I have to admit, I used to think that if even people of the majority experienced the same thing (being the only one in the room), they would feel just as uncomfortable. Then I listened to the stories of a few people from the majority who experienced being a minority in in gender or race and I realized it is EXTREMELY different.
During their experiences these people still knew that they were highly favored and accepted by society, holding all the power even in their immersion experiences. The barriers to a true minority experience has everything to do with power. If a group of majority people are aware that they will soon be free of an uncomfortable situation and have all that they need, they are not truly experiencing the discrepancies a minority feels every day.
Recently a friend asked me to explain the reasoning behind people protesting in Ferguson regarding the Wilson-Brown case. As best I could, I explained that whether or not the situation was started by Michael Brown, the way it was finished by Wilson was unnecessarily dramatic and only surfaced what ethnic minorities (especially African-Americans & Hispanics) have felt for a very long time.
I believe many Americans have unaddressed anger issues that having continued to be sparked over time. It is just over a century after slavery was abolished (1865), less than 60 years since Brown vs BOE (1955) and not to long after President Johnson signed the Voting Rights act (1965) that stopped states from discriminating against ethnic minorities. You can say that's all history but in the 90's, I grew up in the Bronx borough of New York City and visibly saw the educational, business, & lifestyle differences in lower income communities. The power is still in the hands of the majority.
Our nation is hurt because this is still a very real thing. During this experience I had recently, I took a walk with some co-workers. It isn't uncommon for me to be the only minority with my job and so I have been getting used to how they treat me. Although I'm not as comfortable, it's not always their fault and definitely not deliberate. It wasn't until we walked into a pottery shop in Winchester, VA that I was brutally reminded by a customer there that I am different. She wouldn't clear the entrance way for me to enter and told me the owner was too busy to see me. Later a co-worker who saw this happen apologetically asked how I was. "What am I going to do? It is what it is." I responded.
As I've been sitting on these thoughts, I wanted to share something a director in my organization shared regarding the Ferguson events and his own experience in the majority but also a Christian.
I want to face my biases head on. I want to take the time to listen and understand the experiences and pain of my brothers and sisters. I want to pray for the lack of unity in the body and work to mend that fracture.
Unity does not come easily or cheaply. It requires hard work, time and selflessness. It asks us to consider others as more important than ourselves and to be willing to be uncomfortable as we work through years of hurt. Make no mistake, this is a spiritual battle that the evil one will not give up easily.
