VCC Magazine Summer 2020

V irginia C apitol C onnections , S ummer 2020 8 Racism is a taboo and highly controversial topic often resulting in heated arguments. In these verbal exchanges, emotions run high and understanding rarely happens. In the end, we end up talking past one another. Why do we do this? The problem begins with our educational system. Racism is not a part of an education in the United States of America. Given the history of Native, African, Asian, and Hispanic Americans in this country, that is striking. Racism at both the individual and structural levels are a big part of the history and experience in America yet we educate masses of citizens to remain ignorant of the violence and exploitation of European colonialism and how it created racism to justify slavery and the genocidal slaughter of millions of indigenous peoples for centuries. Most Americans educated in our schools do not know about the black codes, convict leasing, sharecropping, and the thousands of lynchings attended by tens of thousands of white Americans during the Jim Crow era followed by redlining and mass incarceration. Most Americans do not view racism as a systemic problem but rather an issue of personal bias or prejudice. They lack the historical knowledge and a common conceptual language to have informed conversations with others in the public square. Our schools send out citizens who are very ignorant about racism and it is a recipe for disaster. While racism is not studied in public schools and colleges, it is spoken of often in public spaces and in our political discourse. Many of these conversations focus on individual experiences and often include uninformed opinions. They lack the grounding in history and the domains of knowledge that give racism context and meaning which is why they become shouting matches with name calling (“race baiter” or “racist”) and accompanying feelings of resentment, confusion, and sometimes instances of violence.We talk past each other, and it is a vicious cycle that weakens our democracy. There is a second problem.We cannot address something as important as racism with this kind of ignorance. It’s simple. We cannot fix the problems racism created because we will not face our racism as a country. To face our racism is to learn what it is, how it worked historically, how it works today, who benefits from it, and who is negatively affected by it. I created this graphic to help people understand the scope and constituent elements of racism. This graphic is a reminder that racism is not for dummies. Opinions and individual experience are both important, but they should not monopolize our understanding of racism and the kind of conversations that are needed to bring change. Private and public conversations about racism require intelligence if we are ever going to develop an understanding of who we are, how we got here, and how to address the manifold ways racism impacts African Americans and this country. Therein lies a problem. How can you convince a very large group of citizens they have been miseducated as it relates to people of color? Our schools cannot do that by themselves. They need religious institutions to come alongside and give needed moral and spiritual attention to this. A third problem with us talking past each other on the issue of racism has a moral and spiritual dimension. It has been neglected but bears mentioning. I recently shared my frustration with family and friends on my Facebook page. It encapsulates the frustration many African Americans feel. One of the most frustrating things about being black and doing justice and advocacy work is the belief that racism does not exist. There are scores of people who really believe this. As a scholar, I spend my days and years conducting research, interpreting data in context, drawing reasoned conclusions, and sharing findings in lectures, courses, articles, and books. Any scholar or student in the field of Black Studies knows the mountains of data out there on racial inequities. And then there is plenty of video evidence of micro-aggressions and violence that blacks encounter in the Why We Keep Talking Past Each Other When It Comes to Racism By Dr. Lewis Brogdon