Last week, on C-Span’s Washington Journal, a rare moment of vulnerability from a caller turned into one of those really nice moments that make you think there’s hope for our species.
“I was hoping that your guest could help me change my mind about some things,” the caller began. “I am a white male, and I am prejudiced.”
The featured guest on the program was Heather McGhee, the president of the liberal think tank Demos. Up until about the 34-minute mark, it had been typical wonkfest, filled with good stuff for policy geeks on income inequality, the election and the anniversary of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. But when “Gary,” a self-described independent voter from North Carolina, called in, things got deep. For a split second, McGhee braced for the worst.
Gary said his prejudice was really the result of fears – he mentioned black men, the crime rate and drugs – and how when he opens the newspaper it all seems so bad. He comes off worse than he really is, he thinks. But he doesn’t want to be afraid anymore, and specifically, he wanted to understand what was happening so he could be a better American.
McGhee paused, took a breath and thanked him for his call, saying this was one of the most important conversations that Americans could have. “All of us, people of all races and ethnicities and backgrounds hold onto these prejudices. Most are unconscious,” she began. Our diversity was one of the things that’s the most beautiful about our country, but it was also our biggest challenge.
She ticked through a list that will sound familiar to the raceAhead crowd –all about connecting with people different from yourself. Skip the evening news that over-emphasizes black male crime, and get to know black families, she suggested. Visit a black or multi-ethnic church that speaks to you and talk to people there. Read history. Talk with your white family and friends about how they struggle with race talk – all the stuff we know to do. Her response is really worth your time, particularly for the kindness with which she delivered it.
But as beautiful as her answer was, the moment belongs entirely to Gary, the nervous white guy who worries whether he’s part of the problem while he watches daytime policy shows. Somehow, he saw a friend in McGhee. And he did the one thing that people rarely ever do, which is correctly identify one of our own blind spots, an embarrassing and emotional one at that, and said its name out loud. Now that’s a real conversation starter.
Thanks for the call, Gary. I’ll take my inspiration off the air.
On Point
| Secret aerial cameras are recording Baltimore |
| Since January, local officials have been using aerial cameras housed in a Cessna airplane to investigate crimes in Baltimore, sometimes for hours every day. It’s equipment that was originally used in the Iraq surge. It’s a service provided by a private surveillance company, paid for by an anonymous donor, and the public doesn’t know. |
| Bloomberg |
| Cindy Gallop is the diversity champion we didn’t know we needed |
| Cindy Gallop is an outspoken and brilliant ad executive who has revolutionized conversations about sex and pleasure, and taken trolling sexist white, creative professional men to a high art. She also has a clear message for the mostly white men who run the ad industry: If you want to “own the future” start hiring women and people of color. |
| Ad Age |
| Veep candidate Mike Pence continues his outreach to black voters |
| Getting your haircut at a local barbershop is typical campaign theatrics, so when Mike Pence and his press throng showed up Henry Jones’s place in Norristown, PA for a trim and a policy chat, it wasn’t unusual. Except for the 20 minutes of mostly silence, streamed on Facebook Live, and the fact that Mr. Jones didn’t know who Pence was. #awkward |
| NPR |
| GMA anchor says "colored people" on air, but she’s not the only one who should apologize |
| In a segment about the lack of diversity in film, "Good Morning America" anchor Amy Robach used the outdated and offensive term "colored people," prompting an immediate backlash. She apologized, saying she meant to say people of color, and I take her at her word. But another person who should apologize is her co-anchor, George Stephanopoulos, who sat there, listening, and didn’t gently prompt her to reframe her remarks later. (Neither did the presumably white producer in her ear.) White allies: If you hear something, say something. |
| Mediate |
| Tensions and unity over the North Dakota pipeline |
| A tense stand-off on the safety and legality of a proposed pipeline in North Dakota continues, as tribal members and other supporters from miles around the Bismarck location continue to gather. The $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile-long pipeline would disturb burial grounds and sacred tribal sites and threatens the water supply of the residents, say the protesters. A federal ruling expected today may inflame tensions. |
| New York Times |
| A black, Irish model gets harassed on Twitter |
| Like several countries, Ireland turns its Twitter handle over to a different citizen each week, to let different voices represent the country. It’s a cool move. Unless you’re a plus-size mixed race model. Then you get bombarded by racist, sexist trolls. Profoundly uncool, Ireland."I have experienced racism, sexism, fatphobia, and homophobia to a degree I have never known," tweeted Michelle Marie, who is a also a mother and a blogger. |
| CNN Money |
The Woke Leader
| How the new National Museum of African American History was born |
| It’s been more than a decade in the making, and has survived funding woes, politics and Smithsonian level delays. But the new museum is going to open its doors this September, filled with treasures and artifacts and buoyed by the extraordinary will of its charismatic director, Lonnie Bunch. “This is a museum that uses one culture to understand what it means to be an American. That, to my mind, is the cutting edge,” he says. |
| New Yorker |
| Journalists don’t cover neglected communities until they explode, and that’s the problem |
| In a thoughtful essay, journalist and anthropologist Sarah Kendzior links the systemic neglect of poor and majority non-white neighborhoods like Baton Rouge, St. Louis, Flint and Milwaukee with an unwillingness of the media to cover the bigger issues that underlie dramatic events like riots and fires. “They come for the chaos. They don’t stay for the banal brutality of the time in between, the slow erosion of opportunities that structure daily living.” |
| Quartz |
| True confession: I have diversity fatigue |
| Juliette Austin is a diversity and inclusion specialist who shares what can happen when you think about race and culture change for a living. You hit a wall, often at unexpected times. The cumulative pressures from the constant, and often mildly insulting, conversations can get overwhelming. Her prescription is rest, and her story is a good reminder. |
Quote
|
|---|
