If you aren’t seeing racism, look harder
Like the whole nation, Ohio has a lot of work ahead to heal the political and social division among us. And, as with the nation as a whole, healing won’t happen without addressing the racism that informs American history.
So many of President Donald Trump’s policies and campaign statements ranged from insensitive to baldly racist – remember, “They’re going to let criminals into your beautiful suburbs!”? – and Black Americans voted against him so overwhelmingly that one can’t address the gulf between pro- and anti-trump voters without considering race.
At the same time, the racial divide is broader, deeper and more nuanced than that between Blue and Red America.
Neither the nation nor Ohio is filled with white people who hate Black and brown people, but that’s not all that racism is about.
Members of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus recently expressed their frustration with what they say is stony indifference from colleagues, especially majority Republicans, to the challenges their constituents of color face. At a post-election conference Nov. 5, Rep. Stephanie Howse, D-cleveland, lamented that legislators haven’t been willing so far to even acknowledge the problem via a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis.
Despite the fact that Black babies die at three times the rate of non-black babies, that Black Ohioans have shorter lifespans and are more likely to die of heart disease, “The reality is, unfortunately, I have way too many colleagues in the House who don’t believe racism is a problem,” Howse said.
One Republican who is white joined in the racism discussion at the conference. For Sen. Dave Burke, a Republican from Marysville and a pharmacist, the problem is undeniable.
“The evidence around infant mortality screams at you that something is broken,” Burke said. “We just need to have the conversation. It isn’t comfortable. ... I might not know exactly the right words or what’s in need to be fixed, but I will admit that what’s out there isn’t fair, it doesn’t seem right, that Ohio should be in a better place.”
Racism is intractable in part because so many people, harboring no racial hostility themselves, don’t take the step Burke has taken. They don’t understand or don’t acknowledge the effects that centuries of oppression – beginning with slavery and carrying through Jim Crow, redlining, exclusionary hiring and unequal schools – still have in American society today.
The lawmakers’ lament raises an ethical question: Do people in the majority who aren’t overtly bigoted have an obligation to learn about the racism that they don’t see and have never felt?
Those who look to religion for ethical guidance could note that most religions, including Christianity, command followers to practice compassion and selflessness. That would seem to require caring about the burdens of others.
There also are practical arguments for opposing racism. Some argue that changing hearts and minds is a hopeless quest and that the surest way to convert someone to anti-racism is to demonstrate racism’s financial cost. Unequal health care strains emergency systems and Medicaid; unequal education denies prosperity to some, making society overall less productive and prosperous; despair fuels drug use and crime.
We urge Republicans who control the Ohio General Assembly to take a real look at the damage racism has done to the state and get serious about working with others to build a fairer society.