Hate...reconsidered
Perhaps it's the rain, but I have "Hate" in my head today. Beyond the graphic images of struggle and frustration in yet another urban ghetto is this concept of isolation that I continue to think about.
We seem to have a tendency, perhaps a human tendency, to isolate those who don't look like us or practice our religion or live like us. We've done it in housing projects, through de facto structures like those "overturned" by Brown v Board of Ed, through laws about whether a religion can be practiced by a public employee at work. As we flesh out our project in the Northside neighborhood, this idea of isolation seems incredibly salient. As other fellas have remarked, Northside and Broad Street in Carrboro are the neighborhoods that other Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents don't talk about. People raised in Chapel Hill either avoid or ignore Northside, taught from a young age that people different and therefore less desirable live there. But will our project help to break down these invisible barriers? And should it?
Having never lived in a housing project or otherwise separate community, I rely on anecdotes about the pride, the sense of belonging that accompanies that knowledge that you don't belong with everyone else. Is it just an assumption of those of us included in the mainstream that everyone would want to belong to the mainstream? I think of Hubert, whose eyes just cried out for something different, for something outside of the concrete fortress he grew up in. Would it have been valuable for Hubert to seize an opportunity to step out facilitated by someone like me or does the true value lie in becoming independent and included on one's own terms?
We seem to have a tendency, perhaps a human tendency, to isolate those who don't look like us or practice our religion or live like us. We've done it in housing projects, through de facto structures like those "overturned" by Brown v Board of Ed, through laws about whether a religion can be practiced by a public employee at work. As we flesh out our project in the Northside neighborhood, this idea of isolation seems incredibly salient. As other fellas have remarked, Northside and Broad Street in Carrboro are the neighborhoods that other Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents don't talk about. People raised in Chapel Hill either avoid or ignore Northside, taught from a young age that people different and therefore less desirable live there. But will our project help to break down these invisible barriers? And should it?
Having never lived in a housing project or otherwise separate community, I rely on anecdotes about the pride, the sense of belonging that accompanies that knowledge that you don't belong with everyone else. Is it just an assumption of those of us included in the mainstream that everyone would want to belong to the mainstream? I think of Hubert, whose eyes just cried out for something different, for something outside of the concrete fortress he grew up in. Would it have been valuable for Hubert to seize an opportunity to step out facilitated by someone like me or does the true value lie in becoming independent and included on one's own terms?
posted by Sarah Jane at
7:17 PM
3 Comments:
Great points Sarah. Your thought on pride in isolation reminds me of an interesting anti-racism training I experienced recently. The trainer, an African American woman, stunned the only white male in the room by asking, "What do you like about being white?" He had no response, and tension was certainly present as we waited to hear what he would say. In contrast, when she asked an African American woman the same question, she readily supplied a list of all the great things about being African American. For those who belong to a majority group, it is not necessary to consider what is good about being in the majority. The fact that it is the majority necessarily implies that you don't have to experience isolation or the group identification that comes with belonging to a minority group. For the latter group, the majority group demands (with the help of a racist society) that it is the majority experience that translates reality. As those in minority groups translate their experiences based on their reality, there is much opportunity to think about what it is like to be ____________ . Have any of you ever experienced a question like this? How might you respond?
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Great post and great comment. It is unfortunate that there is insufficient language for people from majority groups to explore these issues in a meaningful way. Thus, white people often get timid, have a hard time figuring out how to get involved in anti-racism work, and can feel like it is something to support rather than lead. However, it is important to rise to this challenge in spite of discomfort -- people from minority groups face similar challenges everyday -- and take on these important issues. White allies have a critical role to play in ending racism.
There is a great book called The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism And White Privilege by Robert Jensen that explores the duty of white people to be involved in race issues. There is also a nice excerpt on his website.
On a similar note, I was at a take back the night rally a couple years ago, and the keynote speaker was a man who discussed how men have a critical role to play in ending sexual assault. I think many men see rape as an issue where they can support women rather than actively lead. However speaking out on these issues can mean a lot coming from a man, and there is no reason why it should be merely left to women to fight against it -- it is wrong.
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