Generosity Changes Everything

 

On this Feast of St. Francis, the great peacemaker, I want to share with

a good conversation I had with a parishioner after Mass last Sunday.  She asked, “Why was the book White Fragility chosen?”  She was concerned because it seemed so angry and seeking revenge.  Here is what I shared.  The book was chosen because a group of parishioners heard about the book and were curious, me included.  We decided we would meet regularly and invite others to join.  The book is challenging to read.  It uses difficult and uncomfortable language.  It uses a language that does not easily invite others to share in the conversation and is uncomfortable.  This is what I learned.  We all have a bias.  Our bias is based upon our experience:  our parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles who formed us, where we lived, went to school, our healthcare and even our grocery stores.  We cannot change our experience.  It does influence how we see and act in life.  That is our bias.  Our brothers and sisters who are black had a different experience.  They often lived in substandard housing, went to substandard schools, had limited healthcare and substandard access to quality food.  That is their bias.  Yes, many of us struggled and may have lived in poverty even, but our schools, healthcare and grocery stores were better.  That is the advantage of growing up white.  Because of our advantage, as adults we are generally healthier, have higher paying jobs and live in better neighborhoods.  This advantage is not because we worked harder; it is because of the better opportunities we had as children and young adults growing up in predominately white neighborhoods.  Racism are the systems that prevail whereby persons who are black, despite working as hard as persons who are white, continue to live in poorer neighborhoods, attend weaker schools and have limited access to quality healthcare and food. 

                What can I do?  I can look at my day-to-day living with an eye of, “Do I have an advantage because I am white?”  I can purposely purchase food, materials, and services from black-owned companies (The African American Chamber of Greater Cincinnati).  When governments are looking at laws, I can challenge civil leaders to make decisions to benefit all people regardless of their neighborhood or skin color.      

                What is next?  The same group would like to look at what the Church says about racism by studying “Open Wide Our Hearts: the enduring call to love a pastoral letter against racism” by the U.S. Bishops.  All are welcome to join us.