The news and commentary swirling around the confrontation between Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and a Cambridge police officer is a reminder that the election of Barack Obama is not a period at the end of America’s race conversation. Though the confrontation itself may not be a case of racial profiling, the ongoing reaction to the event demonstrates the need for continued discussion.
The discussion should continue and adapt overtime to the changing dynamics of our society. For example, in Los Angeles the discussion has to adapt to the new dynamic of Hispanics becoming the majority population in historically African-American neighborhoods like South Los Angeles, Watts, and Compton. In the same way that discussion around gender continues, our conversation about race doesn’t end just because glass ceilings are being shattered. I would also point out that the last place the conversation should end is within the Church, were segregation is still a chronic problem within every denomination.
To help this conversation we need creative tools for exposing and understanding prejudice.
An incredible source for conversational reference points and discussion catalysts is the creative arts. A good example of a visual artist whose work places the discussion of prejudice front and center is Kara Walker. Utilizing the stark visual impact of black and white cut out drawings, Kara Walker subverts the racist subtexts of American history in a direct confrontation of stereotypes. Her work is jarring and even offensive in its explicit amplification of racial and sexual stereotypes, but its direct style leaves the audience responsible to condemn the historical roots manifest in each image.
Sadly, the Church has done so little to cultivate the arts that there are very few practitioners within the Church that can offer tools to help congregations talk about race, sexism, and other forms of human prejudice. We just don’t have that many storytellers (visual, oral, written, and physical) to help us confront our fear and dislike of the “other”.