Talking about racism

I was reading the blog, Stuff White People Do, and in a comment I saw a reference to an event that happened in my hometown of Austin, Texas.  Not just Austin, but specifically the Lake Travis area on the west side of Austin, where I grew up.

So I googled it, and found the local television news station’s website with their description of the events.  It brought back a flood of memories of hearing this kind of shit.  Growing up in a “liberal” household, I learned to stand up to people who said the n-word, but I wasn’t really taught to pick apart the constant barrage of subtle (as well as blatant) racist stories in the news.  Now that I have a few more skills in this area, I can’t seem to shut up about the racism I see all around me.

Another thing missing from my experience growing up was the chance to hear diverse perspectives on news stories.  I was in an all-white bubble, surrounded by people who, like me, had the unearned privilege of not hearing newscasts chock-full of negative stereotypes about us, and who had the choice of staying oblivious to the realities of the racism around and within us.

I remember having moments of awareness, thinking things like, “Geez, every time they show a sketch of someone wanted by the police, its a black guy…surely that’s not right!”  But those moments were just blips on the radar.  Most of the time I lived in oblivion, like all the other white people around me.

So, back to the news story.  Basically its about a young black athlete, Cedric Benson, who was boating on Lake Travis and got hassled by the police.  Here’s part of the story from the news station’s web site (www.kvue.com), as well as local people’s comments quoted in the story.  In italics are my interpretations of the underlying racist message.

“A former UT football player is arrested on Lake Travis. Police say Cedric Benson, 25, was boating with about a dozen people Saturday night when police pulled his boat over for a random safety inspection.” (Random safety inspection means they pulled over the black guy because he didn’t belong ’round there, and you can’t trust a boat full of  n*#*s having fun.)

“Officers say Benson, who is now a running back for the Chicago Bears, was behind the wheel and had been drinking.” (The cops ignored all the drunk white boaters and took the opportunity to teach a lesson to the uppity negro in the nice boat.)

‘He’s a celebrity, thought he could get away with everything I guess. I mean, sometimes they believe they’re above the law,’ (Just because he’s famous, that don’t mean we want him ’round here, and that don’t mean we cain’t still string up n*#*s that break the law!) said Lake Travis boater, Tom Concienne.

‘Just another spoiled athlete he believes he’s above the law. Unfortunately they are subject to laws and they have to follow them as well. If they’re not, they should get arrested,’ (Even though white folks do what he was doing all the time without getting hassled, that spoiled n*#* needs to remember his place!) said Lake Travis boater, Tom Rajan.

After reinterpreting this news item, I took advantage of the internet, and looked around to find some different perspectives on this event.  At http://sportsonmymind.com, I found this blog-post, as well as 2 comments on the post:

“Lake Travis is a sanguine body of water in the tony section of Austin, Texas. Each weekend the lake is filled with boaters of all ages. As night drops over Texas’ capital city the manses on the hills above the lake shimmer. The likes of actress Sandra Bullock and tennis star Andy Roddick reside in the hills and often party on the lake.

Inevitably on those Friday and Saturday nights young, mostly white revelers can be heard out; the high-pitched laughs and screams of women and the primal frat boy drunken yells to no one in particular abound. As their crafts glide by older partiers they wave but the hip-hop and rap music remains clearly audible even from 60 feet above the shore. The young yell their hellos a little too inebriated while the slightly more sober older folk cordially wave and smile.

I have seen this scene perhaps 50 times on Lake Travis. I have seen people on party boats diving into spotlighted water late, late into the evening. I have heard the boom of the bass of rock or rap music as if a speaker was next to my ear.

But I have never, ever seen a Lower Colorado River Authority officer do anything other than float by and ask the white partiers if everything is all right.

Now if you’re a young, black and wealthy NFL running back, and ex University of Texas star named Cedric Benson and you own a 30-foot party boat and you’re on Lake Travis with your boys and some women and the same music is playing that was heard on the by white partiers just five minutes before – well, you’re getting busted. And if you say a word, you’re getting sprayed”

First comment:  “Great post brotha Dwil. During my college days I have experienced that many times.

Expecially when the black college students would hang out on one night and the white students would hang out another night.

The way the cops treated both was totally different. And not only the cops but also businesses too.”

Second comment:  “damn, I already knew about DWB, but never really thought about Boating While Black (BWB)… same shit, different vehicle…

Pepper spray? Damn again… I don’t know all the details, but I’m sure that the police officer’s life was in grave danger…”

This interpretation of the story lands on me as right on now, but I wonder how I would’ve experienced it as a teenager.  I easily could’ve distanced myself based on the description of the Lake Travis area as “tony,” since we were totally working class, and were often just as annoyed with those frat rat partiers as the author is.  And I could’ve let my discomfort about my whiteness keep me from acknowledging my white privilege.

I think its also possible that hearing different perspectives would have felt good to me, too.  Like most adolescents, I had a keen interest in justice, and I think some realistic conversations about racism…not just the racism “out there,” but the racism right around me and within me…would have helped me channel and explore some of the discomfort and pain that I felt when I had those blips of awareness around this issue.

Now that I have a child of my own, a big goal of mine is to talk, talk, talk about racism and the other -isms, about privilege, about all cultures (including white culture), about white conditioning, and about the anti-racist white identity and community that I cultivate.  And I also feel very committed to having people with different cultural backgrounds and perspectives around and in our family so my daughter doesn’t grow up in a white bubble.  And perhaps most importantly, I want to help her develop the vocabulary, emotional presence, and critical thinking skills to express herself about all of these issues.  I imagine that someday I will be learning from her about these issues, and I hope and believe that I will be open to that.