Black Like Me - Howard Griffin
I’ve just finished re-reading Black Like Me. I read it when I was young but it’s had a very different effect on me this time around. It’s the story of John Howard Griffin, who, in 1959, changed the pigment of his skin and went into the South as a black man.
I believe that so much of the racism and prejudice still remains. In Saskatchewan, we see it primarily towards First Nations people, but the concept is the same in many races and cultures. When we believe a stereotype, we engage in the behaviors that follow. Mr. Griffin talks about the “hate stare”; a concious or concious look of hate thrown at people with different skin colors. He talks about the sets of beliefs that frame people’s perceptions, disallowing them from seeing others as they are.
Most poignantly for me, Mr. Griffin talks about seeing the people who hate, in other contexts; sitting down for dinner with their families, talking to their grandparents. When someone is hating us, for whatever reason, if we can see them as human, then there’s a chance that they might see us as human too.
Heroes small and large overcome racism. A smile, a handshake, finding out the answer to “What’s life like for you?”, without assumptions and regardless of color will help to disintegrate these stereotypes.
Please share your own stories of yourself or people you know making strides, large and small, to know people as they are - rather than as they might be perceived to be.
Have a thoughtful Friday!
July 11th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I think racism is very prevalent today. It is taught, in even the most subtle ways. I remember being taught racism. I went to school with mostly white kids. I can count the entire number of black kids that I went to school with on one hand during K-12. When I asked family about black people, I was told at a very early age that other than pigmentation differences, black people had other undesirable traits like they smelled different, had a different muscle structure that made them good at sports, and were lower on the evolutionary chain. In high school I dated a black girl, a really amazing young woman. My parents told me not to get serious with her because I would be socially stigmatized and our kids would have it hard. I met her dad who treated me with total disregard. It was the first time I was exposed to racism from the other end. I can’t remember what made me not believe these things, but I’m glad they never stuck. We have made progress, but not enough. Our cultures tend to reinforce stereotypes as does the media.
I think generally people find comfort in things similar to themselves. If you don’t interact with people of different nationalities or skin color or even social status on a regular basis a sense of discomfort can overcome you when suddenly you do have to interact. Instead of shying away from conversations of race and other differences (which to me reinforces negative feelings), I think the key to overcoming racial disparity is to have conversations, no matter how uncomfortable.
In “The Lathe of Heaven” by Ursula K. Le Guin, the main character discovers he can change reality by dreaming of it. He desires to rid the world of hate so he dreams of it. When he wakes up, everybody in the world is the same shade of grey.
The true horror of the world is when there is an absence of diversity.
Scott