Chill and Learn: A Few Words about Racism

This weekend we are marking Martin Luther King Day, and more than any other time of the year we are focused on recognizing the reality that our nation's history is often marked by prejudice and bias.  And this year it is at the fore of our conversation even more than in the past.  While we especially recognize the struggles of black folks, and the leadership proivided by Dr. King in the  civil rights movement,  we also pause to consider the many ways prejudice can and does seep into our lives today.  Sometimes it is blatant, and parades with torches or wears sheets and burns crosses.  But other times it is much more subtle, so engrained in our systems, so engrained is our ways of doing business and living life, that we don't even recognize it for what it is.

Hard as it is to hear, it is painfully true.  And it is this ongoing way that we live, often segregated by race, by religion, by gender, by sexual orientation, by ethnicity, that helps to foster continued prejudice and continued bias in our society.  It is no wonder that stereotypes and labels are still alive and well.   And they will only fall away if we are willing to discover one another. 

This past week a course being offered at Florida Gulf Coast University, our local campus of the Florida public university system, gained national attention due, perhaps in part, to it's somewhat provocative title, "White Racism."  It is being taught by Assistant Professor of Sociology, Ted Thornhill.  According to the course description, the class will  "interrogate the concept of race [and] examine racist ideologies, laws, policies, and practices that have operated for hundreds of years to maintain white racial domination."   Thornhill reports receiving some forty-six pages of e-mails  calling him by racial slurs, wishing cancer on him and his family, even making death threats.  The university was so concerned about his safety, and the safety of his students, that they posted two security guards at the doors of the classroom on the first day of classes.  Fortunately, things went smoothly, and the class was held without incident.  One student told a local reporter, "It was pretty cool.  Everybody was chill.  We are here to learn."  (News-Press, 1-10-18, 18A) 

Whether you think you agree with the underlying premise of the course or not, whether you think the course title is unnecessarily provocative or simply an expression of reality, whether you think it's fair to speak about the prejudices of one group without discussing the prejudices of another, the reality is the issues themselves need to be discussed.  And most of us would do well to be like that student, and be willing to simply chill and learn.  Learn about the issues, learn about other people.  We need to be willing to come and see.  For friends, it is as true now  as when your mother said in years gone by, "Don't judge a book--or a course--or a person--or an African country--or a Caribbean island--by its cover."