Gregory Freeman: Healing Our Racial Rifts The Solutions Are Here P-D 3/30/1997

Headline: HEALING OUR RACIAL RIFTS: THE SOLUTIONS ARE HERE
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Sun., March 30, 1997
Section: NEWS ANALYSIS Page: 4B Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

A COUPLE OF WEEKS ago, I wrote a column about racial polarization here.

The issue was raised in the Peirce Report, written by urban experts Neal Peirce and Curtis Johnson. From their report: "Race pervades every St. Louis regional issue. It feeds the sprawl and all the costs of sprawl as people run from inner-city minorities. It explains the disparities in school funding and the extraordinary percentages of private and parochial school enrollments. It limits the geographic appeal of the new rail system because far-out suburbs don't want too easy a connection to the core."

Race, they said, affects almost every issue in St. Louis. In my column, I asked you to submit your own suggestions about reducing racial polarization here. Did you ever respond!

I got more than 100 letters, plus e-mail and phone calls from readers with all sorts of good ideas. I can't print them all, but I'd like to share excerpts from some of the better ones with you. It's heartening to see that some efforts are already under way. Perhaps after reading some of these ideas, you'll get some ideas of your own. The problem of polarization here is so pervasive that no effort is too small.

Here's what some of you wrote:

I am a 36-year-old white woman who lives in the county after spending a five-year period living in the city. . . . Here are some of my ideas:
    Match city and county families together through people's churches or schools, sort of like a "sister city" concept. Put families together with similar interests who are interested in helping one another.
    Just take a moment to notice when subtle racism exists. Whenever I'm at a hockey game, it strikes me how there are few blacks in the audience and how 99 percent of all workers are black. There are obvious reasons for why this occurs - cost of the games, interest level in hockey or location of Kiel Center for the necessary work force. But how does someone feel when he or she serves a sea of white faces? Not good, I would imagine.
    Provide a forum where people can ask questions of each other about race. No judging here, just a way to understand the ins and outs of one's culture and background.

- Trish Gunby
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The plainness of truth is that African-Americans and European-Americans are different. . . . We are all uniquely different, and different doesn't mean that one or more ethnic group is superior or better than the other. It simply means that we are of diverse cultures that give us many different skin colors, hair and skin texture, different color eyes, etc.
We must start teaching our young the principle of love, of universal love. Racial harmony should be taught in our schools, churches, temples, synagogues and, most importantly, in our homes. We must learn to go that extra mile for the sake of humanity because until we have courage enough for truth we will never reach our peak of wisdom and there will always be racial controversy. We must tear down the walls of prejudice, stop catering to the hate groups whose misguided, satanic ways of thinking are only meant to feed their own weak insecurities, or the politicians who seek to separate us by race for the sake of votes.

- Patrick Chamberlain-El
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Establish an interracial "matchmaking" service. Not for romantic relationships but to foster friendships among people of different races. The service would receive profiles from individuals or couples or whole families who are interested in meeting and socializing with people of another race. The service would work and match up the profiles based on factors such as education, interests, income or whatever the experts say would ensure compatible matches that can enjoy meeting for activities they would all enjoy. The service provides the introductions. It's up to the people to make friendships.
Start a newsletter as a forum for people to submit questions they have about people of a different race or religion than themselves. The answers to these questions would dispel misconceptions and prejudices and foster greater understanding. Questions about others' beliefs, religions, cultures, traditions, etc., could be answered by volunteers or experts.

- Patricia Marshall
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My family moved to Bellefontaine Neighbors several months ago, a so-called "changing" area, as people so delicately put it. We're white, and of my four immediate neighbors, three are black. My wife and I always make a point of meeting the people who live around us and establishing friendly relations with them. When we did this we made the sad discovery that none of our black neighbors had ever met or spoken to any of their white neighbors, or vice versa. Evidently everybody has for years just glared out the window at one another.
It's a lot easier to hate and fear someone you don't know than someone you do know, and for others to hate and fear you in turn. Meeting your neighbors isn't an extraordinarily complicated thing. You just wave, say hello and walk over to shake hands, or knock on the door, introduce yourself and ask to borrow a rake or something. We've introduced some of our white neighbors to our black neighbors, and now we've got our kids and the neighbor kids playing basketball together. There's an old Chinese saying that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Meeting your neighbor isn't much, but it's a start.

- Dan Byrns
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At social gatherings of family, friends or neighbors I inevitably encounter someone making crude racial comments, jokes, slurs, bigoted statements, etc. I have now come to expect the statements. However, I have become increasingly bolder as time goes on. I often and usually confront those who make the statements with questions, arguments, once even with a threat.
Suffice it to say I hear fewer of the statements. I may have been left off of a few, but not many, guest lists, but I feel much better and am able to leave the social gatherings knowing I may have elevated the conversation, made people think a little harder about race or just plain let it be know that what they said was stupid, wrong and ignorant.

- Michael P. Powers
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Since this is such a big problem I think we need a campaign such as the "Say no to drugs" and "Safe sex" campaigns that would promote unity and tolerance. T-shirts, ribbons and pins can be worn expressing support for these issues. I like the slogan, "Free your mind."
A lot of people don't realize who is and isn't prejudiced and therefore make assumptions. We could have a designated day to acknowledge the theme of ending racial misunderstandings. Much as they do for smoke outs or safety. In time, organizations can sponsor dinners or dances for people who want to help change the present situation.

- Connie Garza Nortin
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Thinking of community efforts to reach out to one another, to talk of matters of importance to us all, including race, I think also of the great disservice if any indulge embellished testimonials about negative encounters with "them." We cannot build community bridges if the forums intended for that purpose abide in-your-face mentalities that use every opportunity to indict others. If we indulge any testimonials, let them be the positive life experiences - those that touch the human heart and lift the spirit. We need that feeling when we see a selfless act: the firefighter carrying out a child in his arms, without regard for which of them is black or white or tan or yellow. We need to feel together, to cry and to laugh together in our common humanity.
Truly enjoying one another's company is a matter of learning that will come in part with common experiences, common interests and mutual regard. This doesn't always happen between people of the same race, or even between life partners. Cultural diversity - in the classroom, in the church, in the marketplace, the theater, community events - needs an ongoing exposure, and through a wide-angle lens it transcends black and white.

- Ronald L. Pohle
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So many people wrote in with so many good ideas and thoughts.
   Like James Carter, who wrote that "Upon first appearances we notice sex, then race. It is unavoidable. The mistake is to leave it at that."
   Or Tom Klevorn, who wrote: "Let's work with the relocation experts, especially those at our larger companies, to at least include a look at the city of St. Louis in any relocation process."
   Kathy Sharkey suggested that we should "focus less on where we disagree and more on where we all come together. Many concerns are the same for whites and blacks. Any forum that helps us to see that is healthy."

Several people wrote about "Promise Keepers, " a Christian men's group that urges men to make and keep promises to family and God, as an organization that brings black and white men together.
Someone mentioned a group called Interracial Family Living, formed eight years ago by couples who are interracially married or have adopted biracial children.

I've only been able to print a few of the ideas here, but it's clear that many have been thinking about our polarization problem. Maybe you'll find some of these ideas helpful, or maybe they'll spur you to develop some of your own. The problem is something that all of us can and need to address. For all of our sakes, we need to get cracking on this right now.

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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