White Freedom

I'm no racist
           Ah, but all of your neighbors are White?
I don't see color
           Of course, so you won't have to join in the fight  
Not a racist bone in my body
           Because racist bones don't exist
I have a Black friend I invite to my house
           But you've never been over to his

Freedom   
           From feeling discomfort or pain
Freedom
           A troublesome topic, it's plain
Freedom          
           From having a hard conversation  
           Perpetual silence is cultural violence
           Your whiteness is at it again.

I don't do slavery
           No, but it's ok for somebody else?
I pay all of my laborers something
           Sure, but you'd never become one yourself
I vote for free education
           Well then, maybe you'll build them a school
We'll dig up some ground on the far side of town
So they won't have to swim in our pool

Freedom
We know that it comes at a price
Freedom
The secret is always be nice
Freedom
It's clear that our system is working
Don't cause any trouble, don't puncture the bubble
It's worth it, take my advice

This racist tragedy
Why should it have to be
Our nation's strategy?
Why let it shape our fragile future

A free economy
Demands autonomy 
I love community
But someone has to be the loser

Freedom
To gain any profit we can
Freedom
The dream, that was part of the plan
Freedom          
From holding us all to account 
If freedom for all becomes part of the law

True representation be damned

The Back Story

Several years ago, I met with a couple of (White) friends for lunch and our conversation turned to the topic of racism. For better or worse, I had steered our discussion in that direction in the hopes of understanding where they stood and of possibly encouraging a deeper dive.

Within the space of probably less than ten minutes, I heard all of the stereotypical responses one would expect to hear from a White man in an uncomfortable (they’re all uncomfortable) conversation about racism:

• I’m color blind.
• There’s only one race, the human race.
• I have a Black friend that plays video games with me.
• I don’t have a racist bone in my body.
• You’re making me uncomfortable.

Within 24 hours I received an angry email from this “friend” telling me (besides several other things) that he had no interest in having any more conversations with me – at all.

The Whiteness Factor

I’d like to clarify that this friend considered himself to be quite progressive – and still does, as far as I know. He certainly is intelligent. His conversation, while typically centered on fairly superficial topics (unless steered toward something more serious) expressed a clearly liberal bent.

It is with these people that I find the most resistance to challenging conversations about race and racism. It is the ones who are most confident in their own enlightenment that usually express the greatest reluctance and the least intellectual humility. Unfortunately, this is particularly true in the religious community – which has historically done more than almost any other group to uphold systems of racism.

This attitude is part of a larger system that I refer to as the “culture of nice”. White culture, particularly within the United States, places a high value on niceness. Almost anything that upsets that environment is a target for criticism and disdain. As a result, White Americans don’t learn how to have difficult conversations – ones which challenge their assumptions about life and other people. Instead of expressing curiosity and a desire to know more, the response is often critical – and usually not of the subject matter but of the person delivering the information and especially of how it is being delivered. If something can’t be said in a way that isn’t upsetting, it is not acceptable territory for discussion.

The topic of freedom gets a lot of attention in the U.S. It makes me want to ask:

• Whose freedom are we talking about?
• Who gets to create the definition?
• Who benefits and who loses under that definition?
• Is the freedom being demanded a freedom from being challenged or made to feel discomfort?
• Is that freedom truly a freedom for all?