Is This Racism?

So, last Saturday, I was driving by a house only a couple blocks from mine on my way to the library book sale. It was one of those houses whose occupant has gone through a notable amount of work to make spooky for Halloween. He had transformed his lawn into a graveyard (an activity noticeably common among several of our neighbors and one for which I cannot personally comprehend its motivation!). Strewn across the grass were handmade tombstones all accompanied with what were supposed to be humorous clichés for epitaphs. There was one, for instance that said, “Rest In Pieces.” And there was another one that said, “Here lies an Atheist; all dressed up and nowhere to go.” Another one said, “Humpty Dumpty. ‘I was pushed.’”

But there was one out in the forefront that really caught me off guard as I drove, which said:

“-Juice- He got the noose.”

The first thing that crossed my mind was, “That guys condoning the lynching of black people!” Of course, I didn’t think he purposefully intended to imply such a notion, but there it was nonetheless. He was probably just trying to come up with something pithy that rhymed (another neighbor has a whole lawn full of things like, “Fred, fell and hit his head”), and meant it totally as a joke.

Now, you may be asking yourself, “How could that be construed to be condoning the lynching of black people?” Well, it’s quite simple really. “Noose” obviously refers to hanging people and “juice” is a nickname often associated (thought not entirely) among black people – “O.J.” Simpson was also nicknamed “The Juice” and the current quarterback for the Illinios college football team is named Juice Williams. It’s also the name of a 1992 film starring Tupac and the name of a couple different rappers.

Again, I don’t think the guy intended it to mean the comment to have that nature at all. In fact, I know he didn’t because I knocked on his door yesterday and asked him! That’s right, he turned about to be a guy about my age and he said it was a joke having to do with his friend named Josh. I don’t know what the joke is, and nor do I really care, but I just mentioned to him that I was a neighbor from nearby and thought I’d give him a heads up that some people might read the sign and find it offensive because it may be construed that he condones lynching. He, I think was astonished that I would say such a thing, but accepted the advice and that was the end of it.

But there’s still something nagging me here. Of course the sign is not explicit racism – like prohibiting a certain ethnic group from eating at your restaurant – and neither is it implicit racism – like overlooking the promotion of an African-American at a company [which, I might add, implicit discrimination and bigotry happen all the time in our society]. But might it be classified as unintentional racism?

Now why would I want to even suggest such a category? Because I think most of us are often so flippant with our words, our jokes, and our interactions with people (particularly those who are different from us) that we don’t even stop to think that what we say or do could sound racist or could be offensive. In other words, we just aren’t very sensitive to people. We are so consumed with ourselves, so accepting of the environment in which we have been raised, that we figure if someone is offended by what we say or do that it’s their problem.

Now, I’m not saying we should label my neighbor’s tombstone as a hate crime. That’s a bit extreme, and some activists – as evidenced by our current Presidential campaign – are sometimes too quick to shout “racism” when a white person is critical of the political views of a black person, for example. But the truth of the matter is, racism – explicit, implicit, and unintentional – is alive and well among us, and as Christians we ought to do whatever we can to create a culture of equality and charity. The truth is, there are enough white people in our country that won’t vote for Barack Obama simply because he’s black that he could conceivably lose the election because of racism (and about 30% of white voters would be upset if their daughter came home with a black boyfriend). In fact, just a couple days ago, Amber recounted a story from one of her friends who was canvassing on behalf of the Obama campaign. At one house, she knocked on the door and simply told the resident, “Hi we’re walking around on behalf of the Obama campaign and are just reminding people to vote on November 4th.” The resident replied, “Ma’am, there’s a reason why they call it the White House” and slammed the door.

We need to ask ourselves tough questions: Am I being racist when I lock my doors at the sight of a black person? Am I racist when I clutch my purse tighter when I see a black person? Am I being racist when I see a person of South American descent and instantly assume they’re an illegal immigrant from Mexico? Am I being racist when I see a black homeless person and try to avoid eye contact because I’m afraid they’re going to ask me for money?

I admit, I am not above saying things or doing things that are racist, sexist, and discriminatory. Amber has had to reprimand me on a couple occasions for saying to someone who knows English as a second language, “Wow, you have really good English,” which can come across as patronizing and derogatory rather than as a compliment if it sounds like I expect the person to know English, make it sound like English-speaking people are superior to the rest of the world, or act surprised that someone not from America or doesn’t look “American” (i.e., White Anglo) speaks English.

But we’re not going to learn how to be careful about such things as long as such dialogues are considered taboo and as long as we continue to remain segregated from those who are different from us, those who can give us guidance about the way the majority often offends the marginalized of society.