hmm. none of what I’ve said thus far has anything to do with what I’m about to say . . . except for the fact that I am occasionally reminded of the rather “unique” culture of that place . . .

I was reminded anew this weekend when a friend related a story of a recent incident at my old workplace. Apparently, there was some minor issue between two employees, and after the one woman involved (who is black) walked away, the other woman (white) said, “If she was hanging from an apple tree, I wouldn’t bother cutting her down.”

(yes, this is hearsay, blah blah blah–and perhaps if I hadn’t heard so many similar comments myself during my time there, I would question this account, but I can assure you that such comments were far from uncommon in that place.)

 There are two aspects of this that are particularly maddening to me:

1) It was another employee who overheard this comment and went to management with it. Apparently, the manager who received the complaint is friendly with the person who (“allegedly”) made this remark. The issue was eventually brought to a higher level of management, but although an obligatory statement was made about this being “unacceptable”, apparently one manager also encouraged the person who reported the incident to contact the company’s EEO department for more help.

I am quite familiar with the tendency of the management there to sweep such things under the rug, to fall back on, “but it’s a ‘he-said, she-said’; there were no witnesses.” (They could get away with this in large part because of the reluctance of the other employees to admit that they had heard anything.) From what I understand, the woman the comment was directed towards (although she did not actually hear it said) is reluctant to pursue this and apparently doesn’t want to “make waves”. BUT THIS IS NO TIME TO BE MAKING FLIPPANT REMARKS ABOUT PEOPLE HANGING FROM TREES! (not that there’s ever a “right” time for such comments, but in light of the events of the past year, such a comment is even more egregious, and I don’t care WHO claims that they didn’t hear anything, it’s still NOT okay to sweep this under the rug. It was like this when I was there also–that whole mentality of, “if we don’t talk about it, it will go away.”

2) I would be remiss if I presented this story without exploring my own complicity in the matter, and the fact that it is so much easier for me to express outrage about blatant, “out there”/”not me” racism than to examine the mess that lurks within my own heart. This would be a perfect example of how we so easily get stuck in Power¹–the ways that racism hurts people of color–and avoid looking at the exponential damage that racism causes in Power² (the ways that I benefit as a white person, such as the fact that my manager, who is likely to be from the same majority culture as I am, will more easily dismiss complaints against me) and Power³ (the fact that racism ultimately destroys us all.)

“True confessions” time–in my first year at that same job, I made an offhand remark about a name I saw on an order I was writing, and a colleague of mine was very upset by what I said. We were called into a room to discuss it, and I cried hysterically, maybe partly because of my ingrained fear of “being in trouble” that goes back to my elementary school days, but more so because here I was, this supposed “good” white person (I’m not sure I had the language at the time to refer to myself as an “anti-racist”) and I had been (stupidly) insensitive. The comment I had made (I won’t give details here, but suffice to say that it had to do with hair. If you really want the specifics, let me know and I will e-mail you privately) hit a nerve for this person in a way that I would not have predicted, and I was so angry at myself for having been so thoughtless.

I think it helped somewhat that she could see that I was so clearly grieved by what I had done; this colleague quickly forgave me, and in talking about it later, she told me that she had gone home at lunchtime and talked to her father about it, and he had told her not to say anything. Apparently, he told her that “these things are going to happen” and that she had to learn to take such things in stride. She was not willing to accept that, however (for which I am grateful), and chose instead to speak up, as her gut was telling her to do.

She did me a huge favor that day as well. It doesn’t matter how much I want to cry “not me!” when it comes to racism; I still need to be reminded that it really IS about me. It’s about all of us.

I am pretty sure that there is some increase, given the whole copycat phenomenon, but noose hangings are nothing new. A friend sent me this thoroughly disturbing story that she had heard on NPR the previous weekend . . . you can read the short blurb, but to get the full effect, I would recommend that you listen to the entire podcast (it’s about 30 to 40 minutes long.) I wanted to vomit after listening–and you may feel that way too–but listen anyway.

Many of us have rallied around the battle cry of “Free the Jena Six!”, as well we should. But I didn’t hear anybody crying out to free Charles Hickman, and in the podcast he makes it painfully clear that, no matter how large a settlement he received, he really never will be free of this again. “It’s in my mind now”, he kept saying.

Oh, Mr. Hickman, I am so, so sorry. And it’s in my mind now, too, only I don’t want it out of my mind . . . I don’t want to forget the discomfort I felt as I heard your story, and I don’t want to ever stop wrestling with my own complicity in this.

ps–as I was researching this post, I came across another NPR story that has a black man talking about “ignore the noose“, saying that if we simply ignore noose sightings, we will deplete these nooses of their power.

I would suggest (and others agree) that the noose ALREADY has power, several hundred years of it, and merely “ignoring” it isn’t going to make it go away.

It was a phase of this problem that caused the Civil War; and however much they who marched South and North in 1861 may have fixed on the technical points, of union and local autonomy as a shibboleth, all nevertheless knew, as we know, that the question of Negro slavery was the real cause of the conflict. Curious it was, too, how this deeper question ever forced itself to the surface despite effort and disclaimer. No sooner had Northern armies touched Southern soil than this old question, newly guised, sprang from the earth,–What shall be done with Negroes?

But there aren’t race problems there; it’s just the big, bad media and those awful folks on the internet riling people up. At least that’s what Tio Tomás had to say about it . . . he seemed to have a lot of compassion for the poor little white boy who was attacked . . . I almost puked when he made a statement about how it can really hurt when someone is stepping on your face with their sneaker . . .

Right. Because black folks don’t know ANYTHING about THAT.

What is it going to take before I’m willing to give more than lip service to all of this? What will it take before I’m willing to stand with people of color to fight this insiduous evil?

anyway, here’s the update letter I received yesterday. (below the fold) If you want to receive Jena 6 updates, visit www.colorofchange.org for subscription information.

Dear Lorraine,Thursday was a powerful day. From the thousands of people who packed the streets of Jena, to the thousands who took action all over the country, you stepped up as a community to show your support for the Jena 6 and their families. When we looked at the numbers at the end of the day, we were awed by your commitment. More than 1,250 of you said you were going to Jena. Even more inspiring was that you said you’d bring nearly 10,000 people with you, in cars, rented vans, and hired buses! 6,500 of you signed up to pass out flyers in your local communities; 200 of you held vigils and rallies; and you made 6,200 phone calls to Louisiana officials.

We started ColorOfChange.org after Hurricane Katrina to make sure the next time disaster struck our community, there would be an organized, strategic and loud response from Black America and our allies. Yesterday, you were organized, you were strategic, you were loud, and you made it clear that the disaster of Jim Crow justice occurring in Jena will not be allowed to stand.

Mychal’s bond hearing yesterday was a bitter disappointment. Judge Mauffray declined to release him, or to set any conditions for his release. It’s clear that the fight for justice is far from over, and that it will take more from each of us to ensure freedom for these 6 young men. Thankfully, our movement is now more than 350,000 people strong; and we know that our collective effort in the next weeks and months can make a major difference in how things unfold for these young men. We hope you are in it for the long haul and will continue to push forward and fight on behalf of our young men. We will continue to give you updates and meaningful ways to act on behalf of the Jena 6.

It continues to be our privilege to be part of such a strong and powerful community. Together, we will make a difference for these young men, and for justice in our world.

Thank You and Peace,

– James, Van, Gabriel, Clarissa, Mervyn, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
   September 22th, 2007

And he really caught my attention last week with something he said on TV. The clip below is part of what he was talking about, but the piece that really caught my attention unfortunately isn’t included on the YouTube clip shown here. He said something along the lines of “There is a Jena in every town across America.” (I don’t have his exact words, but you can read this, or listen to this, if you want to know more.)

This statement took my breath away. I know that my own city has Jena-esque incarceration rates that disproportionately affect people of color . . . and I know that something needs to be done, but I am not even sure where to start . . .  but, to paraphrase another wise Reverend, we (still) can’t wait.

So where do we go from here?

(*it doesn’t hurt that he says “JeH-na” (rhymes with “henna”) rather than “JEAN-a” (rhymes with hyena)–even though I know that the latter is probably the correct pronunciation, I am just happy that he pronounces it like the New Yorker that he is . . . ) 

go to www.colorofchange.org to sign up for updates and to read more about how you can take action on September 20th!

But I saw this Jena Six news and thought it was worth sharing. In a totally messed-up, “screw the First Amendment” way . . .

 thoughts?