Fives Senses: Black.White.
More Five Senses reflections, following up on my previous post...
Last night I watched the debut of Black.White. – a six-part docu-reality series executively directed by Ice Cube. The show centers on a black and white family that use makeup to trade races for several weeks as they attempt to “experience” the challenges/benefits of being a different race. All my senses were active on this one as I watched them wrestle with the many uncertainties revealed in their attitudes towards race.
My sense of sight was specifically active as I reminisced on the recent conversations/experiences I’ve had regarding racism. Does it still exist? Do I create it? Are political issues driven by it? Am I far too aware of being Mexican, or is it the same as being proud to be an American?
Do my expressions of faith depend on my attitude towards race? Should I at least care about the way it affects others, or minimize it in their lives since it might be hindering them?
I am not sure, but when I cruise around in my lowrider and “see” all the ways people of the opposite race look at me, I can’t help but wonder about it. Others wonder too. My friend, a Christian and white male police officer, has shared with me this ever present tension that exists for him. As a person of faith, and a professional law enforcement official, he often finds himself wrestling with how to integrate faith and race in his work place. As I "hear" him tell me this, I can’t help but “see” him as a sincere white person that loves Christ, but has such a hard time entering imaginatively into my struggle of being brown…if such a struggle even exists.
What do you think? How do you integrate race and faith as a regular person/professional? Would living as another race for a year change your attitude, or are race issues an exaggeration of our own personal issues? Does it matter to God that we struggle with this, or would He rather us pretend it's not an issue for His sake?
Comments
Sam - Interesting that you used the term "the opposite race." THE opposite race? You mean Black? White? Asian?
Also, it seems to me that using a term like "ethnicity" might not only be more accurate, but also more productive. The whole notion of "race" as a tool for categorizing humans is scientifically dubious and historicalyl has been used primarily to divide and oppress. I recognize, with you, that the issues are very real. But I'm not convinced that we should continue to use language like "the opposite race," even as we probe real wounds and the evil behind what we've come to know and experience as "race-ism."
Posted by: Jeff J | March 9, 2006 07:58 AM
Jeff,
I am in full agreement with what you mean. Using a different term, such as ethnicity, does express the issue much more appropriately, productively, and with far less "tension."
However, at times I am not entirely certain that avoiding the "tension" in use of words is what is needed here either. Yesterday I had a conversation with some friends about the fact that the "tension" in the air, not the language used, is a major reason why people don't talk about these concerns...let alone the faith persepctive in all of this.
So, how do we talk about it, enter the tension, and be productive regardless of what language we use?
Posted by: El Sam I Am | March 9, 2006 10:04 AM
"The opposite race" was kind of like a freudian slip, right? That is, not very accurate or precise--maybe downright false... but revealing of the situation. For Sam plugging down the road in his chosen wheels, his perception of the looks from others is that they're coming from an "opposite" and opposing race. Not farfetched in today's climate.
Hopefully, as you say Jeff, we can use other kinds of language and perceptions to work toward something better in our friendships--in a way that takes seriously Sam's very real frustration.
Posted by: Scott Dewey | March 9, 2006 12:15 PM
I would opt for the use of the term race at least when talking in terms in black and white. I don't find much ethnicity in black or white...ethnicity is what was lost with the creation of race.
I'd like to have an ethnicity but all many of us are left with is race and the tension that goes along with that.
But as the jazz theologian says, life on the hyphen is a place of tension but also the birthplace of jazz.
stay in the groove,
jt
Posted by: jazztheologian | March 9, 2006 08:39 PM
Sam, You asked the question, "Does it matter to God that we struggle with issues of race?" From personal experience, my answer is a strong "yes." Years ago, I realized that I cared very little for a group of people coming into the US because of poverty and war. Perhaps naively, I prayed asking God to give me love for these people. And, do you know what? Not only did he give me a deep love...he gave me three orphans from Asia as my adopted children. I am not saying just pray and it will be OK but I do say "pray."
Mama rose
Posted by: mama rose | March 11, 2006 08:33 AM