Don’t be afraid of the ‘R’ word

“Race” is often in the news now and, like all controversial topics, it can be uncomfortable to talk about. We hear “The 1619 Project” or “Critical Race Theory” and wonder what these are. Books being banned from K-12 schools’ libraries? Restrictions on teaching anything around this painful subject? The reasons (excuses?) for these actions have included, “I don’t want my kids to feel ashamed,” or “I don’t want my kids to hate America,” or “My family didn’t own slaves, so why should I feel guilty?”

The 1619 Project is an ongoing literary initiative which has stirred up the current discussion on Critical Race Theory. While I’m not advocating that we all fully embrace these controversial ideas, we can learn about them ourselves instead of simply lapping up the juicy sound bites and then closing the book. Eyes averted, hands clapped over ears, minds slammed shut — we cannot learn in that posture.

My family didn’t own slaves, but these three things happened in my own lifetime:

(1) After World War II, our veterans were offered the

G.I. Bill, enacted in 1944, which guaranteed college tuition help and reduced-interest mortgages on homes. This benefit, however, was not extended to our Black veterans.

(2) In the 1950s, “Jim Crow” was much in evidence, especially in the Southern states. When I attended school in Kentucky, I saw for the first time those “White” and “Colored” signs on drinking fountains and bathroom doors. On Friday nights, my classmates and I would walk into town and go to the movies. The first time, I headed for the balcony because this was (and still is) my favorite place to sit. I was quickly halted and redirected, told I shouldn’t sit in “N—— Heaven.” I was truly shocked, having never encountered racial segregation back home in Colorado.

(3) While many Black people still managed to get decent educations and find jobs that paid well enough to enable them to buy homes, they soon learned they were eligible for mortgages from their local banks only in designated areas — on the “other” side of a magical “red line.” Thus our neighborhoods became — and remained — segregated, with diminished health care services and food deserts behind that red line.

There’s been talk about “reparations,” and it might be worth exploring this concept further. One beach town in Southern California found a way to make this happen for one Black family which had once owned a nice large place near the ocean. Decades ago, they were pushed off their land under the pretext that it was “needed for a park.” They went elsewhere (probably deeply underpaid), but this property remained vacant. In 2021, the town located this family’s descendants and restored the property to them. There are probably more stories like this, and they need to be told.

It might be an unsurmountable task to track down every wronged Black American, but maybe more could be found, possibly the great-grandchildren of WW II vets, young men and women who could use that G.I. Bill today?

I’d want all my great-grandchildren to be taught, at the very least, that many folks’ achievements were reached in the face of enormous obstacles. That way they might not grow up thinking, as I did, that we white people were just naturally smarter or more talented. Nope. We were only more privileged, less disadvantaged.

Exploring these ideas needn’t be hurtful, and we could all use as much enlightenment as possible. After all, we humans eventually learned that our planet is a globe, not a pancake. So build your own fund of knowledge and nurture it like a savings account by continuing to learn. Factcheck! And pass along your treasure of knowledge to your offspring.

In facing any controversy, a useful guiding principle is, “The truth is often near the middle.” It’s up to all of us to find that sweet spot, the sturdy common ground upon which we can build trust and respect for one another, and learn to live together in peace. First, though, we need to be unafraid to talk about the “R” word.

Eyes averted, hands clapped over ears, minds slammed shut — we cannot learn in that posture.