Miner Queries: Do we have the courage to acknowledge our history?

 When I was a kid, I loved the “Julia” TV show starring African American actress Dianne Carroll. I think it was because she was a strong independent woman, a nurse, working and raising her son alone. I loved the show so much my mom got me a Julia doll (like a Barbie) for Christmas.

I loved my Julia doll. And on snowy cold days when we could take toys to school to play indoors, I took my Barbie case with Julia and her clothes. I had a P.J. (one of Barbie’s friends) doll, too.

It didn’t take me long to notice my classmates weren’t comfortable playing with Julia, but I didn’t care. That just meant I got to play with her; however, that memory stuck in my head. 

It’s been kicking around again after recent events. Like most of America, I was horrified by the massacre in Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church two weeks ago – horrified, but not surprised. 

I was not surprised after the recent reports of violence against black, particularly male, people in this country, nor after the over-the-top animosity directed at President Obama and his family since his election. As President-elect Obama somberly met the excited crowds in Chicago’s Grant Park that November night in 2008, I was bracing myself. “This is going to bring out every bit of latent racism in America,” I muttered under my breath. 

As a native of homogenous rural America, I grew up curious and, yes, even apprehensive about those different from myself. But thanks to older siblings and cousins introducing diversity into our family, I quickly learned people are people. 

But I also observed how my family had to work through fears and uncertainty in each new situation.  Over the years, I have observed subtle differences in the treatment of white and black co-workers. I have heard plenty of racial slurs. And honestly, there have been times I’ve said and done insensitive things and wondered about my own biases. There have also been times when I should have spoken up and didn’t.

So, I understand many of us are uncomfortable with America’s growing diversity.  That has to be said.

It’s way past time for Americans to get over our fears of our black brothers and sisters. It’s time to admit our history and biases and to start talking. As Heather Cox Richardson wrote in a June 21 article on AlterNet:  “When Roof said: ‘I have to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go,’ and then made himself judge and jury, he was echoing both a fear and a crazed solution that grew out of the Civil War, when white Southern men had to face the reality that they were going to have to share control of the government.”

Just as I believe it’s wrong, rather than polite, not to talk about religion and politics, I believe it’s wrong for us not to talk about racism and bias. If we are to grow beyond our fears; if we are to progress, we have to confront the ways we try to elevate ourselves by disrespecting others.

And I use that term because like our editor, Greg Orear, I agree this is matter of respect. 

But I don’t think it’s simple or easy. Acknowledging our ugly history will be uncomfortable. We can’t say racism is over because we passed the Civil Rights Act and elected a black president – not when we know black Americans are imprisoned, killed and enslaved by unfair criminal justice and economic systems. 

If we do not confront and wrestle with these facts, then we will continue to repeat our ugly history. And we will never live out our American ideal that all humans are created equal.

Cherie Miner is a local parent, community volunteer, freelance writer and artist. In a former life, she was a corporate writer and public relations professional. Contact her at news@redoakexpress.com or on Facebook.