Racial Reminders
From November to February, discussions about racial issues were commonplace. Exeter held assemblies on microagressions, Brown v. Board of Education and Michael Brown. In our dorm, Ewald, we spent many Saturday nights debating affirmative action and systemic racism. Those discussions all culminated with a great MLK Day program.
And after that, discussion came to a close.
Even outside of our “Exeter bubble,” discussion about racial issues have grinded to a halt. The extrajudicial shooting of Walter Scott in South Carolina drew limited media coverage and reaction. There aren’t many roundtables on Sunday morning talk-shows that still discuss those racial issues.
We live in an age where the media cycle is so impetuous to the point that we can’t finish discussing one issue before another pops up. We’ve seen this in matters beyond racial issues, including important topics like gun control, the civil war in Syria and climate change.
But the United States, just like any other country, has a long history of discrimination and oppression, stemming all the way from our founding fathers. As late as the 60s, discrimination was still embedded in some states’ laws. In present day, we’re still feeling the repercussions of discrimination. Racial issues are going to be around for a long time. Although it may seem redundant or ineffective, we must continue to discuss in attempt to expedite the process of resolving these issues. Ongoing discussion may seem forced but it is most definitely needed.
In a Supreme Court opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”
But we don’t live in a post-racial society. As his colleague Justice Sotomayor countered, “Race matters. Race matters in part because of the long history of racial minorities being denied access to the political process. Race also matters because of persistent racial inequality in society—inequality that cannot be ignored and that has produced stark socioeconomic disparities. Race matters to a young man’s view of society when he spends his teenage years watching others tense up as he passes, no matter the neighborhood where he grew up.”
Sotomayor finished with a stinger: “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race, and to apply the Constitution with eyes open to the unfortunate effects of centuries of racial discrimination.”
When we fail to talk about racial issues, we turn a blind eye. The vicious cycle of racism and discrimination continues. How many more “Eric Garner”s and “Walter Scott”s have to die before we have sustained, long-term discussions about race in Exeter and America? We’re a school that’s based on discussion. Discussion leads to an exchange of ideas. Discussion leads to solutions.
Why should we, as high school students, take the initiative to talk about this? As we mentioned before, racial issues are not going away anytime soon. We have entertained, time after time, the narrative of Exonians being the future leaders of the world. That narrative has been established because it is true. And as future leaders, we must garner a greater understanding of racial conflicts so we can make informed decisions after we transition beyond Exeter.
When we walked into the post office last Monday, we were pleasantly surprised. With the title “Black People Killed by Police in 2015,” the papers stuffed under people’s P.O. box doors drew mixed but limited reactions from the student body and faculty. The discussion was short-lived and is due to be completely forgotten by next week.
But we need more small reminders like that, similiar to the “#racetogether” campaign Starbucks attempted to launch. Although the lists in P.O. had their own problems, they were well intended. We need the occasional assembly about racial dynamics in America. We need similar prompts here to remind us of racial issues. We need the occasional controversial article and pamphlets. We need the occasional conversations in dining hall and dorm.
We need to find a balance between talking about racial issues all the time and not talking about them enough, both in Exeter and the rest of America. If we talk about them too much, then we become exhausted and we won’t discuss other pressing issues. But if we don’t talk about them enough, we forget about them and they fall out of our minds. We should have reminders about racial issues every few weeks to keep them alive in our heads.
Roberts was wrong when he said that “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” Unfortunately, the world isn’t that simple; we can’t wish away our problems. Yet, by not talking about it, it seems as though we think so. ♥