Silence Won’t Win War Against Racism

Racism. Introduce that topic to a conversation and watch the eyes roll. People sigh, shuffle, try to make a speedy exit. They are tired of the -isms. What can you say that hasn’t been said before? Hate is wrong.

Yet the news lately has been chock-full of stories about racially motivated crime.

We clicked our tongues, ignoring the brief nausea when we heard about churches burning in historically racist states like North Carolina and Alabama.

But two weeks ago a church community in Portland, just a sixhour drive away, suffered this same horrific offense.

Citizens in our own community experienced a less violent but equally disgusting attack last week when boneheads defaced a building slated for a Community Oriented Police Substation. Their handiwork included painted swastikas and the words “White Power.”

Make no mistake. Racism today is often quieter, less overt, than the violent confrontations that shaped the civil rights era. But it is no less devastating. Whether it be the ignorant aggressors who use human difference as a channel for their anger, or the frustrated neighbors of a building riddled with hateful messages, we all still have a lot of talking to do about racism.

The idea that talking leads to greater understanding, and understanding to solutions, is behind two programs sponsored by Spokane’s Human Rights Commission.

The first, Study Circles on Racism and Race Relations, is a grass-roots effort to instigate “wide-based, no-holds-barred discussion.” Three six-week circles will allow small groups to talk in a safe, open forum about the issue. Participants can then go back to their communities and start new study circles on this and other important topics.

Unity In Action is a network of human-rights groups who meet once a month to share information and support upcoming events. It’s also a means for organizing quickly in response to human-rights concerns in the community. All are welcome to attend the next meeting on Tuesday, July 11 at 5:30 p.m. It will be at the Cheney Cowles Museum.

For more information on either of these programs call Cherie Berthon at 625-6263.

And while talking won’t catch thugs with spray cans, it enables each of us to take responsibility for change.

The writings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are a reminder that an apathetic majority that allows hatred to exist unhindered in their community is far worse than violence perpetuated by the radical fringe. He wrote: “We will have to repent … not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of bad people, but for the appalling silence of good people.”

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Elana Ashanti Jefferson/For the editorial board