Summer 2001

Lecture fostered frank discussion about race relations

by Michael Rerick, A'02

Jonathan Coleman began his lecture "Writing About What's Uncomfortable: Race and Class" in March by asking the audience to ponder some thoughts while he read from his book Long Way to Go: Black and White in America. Talking, listening, political correctness, racial profiling, race fatigue, white privilege, the race card, race vs. class, diversity on campus, and whether he was "crazy or legitimate for bringing these topics up" were a few of the concepts Coleman wanted the audience to consider.

Reading from the prologue of the book, he said race is not really dealt with, that it's "visible and invisible" and is "America's dilemma." But that wasn't his view before writing the book, he went on to explain.

He was on assignment in Montgomery, Alabama, covering a story dealing with a local controversy surrounding a civil rights monument, interviewing people on where they stood on the issue. He noticed that racial issues in this country weren't at all resolved, as he had notions that they should be. He became interested in what people thought about racial issues, and what they were willing and unwilling to divulge. This eventually led him to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he conducted interviews in the inner-city neighborhoods. "But," he asked himself at the time, "how can I do this as a white person?" The best solution was to put himself in situations where he would be the only white in a group, making himself the minority. While driving through the inner city, though, he found he was locking his doors. This brought about a revelation: If he was going to tell the truth about what he found, he was going to have to tell the truth about himself. In other words, while writing the book he had to mention the fact that he locked his doors. He had to recognize that people do not lock their doors when they drive through a white neighborhood.

A discussion period followed that lasted a couple of hours and was described by many in the audience as "the most candid and frank conversation I have heard on campus." Coleman began by divulging his opinion of political correctness. It "has created an illusionary safety, has created silence rather that awkwardness and truth. Political correctness is a barrier to race relations because it doesn't deal with the issue honestly," he said.

The discussion progressed to the subject of Ruth Simons, the African American woman who is the president of Brown University. Coleman asked the audience to consider how she must feel. "Under a microscope," "under excessive pressure to do a good job," "being an unnecessary symbol for blacks," and "being put on a pedestal of integration" were typical responses. The audience began to open up, expressing dissatisfaction with their roles in society, which is where Coleman wanted them to go. At this point, people were beginning to exchange ideas in a heated manner.

At one point an audience member expressed that she thought she was becoming a racist. She went on to say that she never considered herself racist in the past, but during her experience as a waitress the forced policy and exaggerated attention her employers put on treating people of color equally made her paranoid. She didn't want to be biased in any way, which made her actually see the color of a person's skin rather than simply a patron in a restaurant, which in turn made her overly self-conscious. This aroused sighs and eye rolling throughout the audience. But it brought up a point: Being "correct" in how we respond to people can bring attention to something, like the color of a person's skin, when no bias may have existed in the first place. This bold personal statement allowed others to make equally bold statements.

Soon integration, feelings of racial paranoia, the sickness of both the black and white mentality, and the political bias against blacks were being debated as the audience became more and more excited. Every once in a while Coleman would intervene to steer the discussion towards order. At the end of the evening no one could agree on whose shoulders the responsibility of inequality between blacks an whites lay on. As heated as the discussions were, Coleman ended (only because of time restraints) on a positive note. He didn't expect to come to Loyola and find peaceful racial coexistence, nor did he come to be a problem solver. He was happy with what did occur: We as students and members of the community were at least opening up and creating a dialogue about race that was honest, and at times during the evening, painfully honest.

"This lecture is an example of the type of discussion we want to foster on campus on an ongoing basis," said Ted Quant. Quant is director of the Twomey Center for Peace Through Justice and chair of the Diversity Champions Committee, both of which helped sponsor the event. The lecture was funded and co-sponsored by the Biever Guest Lecture Series, the Department of Sociology, the Department of English, and SGA. The Diversity Champions Committee was founded in 2000 to enact training, discussion, and skill development to confront racism.