Working Group on Racism

Thinking about Race

2012 Items

“Why do most White people not see themselves as having a race? In part, race obliviousness is the natural consequence of being in the driver’s seat. ….

“Whatever the reason, the inability or unwillingness of many White people to think of themselves in racial terms has decidedly negative consequences. For one thing, it produces huge blind spots. It leaves them baffled by the amount of energy many Blacks pour into questions of racial identity. …. It blinds Whites to the fact that their lives are shaped by race just as much as are the lives of people of color. How they view life’s possibilities; whom they regard as heroes; the extent to which they feel the country is theirs; the extent to which that belief is echoed back to them; all this and more is in part a function of their race.

“This obliviousness also makes it difficult for many Whites to comprehend why Blacks interact with them on the basis of past dealings with other Whites, and why Blacks sometimes expect them to make up for the sins of their fathers, and of their neighbors as well. Curiously enough, many of the same folk wouldn’t think twice about responding to young Black males as a type rather than as individuals.”

The Baltimore Yearly Meeting Working Group on Racism meets most months on the third Saturday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, at Bethesda Friends Meeting or Friends Meeting of Washington. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge.

This question arose in a recent conversation about the appropriateness of talking about “tribes” vs. “ethnic groups.” Some Friends were adamant that “tribes” was the proper word to use, and others said that this could be seen as condescending. Just as fish don’t know what water is because it’s just the way things are, so, too, are we strongly influenced by our culture to think that the words and images we choose describe reality. But, when we are able to see that a word implies that some people are more important than others, this insight brings us closer to the truth expressed by our Testimony on Equality. David Zarembka (Coordinator of the African Great Lakes Initiative of the Friends Peace Teams) gives this perspective in his book, A Peace of Africa (p. 125):

“While the word ‘tribe’ is used in East Africa rather than ‘ethnicity,’ the word ‘tribe’ to most Westerners has negative, ‘primitive’ connotations. Why are Native Americans considered tribes, but Italians or Poles are not considered a tribe? What is the difference between the Scottish ‘clans’ and tribes? Since language is often what separates one tribe from another, why are not the Welsh considered a tribe as they have their own language? When did the Angles, Saxon and Norman tribes that conquered England stop becoming ‘tribes’ and become English?”

The Baltimore Yearly Meeting Working Group on Racism meets most months on the third Saturday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, at Bethesda Friends Meeting or Friends Meeting of Washington. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge.