They're (We are) Everywhere!

During those days I spent with my father after my mother passed away he and I often went to a café nearby for breakfast or lunch.  On one of those mornings there sat near us a group of six men, all about 10 years older than I am.  Their conversation drifted over to our table on more than one occasion as they talked quite loud and made no attempt to keep their opinions to themselves.  At one point one of the men told a racist joke about kicking cans and then proceeded to refer to ethnicities that end in the word can.  I considered, at least for a moment, walking over to their table and pointing out they were Ameri-CANS so maybe they should be kicked too but 1) I didn’t think they would get it and 2) if they did it was six-to-one odds and I’ve never been much of a pugilist.

In my mind I wrote them off as bigoted white men from northern Idaho who didn’t know better or their mommas never raised them right or they moved to northern Idaho where they thought they could speak in these demeaning ways about other races without anyone batting an eyelash.

Fast forward to yesterday morning in “enlightened, liberal” Southern California.  Sharon and I were seated in a well-known mid-price range restaurant. Those in the restaurant looked like middle-class to upper middle-class adults.  Mostly, but not all, white.  Seated across from us was a group of six men, all about my age or maybe a bit older.  This time the conversation was about the Affordable Care Act.  One of the men was loudly complaining about how everyone was being forced to buy insurance in order to cover the 20% who up to this time could not afford it.  “Who are those 20%?” one asked.  The reply from his compatriot was to use first names that are most commonly used for ethnicities other than white.

I share this because I have come to realize how easily I stereotyped the first group as being poorly-educated, rural Americans who didn’t know better.  I subtly had excused (but was horrified at) their prejudice while at the same time being unaware of my own prejudice against their lack of education.  It was the second group that showed me how prevalent racial bias is, regardless of educational achievement or cultural milieu, and how easily I also had participated in what Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie refers to as “the danger of the single story.”  (You can view her TED talk here.)

All of us must work continually to view all people as what they really are:  humans created in the image of God and therefore imbued with infinite worth.  Whether our prejudice is against race or lack of educational attainment or religious affiliation it is still prejudice.  Refusing to pre-judge is hard work in part because we seldom see it in ourselves. But it is work we must do. It is a God-given work.