The challenges of talking about race

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Jul 31, 2013

In order to have a conversation about race, we have to be honest with ourselves and acknowledge that we sometimes make assumptions about people based on how they look.

Harvey Young, Al Jazeera

Race is a topic that most people would prefer not to address. The widespread reluctance to talk about race frequently stems from the anxieties and stress that occur with the admission (or confession) that we not only perceive differences in complexion as well as cultural and religious practices but also apply meaning to them.

To enter such a difficult dialogue would threaten our credentials as twenty-first century thinkers who have advanced beyond last century’s logic of the “colour line” and possess the capacity to see beyond the rigidly defined racial categories of the past.

To talk about race feels dangerous. There is the possibility of slippage, a verbal gaffe or, perhaps worse, a sincere and honest opinion that does not jibe with contemporary group think. Will we say something that may evidence that we may not be as enlightened as we imagine ourselves to be? Will a slip of the tongue accidentally give both credence and a sense of materiality to a concept (race) that we know does not really exist and is simply a fiction invented to divide people?

The verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman, the defendant who had admitted to killing an unarmed black teenager and was found not guilty of committing murder and manslaughter, created a forum in which people could talk about the operation of race and racism in America.

Although the conversation centred on the case, expressions of shock, outrage, and dismay over the verdict were not really about the legality of the decision. It’s pretty easy to see how a degree of reasonable doubt could creep into a case in which the only eyewitness was a defendant who insists that he acted in self-defence.

The outcry targeted an immoral act that went unpunished: a man killed an unarmed teenager – especially after being told by the police not to engage the youth – and was allowed to walk free.

Moral outrage morphs into expressions of racial concern when a person questions whether negative stereotypes that associate black people with violence and criminality played a role in either Zimmerman’s actions or the jury’s acceptance of the defendant’s self-defence assertion. Would Trayvon Martin still be alive if he were not black?

The racial concern arrives when a person looks at history and remembers past moments in American history when entire communities would gather to participate as witnesses in the lynching of black men and women and not a single person would be charged for the murder.

Of course, the challenge in talking about race is that the conversation, inevitably, can make people feel defensive – as if they’re somehow responsible for the actions and beliefs of their ancestors or even of their neighbours. It almost demands a person to assert, “I don’t see colour” or to name differently complexioned friends and prom dates as evidence of one’s race blindness. It certainly can lead to frustration, anger, and exhaustion.