What if EVERYONE is a racist?!?
I've heard a couple of Don Imus sound bites recently where he declares something to the effect that "anyone who knows me, who has listened to the show, can tell you, 'I am not a racist.'" Mixed with the appropriate gravitas and earnestness, case closed, right?
But what if by that statement Don Imus is answering the entirely wrong question? In fact, what if the question is not "are you are racist or not?" but instead is "how are you on the road to recovery from your racialization?"
I've posted about racialization before, but to sum it up, everyone gets racialized in their life, like it or not. It's in the cultural air you breathe, and the effect of it is that you have a bias. For me, it's the bias that white is somehow better or more normal (I have a similar bias about being male, and clearly Mr. Imus has that as well).
So the key issue in my life, or, in my opinion, anyone else's, is what are you doing about your bias?!? Have you acknowledged it are you trying to grow? Where are you in admitting your racial brokenness? What does healing look like in your life? In the case of Don Imus, what if, instead of repeating the litany that goes "I'm not a racist," he (or anyone else in power who at some point let's their racialized heart break through their guarded mouth) says, "I regret very much that I said that, but at the core I've got some racial brokenness that I need to work through. Clearly, I have a ways to go, and I'm sorry."
How much more powerful (in addition to being more truthful) would a statement like that be anyway?!?
3 comments:
I think there's so much at stake that we need to win rather than be truthful. Imus had to pretend his statement was a fluke, an aberration, a one-off and his detractors needed to pretend that it was the Worst Crime We've Ever Witnessed, even though Imus probably meant it more than he lets on and the mob wasn't as offended as it lets on.
In God's kingdom we can throw ourselves on His mercy because we know there is grace enough. But because in this kingdom we must win, there is no grace. With no grace you're dropping your defenses at your own peril.
Preach that Jer. But wouldn't it be so refreshing if someone came that clean in the public square?!?
Wow, thanks for this throught-provoking post (and the link to your prior post). I have been noticing some of my own racial thoughts since I read your post. So... what is your (or anyone's) answer to your question: "how are you on the road to recovery from your racialization?" What do you do with yourself when you become more aware of your racial feelings?
Post a Comment