You have probably heard about a Duke volleyball player being called the N-word while playing BYU, and if you have heard that you have probably also heard people calling it a hoax.
There have been many good things written about that. Here is one:
I believe Rachel Richardson, and I do not believe that BYU investigating itself and failing to find proof is evidence that it didn't happen.
That is not exactly what this post is about, but it is inspired by that, and continues logically from last week's post. We live in a country with a racist past. In fact, much of that legacy starts with English colonizing which goes all around the globe. Racism has had a wide and deep influence.
We are also members of a church that has not really dealt with our own racist history. I have written about this before; nothing new.
I do want to use it as a springboard to talk about ways we can be better.
First off, there was no video proof or recording. This is where audience members can be handy. You have phones that record things. When you see or hear racist behavior, making a record of that can be helpful.
It is unfortunate that so many people require video evidence instead of believing marginalized people about their own lived experiences. Since that is the state of the world, look at how many incriminating videos have come up because of both improved cell phone technology and increased use of security cameras. It shows a lot of white people being racist and lying.
If we go by history, it is way more likely that there was an overtly racist BYU student than lies on the part of the player who told her coach during the game -- which the facility staff took seriously enough to respond -- and called her father upset right after.
That makes me want to say that when you notice something, whip out that cell phone. See if you can help.
Do not be a bystander.
Except that it is so easy not to notice when you are white.
Some of that is that it just doesn't hit the same, but some of it may also be starting to notice, and then pushing it away.
Maybe you see a Black person detained by police, and there may be that nagging voice, but then you think that is just a few bad apples, and this in front of you is certainly fine, and does not require any observation.
Maybe someone you know makes a racist joke or a complaint, but it was just kind of racist and no one in the targeted group is around, so while you are not specifically endorsing it you are not calling it out either.
Or maybe you don't get the racist intent, because you try so hard to not even notice color.
To really become anti-racist will require a change in thought.
The first step may just be noticing color.
Look at the people around you: people in your ward, or from your school, or at work or even on the streets around you? Who is Black? Who is brown? Who is queer? Who is disabled?
Who gets marginalized?
No, don't run to them and ask them to teach you about bigotry and assure you that you have never harmed them.
Do pay attention to them.
Do read more about those who have chosen to share their experiences, and I mean THEIR experiences; white people writing about racism is a poor substitute.
I have seen suggestions that the coaches should have called off the
game, or at least halted it until the offender was ejected. Instead, an
officer and four ushers were moved to the area. Ending the game would have disappointed a lot of people, I am sure, but is what did happen better?
For the changes we need to make, there will be discomfort. That can come with examining your own behavior, and it can come with expressing disapproval at what others say and do. After all, are any of them really bad people? Maybe not; it can be pretty reductive to think of people as good or bad.
However, if we keep choosing comfort or security or anything else other than integrity and justice, we may become bad people. We will certainly shortchange the good we can do.
Part of a conditioning toward politeness is that the people who ignore social niceties are better able to get away with it. There is no virtue in maintaining a pleasant veneer over rot. There is no honor in even passively supporting bullies.
There were so many churches helping during the height of the Civil Rights era, but not ours. Maybe our shame in our own conduct held us back. There were people who gave their lives for equality, and yet with so many not committing to equality, and so many committing to fighting equality with every dirty trick in the book, there is too much still needing to be done.
Think about the need for charity, and integrity, and humility.
Think about the members that our church had running for school boards, and what they represented.
What do you need to do?
Related posts:
https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2020/08/mormons-and-racism.html
https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2021/01/how-will-you-fight-white-supremacy-today.html
That last one started a series, but racism has been a recurring theme. I look forward to the time when that is no longer necessary.
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