Response to Mr. Kushner: Race is a difficult and complex topic

I am writing in response to the letter from Gary Kushner, published on June 16. Although he seems to have made up his mind that “liberal arguments mostly can’t stand on their own,” I will take him at his word that he plans to give “full consideration to all responses” from his fellow Americans.

Race is a difficult and complex topic. As a White person, it has not been easy for me to learn and talk about race and racism. It has not been easy for me to accept that my perceptions and experiences are not universal, that racism (often in subtler forms) is still commonplace, and that even when I have nothing but good intentions, my words and actions can still harm others.

And guess what? Because I’m White, and because most of the people I know are White, I am almost always able to avoid thinking and talking about race! It’s very easy for me to assume that a person is exaggerating when they describe an experience that doesn’t conform with my perception of the world. If that person is different from me and holds different political views, it makes it that much easier for me to dismiss them.

But if you are willing to genuinely consider the perspectives of others, I encourage you to seek out information about systemic racism and the very real role it still plays in our society. To cite one example from your letter, I encourage you to look into the history of the Black Congressional Caucus, the Black College Fund, and the NAACP. These and many other Black organizations were formed when segregation and “White only” organizations were still legal and commonplace in this country (or they were formed in the wake of the Civil Rights Act, when Blacks still faced significant opposition to being considered full, equal citizens—after all, it’s not enough to pass a law, it must be enforced). These organizations continue to exist, and newer organizations like Black Lives Matter are being formed, because race-based inequality still exists today. It exists today not only because some racist policies still exist, but also because the legacy of segregation, housing and job discrimination, and other widespread forms of racism have long-lasting impacts (if you doubt this, consider the role that generational wealth often plays in people’s economic lives—just growing up in a home that your parents owned can make a huge difference, and redlining made this impossible for many black families).

I encourage you to consider that it’s not automatically racist for an organization to have the word “Black” in its name—rather, these organizations are evidence of the racism against Blacks that existed for a very long time, and sometimes still exists, despite the progress that we have made as a nation. If a Black person tells me that they still face discrimination, I will listen to them. If a Black person tells me that their life matters, I will affirm that statement unequivocally, rather than insisting that we put equal focus on the fact that my life matters, too. I am willing to acknowledge and talk about race and racism even though it feels divisive and uncomfortable, because I know that while I have the ability to just ignore race, Black folks (and other people of color) don’t.

Being willing to listen to others and acknowledge that my own perspective is limited doesn’t mean that I agree completely with every policy being advocated. You can be liberal, conservative, or centrist and still care about racism (I suspect that not everyone would agree with me on that, but I welcome other perspectives). You can develop a more sophisticated view of race and understand that while anyone can be subject to individual discrimination and all humans have prejudices, systemic racism is about deeply ingrained power structures and economic patterns that are unlikely to disappear on their own.

You can also continue to not think about or learn more about race and racism, in which case you probably won’t notice it very much, and others’ claims of racism will probably continue to seem exaggerated and unreasonable to you.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Worley
Front Royal, Virginia