This week, Circulation Assistant and MDiv student, Laleita Small discusses the importance of self-awareness in racial reconciliation!
While skimming through my Facebook page as my normal bird watching routine as I call it, I came across an interesting post. A video of a father's confession pertaining to his racial bias caught my attention. Newscaster, Frank Somerville shared his story of how he faced and continues to address his hidden racial biases. This newscaster is a father of two young beautiful daughters. What made his story interesting while disrupting my normal routine of bird watching. One of his daughters is Black and he is white. In this Facebook posted YouTube video, I heard a person become honest with self in the eyes of the public. This public figure acknowledged his unconscious issue of racially profiling an individual without cause.
What made this newscaster acknowledge his issue with race? This awareness and action for change happened while he was driving to work. He noticed a white woman waiting at a bus stop. He also noticed that a black male walking near the bus stop. Instead of seeing two individuals going about their day, Somerville decided to watch the activity of the man because he was black. Without realizing in that moment that he was a father of a black child, his hidden bias draped in bigotry came to the surface. He shared how embarrassed and disgusted he felt inside because of his quick decision to judge and characterize a person because of their race. To add more salt to the wound he thought about his black daughter and how this world judges her. After that moment of addressing self he knew he had an issue and it needed to change.
Let's talk about it! How can racial reconciliation be addressed and why is it perceived as an uncomfortable discussion? Why, I might ask? Could it be that we are afraid to see our true selves in the mirror? We can blame social media for the flames of racial tension, however, media can only fuel what is already lit in each of us. Racial reconciliation can only be truly addressed when we address ourselves. Let's talk about how we see each other. Let's talk about how we judge based on our race, gender or political group without truly knowing the individual.
As we observe this month of Black History, let us first address the issues we have within. We cannot truly honor the matriarchs of the Civil Rights Movement, if we cannot address ourselves first. Change starts with me in order for racial reconciliation to be affective. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with other great agents of change spoke to the masses for equality and reconciliation. However, the masses consisted of individuals who understood that they needed to change for racial reconciliation to happen.
Source:
This Father Has an Interracial Family, But Still Works on His Racial Bias
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhEHOD3ZW9U
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