A Racial Divide

Back in 1967 after rioting in the predominantly black Hill Section of New Haven, a story on New York's all-news WINS wondered out loud how this could have happened "in a city that had done so much for its minority community."    With the latest racially-charged news out of Ferguson, Missouri and much of the white reaction to it, that New Haven question came to mind again.   Many deny the very existence of racism.   Why can't all people just behave?    Haven't we seen lots of progress since the sixties?    

Change has happened and generational attitudes evolve, but I can't say as an older white guy in a remote section of Connecticut suburbia that I know what it's like to be a young African American city dweller any more now than I did in 1967.   When the OJ Simpson "not guilty" verdict came out almost twenty years ago, I could not fathom why the majority of the black community agreed with that.   The New Haven ghetto was only ten miles from the booming suburb where I grew up, but I and most whites still have little understanding of what it is like to walk a mile in their shoes. While conservatives and liberals play fast and loose with the term "racism", I don't know how we can deny the very existence of a continuing "racial divide."   Even with political reforms and good intentions, flash points like Ferguson remind us of how far we have to go.   

Maybe the next generation or two can bridge this gap.   My stepdaughter Monica had some insight on this:   "If white people can't admit when black people are treated unfairly and recognize that biases still exist, how can we truly work to avoid the effect those biases, largely unconscious, have in society?   Even if it were the case that it wasn't about race, it's just as important to address why black people feel mistreated and marginalized.   That shouldn't be an issue that's only on the radar of black people.  It should be something we all care about and actively work to change."