I had an experience last night that got me thinking about our recent discussions here at GNABB and around the nation about race issues.
We have some black neighbors who live across the street, and last night they were having an old fashioned crawfish broil in their garage (I'm not making this up, they're from Louisiana). As I pulled in my driveway, my neighbor came across the street and invited me over for some crawfish and socializing. My wife was out most of the night with some friends on a girl's night out, so I went over solo. I ended up staying over there for about 5 or 6 hours, sitting in their garage with mountains of crustacian carcasses in front of me as I consumed about 500 pounds of crawfish and talked about a number of topics with my hosts. Over the course of the long evening, I was struck by the diversity of folks who came through that garage. From my count: two black couples with two young children (one kid took a liking to me, so there I was, with four year old Tyson sitting on my lap; he didn't seem to mind that I was white), one mixed couple (black male, hispanic woman), two white couples with four kids between them, and eventually when my wife got home she joined us (I'm a white male and she is mixed, half Hispanic/half white). Little white and little black kids laughing and enjoying crawfish; while an assortment of white, black and Hispanic folks sat around drinking beer, eating crawfish, and joking, laughing and telling stories about every topic under the sun.
The point? Perhaps crawfish are the answer to healing racial wounds. But also, from our conversations here regarding my post about Rev. Wright and Obama, and from the things we have heard on the airwaves over the last week or so, we have MAJOR racial issues in this country. But to be honest with you, I cannot think of many other countries where you would see a scene like I was a part of last night. There was not the least bit of tension in that garage, it was all good times. Now, it is true that certain topics were not discussed. And it might be interesting to ask each person privately about their opinion on race relations in America...but still. When religious factions and different tribes elsewhere are killing each other in other parts of the world, is it really so bad here? When in many parts of Europe there is a real battle brewing between the native populations and the Muslim immigrants, are things here so horrid?
And that does not even adequately describe the racial diversity on my street. We have some Pakistanis living a couple of doors down, and some Koreans across and up two doors.
The closest thing to tension I have witnessed was when the Korean lady was stealing new grass from several other newly built homes in the neighborhood because her own grass had not yet been delivered, and my black neighbor yelled at her. Perhaps that is our version of tense black/Korean relations, like you hear about in South Central L.A. I don't know.
I realize that there is one common denominator here: economic class. It costs a certain amount of money to live in our neighborhood, and all of these people have that money and are professionals. Which is why I have often thought that there is more tension and divisiveness along the lines of economic class than race. At least in today's society it seems that way.
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5 comments:
Dez,
I'm glad to hear about your diverse neighborhood and how well everybody seems to get along. There are plenty of examples like that all over our country and in many other countries, as well.
I certainly think there has been a lot of progress in the US over the past 50 years, but unfortunately there are still lots of racial issues, as well. I agree that the biggest issues exist in poorer neighborhoods where unemployment and crime rates are higher.
I disagree. I don't think you've got that type of harmonious mixing in "many other countries, as well". That was sort of my point. At least in speaking with friends of mine who have lived abroad for substantial periods of time, they've all said that racism in Europe and elsewhere is actually worse and more visceral than it is in the States. I know you have lived abroad in many different places. I'd be curious to hear some concrete examples of where I am right or wrong on this, versus general statements. Contrary to the popular self-loathing we have in this country, overall the racial and religious differences do not seem to matter as much.
Of course there has been progress over the last 50 years. But what are we eventually striving for? Getting rid of all racism? Not going to happen. As long as people are different from one another (through race, religion, or other factors), there will always be a level of suspicion of "the other". It is human nature. The best we can hope for is providing equal opportunity, at least institutionally, for all who strive and want to succeed on an individual basis...and leave it at that. As much as many liberals would like to, you cannot legislate peoples' beliefs and views, however distasteful, out of existence.
Dez,
I have not spent substantial periods of time in Europe, but the times I have been there it seemed to me that there was more interracial mixing, not less. It seemed more common, for example, to see interracial couples and families in the parks, in restaurants, and on the streets.
You mentioned the issue with Muslim immigrants. I don't have first hand knowledge of that, but from what I've read that is a relatively new issue in Europe and a very serious one. Have you read the book "Infidel"? It is a very interesting book. In part of the book it describes the culture of The Netherlands as being even more open and accepting of different cultures and even more "free" than the US. However, in the last decade they have allowed a very large immigration of African Muslims who do not share those same values. It says that in the Netherlands it had been unheard of for anybody to be attacked for their beliefs. Freedom of speech is valued at least as much there as here. Then somebody was assassinated for making a short film which was critical of the treatment of women in Muslim societies, and the assassination really shocked the country. I think the Muslim immigrant issue has become a serious problem in much of Europe. These countries welcomed the immigrants initially and supported their right to practice their religion but then they realized that many did not share their basic principles of equality and freedoms, especially with respect to women’s rights and the freedom to speak against their religion. The cartoon that depicted Muhammad is another good example.
However, I have worked on projects in countries where many different races worked together, socialized together, dated interracially. This was definitely true in Argentina and in Thailand. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been racial issues in these countries. Argentina has a history of wiping out a large portion of the native population partly by putting them on the front lines in the war over the Falklands. Thailand has some serious racial issues in the southern region where they have a large Muslim population. I think there have also sometimes been issues with the hill tribes in the north. In general, though, I saw a lot of diversity and inter-racial mixing in Bangkok. I wasn’t suggesting that other nations don’t have serious racial issues, though. My point was that the experience you had in your neighborhood is not uncommon. I’ve seen it in other countries and I’ve experienced it on the projects I’ve worked on over there.
Similar to your example, these were all people with good jobs and some financial security. Just because there are plenty of examples of harmonious mixing in this country and others, it doesn’t mean there aren’t serious racial problems, as well. Racism is a global problem. The US is certainly not the worst in this respect. In fact, we are well ahead of most countries partly because of the legislation that is intended to provide equal opportunities and to increase penalties on hate crimes. However, the idea that harmonious mixing of diverse races is unique to the US is far from the truth.
Also, I find it amusing that you would single out liberals as wanting to legislate people's beliefs and views. I thought that was the domain of the conservatives who want to enact laws based on their religious beliefs. I think the proposed amendment to define marriage based on their beliefs is clearly discriminatory to the gay community.
I totally agree with you that we can't legislate what people think or how they feel, but we still have a ways to go to provide equal opportunities to all groups in our country. We are ahead of most countries in that respect, but I believe this is a cause that we’ll never completely win, but should always continue to fight for. There are plenty of examples where countries have experienced a period of relative peace among the races only to have the issues re-surface later due to economic hard times or increased immigration.
I'm sure there was all types of mixing in Bangkok. =)
I appreciate your examples. I know that you are well traveled and lived abroad for awhile.
You bring up hate crime legislation, which is its own bag of worms. Lots of problems with that, but that is for another discussion.
There is intolerance of opposing views all over the political spectrum, I know, but my experience has been that people on the Left are more intolerant of opposing viewpoints than are people on the Right. I'm generalizing, of course, but expecially in the academic setting in higher education I found that to be the case.
I attended Law School at the University of Texas, and in my three years on that campus I was honestly shocked at the lengths student groups and certain outspoken faculty members would go to block speakers or presentations by organizations with which they disagreed. It was almost always Left-leaning student groups and faculty members trying to stifle conservative views, hardly ever the other way around. That's just my experience, though.
I think the intolerance you experience depends on your perspective. At Baylor University they did not allow speakers with liberal views. It seems to me that conservatives are more intolerant, but that is probably because I tend to be more liberal on social issues.
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