I have been an Inadvertent Racist.
Maybe you too?
A few years ago, the Governor of Virginia got in trouble for having appeared in a college activity that included people in blackface. I commented to some African American friends that I did not understand the problem. They kindly suggested that I do some research. Wow. You can read more here, but blackface was used by actors in shows starting in the 1800s to demean Black people.
I had no idea about this and no idea about many things I have learned in recent years about others with different backgrounds than me. I still have a lot more to learn.
If we don’t know our US history – especially the parts about people different than we are – then any of us can inadvertently do or say something racist.
For example, you know that slavery was abolished in 1863. But did you know that there were lots of laws in the South created after 1863 that were designed to discriminate against African Americans; treating them nearly the same as slaves. You can read more about some of these laws here.
These laws include terrible things like redlining – which systematically denied housing loans to people of color except in areas that were deemed undesirable. This law was not repealed until 1968!
And up until 1963 in Birmingham, AL, it was illegal for white and Black people to participate in the same sports together – including checkers! These segregationist views still influence many people today.
I’m guessing that most readers of this blog don’t want to inadvertently do or say something insensitive. If that’s you, then I encourage you to take some time to learn more about people with whom you do not share the same cultural heritage.
In addition to the links above, here are some other places to start. You can do online searches to learn even more.
Immigration is not a new issue for our country. Mob violence, lynchings, segregation, and deportation of Mexican-Americans who were legal citizens dates back to the 1800s. You can read more here.
Discrimination against Asian Americans goes back to the 1800s as well. Even though Chinese immigrants were valued for helping to build railroads in the 1860s, there was a backlash – resulting in the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. Chinese immigrants were denied the right to be naturalized citizens until the 1940s. Then, of course, there was the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. You can read more here.
We know that land was stolen from Native Americans and they were placed on reservations. But most people do not know that government agencies across many states systematically, forcibly abducted tens of thousands of Native children from their parents and put them in boarding schools. The goal was to “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” More details are here.
Obviously, we did not learn about most of these things in our formal schooling. Let’s do our homework. I still have a lot more to learn, myself. Since we care about others, let’s get educated so we treat people with the care and respect we intend for them.
