Wednesday (pt II)
I know that this may come as a shock, but I was listening to NPR & PRI at work today. I know: Such a radical departure for me. But, I did…

There was a segment of Talk of the Nation on Integration and Resegregation. It started with one of the lesser-known stories of the civil rights movement: The story of James Meredith and his struggle as the first African-American to enroll at Ole Miss (for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, “Ole Miss” is the nickname for the University of Mississippi). It was a very engaging (and thought-provoking) hour.

It was interesting to hear a story about which I was unaware. It had many things in common with other stories of desegregation/integration. What it didn’t have in common was the fact that then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy admitted that he mishandled the ordering of certain troops not to intervene. (NOTE: They spoke with Charles Schockley (Lieutenant, U.S. Army), one of the officers who lead a rifle platoon that was sent to Oxford, MS… and prevented from taking action.)

The segment moved forward to more recent times and a trend towards “resegregation.” This is something of a misnomer. It is more like… “a decline of integration;” this took into account people moving from Place A to Place B, wherein racial balances are different. This section also covered:

  • Differences between private and public schools;
  • Bussing (and how this differs from desegregation);
  • “Suburbanization of minority students;”
  • “Reverse racism;”
  • Geographic differences in peoples’ attitudes and, in some cases, teachers’ behaviors.

I listened to this segment with a measure of… irritation. Not anger. Irritation. This was borne from the fact that I have lived in four different areas (Mid-Atlantic, South, Midwest, and West) and like to note peoples’ interactions with others. I don’t just mean their attitudes/reactions towards those who are “different” from them, but also how they treat others who are “the same” as them. Some of the cases have been nothing short of fascinating. Two of the oddest in my personal experience came when I was attending Purdue University:

  1. One of the guys in our group was from a small town in rural Indiana (yes, that’s somewhat redundant, but bear with me… it has relevance). The two of us were talking one afternoon and he looked at me and said “I don’t know how to talk to you because you’re black. We didn’t have many black people in my town. So… *shrug*” I was flabbergasted. After I regained my composure, I explained to him that he could – and should – talk to me like he would talk to any of our other friends. It seemed to take a few moments for this to sink in, but I think that he got it. At least, we never had any other problems/issues after that.
  2. Another guy in our group and I were watching MuchMusic, think “Canadian MTV,” when a Natalie Cole video came on. His first comment: “She’s pretty good-looking for a black woman.”

    ::: jawdrop :::

    I asked him to explain what he meant… before I snapped him off a little somethin’. He “explained” that while there is “variety” in white women (blonde, brunette, redheads, blue eyes, brown eyes, green eyes…), “…you only get dark hair and skin with black women.”

    ::: boggle :::

    I reminded him of a few other artists… and some people whom we knew on campus… and how different they looked from each other. And then I left the room. It was in both of our best interests that I did so. (I should also note that this person and I had another… run-in along even less-acceptable lines that nearly ended very poorly. Some peoples’ children just don’t, or can’t, learn. *sigh* Pity.)

We have come a long way in a relatively short period of time (especially when you consider the brief (225+ years) history of the country as a whole). There are still issues that we need to address, but I’m one of those optimistic types who likes to think that given enough time (and kicks in our mental asses), we can learn to recognize, understand and appreciate the ways in which we are different and the same as one another.

I am hereby officially recommending that everyone listen to this segment.

::: gets down from soapbox pulpit :::

Peace.