Race Relations in the Religious (and Mostly Political) Community

This past Sunday, John, Emily, and I got up early and went to a panel of church members talking about the issues of race relations that were raised in church last week (I covered them here). The panel consisted of:

A 60 year-old black man.

A white girl in her late 20s/early 30s.

A Korean-American boy in his 20s.

A black man, born and raised in Ghana, in his 30s.

A biracial woman (very light-skinned), married to the Ghanian, in her late 20s/early 30s.

A biracial woman (medium-skinned) of about 60.

I thought this was a really interesting group, and I was surprised by some things I heard, and very unsurprised by others.

The panel went in the order I put above--the 60 year-old man described his youth before the civil rights movement, described being envious of a biracial friend who could pass as white and swim in the white pool. He took plenty of pot-shots at the 'evangelical right', implying a racist attitude towards Obama by indicating that only a racist would vote for a Palin ticket. Later, he admitted that the fact that Obama, being biracial, had taken a black wife meant a lot to the black community--he admitted that if Michelle Obama were white, he would be treated differently by blacks.

The white girl had nothing that important to add (unsurprisingly), but she managed to make herself look pretty dumb by talking about how special other races had it for being called "Latin-American" or "African-American" or "Asian-American", while whites are just, well, "White". SIIIIIGH. She mentioned the 'privilege' of being taught by teachers who wanted to see Dr. King's dream through--I agree with her sentiment, but she misspoke. It's not a privilege. It's the way things are meant to be.

She also indicated that whites should make more of an effort to understand the other races and cultures around them. I appreciate her meaning, but why is it the whites' responsibility alone? Because whites are the only ones that "don't understand"? If we're trying to spread peace and understanding, we should all be learning about each other, regardless of culture. Either way, I'm more inclined to look at people as individuals.

The Korean boy was the one that made the most sense to me in a lot of ways--he actually approached the subject from a Christian perspective, which none of the other panelists did. He acknowledged that we should treat President Obama as a brother-in-Christ, and pray for him no matter our politics. He also made the very important mention of Obama's campaign, run on the concept of faith and being a 'messiah' and 'savior'. "Obama is not our savior," he said seriously. "We know our savior is Jesus." Amen to that.

The biracial woman and her Ghanian husband both talked about reverse-racism--the woman suffers it at the hands of the Baltimore community. Her father is black, but she easily passes for white. She doesn't get the "How you doin'" that indicates the bond of being black when she walks down the street. Her husband echoed this--when he first came to the US, his black classmates criticized him for acting "so white". The only thing that irked me about their testimonies was the woman's hope that one day a black president with a black upbringing will be elected, "a black president who night not speak the way Obama does." What I take from this is that she means "speaks like a black man", maybe she means using ebonics, etc. This really frustrates me. Anyone who speaks that way sounds uneducated. Anyone could (and has) said the same thing about a Southern twang, haven't they, in the cases of Clinton and Bush?

The last panelist, the 60 year-old biracial woman, shocked me (and everyone, I think) with her response. She admitted how scared and uncomfortable she was to do the panel, and how hard it was for her to go up and say that she didn't vote for Obama.

I know, I was stunned, too.

She was moved to tears by this. She didn't talk for long--just indicated her fear and how alienated she felt from her peers, from everyone. :(

After the panel was over, I went over to the woman and assured her that I understood her position (being a conservative at MICA, or in my age group at all is practically a felony)--John backed me up, and she was really gracious and offered us her card. Her name is Carol, and she works at Hopkins in the Art Applied to Medicine program. What a dear. :) And brave. I've already felt the pressure of not voting for Obama at my age--can you imagine the pressure of not voting from your own RACE? Carol told us about a co-worker who'd said, "But he's biracial too--you have something in common!" She nodded fervently when I said (rather incredulously), "IT DOESN'T MATTER!" People, people.

It was a positive experience, and John and I may go back next week (if we're not still in Sewickley) for the youth panel.

In other news, I asked Facebook for some advice about my wisdom tooth extraction (my consultation appointment is on March 29th--so far away! I'm in pain!). I got some interesting responses:

Love you all--hope you had a good weekend!
-A.