Thoughts on the Ferguson Talk-Back: Still Separate, Still Unequal

As a white person, the Ferguson talk-back I attended last Friday was an equally uncomfortable and informative experience. Although the room was filled to maximum capacity, there sadly few students and faculty of color to be seen. The discussion started with the leaders of the event asking us to text one of the following options for how much we knew about the recent shooting Ferguson, Missouri with the options being:

a) All I know is that a white policeman shot an unarmed black teen in Ferguson, Missouri

b) Ferguson is another example of racially motivated police misconduct, such as police brutality, stop and frisk, and racial profiling

c) In the aftermath, some whites' refusal to acknowledge the role race played in Brown's death 

d) Ferguson shows how people perceive blacks as criminals and those perceptions contribute to all kinds of structural racism (e.g. school-to-prison pipeline, mass incarceration, etc.)

If I remember correctly, A was the most popular choice, which is definitely a reflection of the values of people on this campus. At the same time, everyone seemed genuinely open to dialogue and learning about the issue, which is probably more than most schools can say.

   The main idea that I took away from the event is that most people are acutely aware of the inherent racism which occurs on a daily basis in our society, but many are too afraid to make waves to take the actions necessary to change this, which connects to the article "White privilege: An insidious virus that's eating America from within" by Andrew O'Hehir published in the magazine Salon. The main argument of the piece is that the biggest privilege of being white is the ability to simply turn off the TV, ignore the news, and turn the other cheek at racism when it gets too awkward or difficult to confront. In addition, he claims that part of white privilege is being able to pretend as if racism is a thing of the past, as opposed to a daily reality for African-Americans. This became a common theme in our discussion when the curators had us talk with our table groups about these issues.
    The conversations inevitably veered from the micro logistics of this particular case to the macro-how institutionalized racism affects people of the college age demographic starting as early as kindergarten. One of the most moving parts of the talk-back for me was when an African-American student stood up and talked about his experiences in school, feeling as though he was always battling low expectations and implicit biases against teachers. What becomes increasingly evident is that although some people will claim that the shooting in Ferguson, Missouri was a one-time incident, the reality is that it continually happens in various forms all over the country. Perhaps this is where, as a person with white privilege, I need to step in and encourage those like me to get their heads out of the cloud and realize that inequality of all kinds-educational, social, racial, etc.-is still alive and well, rather than wallowing in a bubble of ignorance.