because he is a ‘person of color’.

Here’s the deal. We are ALL people of color. Mine happens to be what most people call White – although my half-Mediterranean background gives my skin a distinctly olive tint.  I am neither proud nor ashamed of the pigment of my skin, nor, with the exception of an ability to achieve a remarkably deep tan, do I have any control over its hue.

So while I do not contend that the color of my skin provides me with any special privileges when it comes to substantive arguments about race, neither should it place me at an automatic disadvantage. My unique experiences as an individual dealing with race issues in this country are my own, and to discount or diminish these experiences solely on the basis of my skin tone is a racially-based argument I as a Progressive wholly reject.

Of course, that is not say that the color of a person’s skin does not help to inform him or her on the merits of a racial accusation, but those accusations need to be considered rationally and fairly based on individual facts and circumstances – without preweighting the scales in sympathy of any favored racial group.

I know this argument may be hard for some people to accept, especially for those who grew up believing that non-whites should automatically be accorded special advantages when it comes to discussions of race.  But no one can ever argue credibly for racial fairness and respect if they themselves are not willing to accord the same fairness and respect to those whom they are attempting to convince.

Instead, the assumption that any group has a morally superior claim to the racial high ground inevitably creates resentment within people of the ‘inferior’ group, which reactionary demagogues exploit to create further racial divisions. These divisions become even more exacerbated when well meaning but misguided ‘anti-racists’, in their frustration at the backlash, attempt to brow beat their ‘opponents’ into righteous submission with claims of racial guilt and demands of apologies for politically incorrect forms of expression.

The result is that those who might otherwise be amenable to considering serious and well founded claims of racial inequality simply withdraw, resentful of what they perceive to be unfair treatment and self-censoring for fear expressing themselves outside of the accepted orthodoxy.

And then people wonder why we can’t have a decent discussion about race in this country….

Update: Just to be clear about the program.  These kids all come in for a one off session and there is rarely if ever any repeats.  I had never met the student in question before that day, nor had I had ever spoken to or about him before the incident.  This is a voluntary program for the students and I do not take attendence, so there was no reason to even say his name.   To my knowledge and belief, there was absolutely no reason for the student to make the claim he did other than for the reasons I’ve already stated.  End of story.