Race together

It was suggested by Starbucks that we should have a racial discussion. Then the whole thing died.  Well, rats.  Our Starbucks in this small town is so tiny, almost a kiosk.  We call it “Son of a Buck.” Moreover, if you are a lib, you probably don’t want to discus race with me. Sanctimony and solidarity marches will be easier for you.

Here’s the resume.  I have raised 9 kids through teenage years and several more mentor kids from DHS.  They represent every anthropological race except the Aboriginoid race. I’ve had heartfelt race discussions with kids we love, but that still won’t make you an expert.  So here’s how I feel and some suggestions.

I’ve been very hard-of-hearing all my life.  One of the hearing aid makers, I think it was Starkeys, had U. of MN do a study of what other people objected to with hearing impaired and aid wearers. They found something like 15% had dislikes such as “I have to speak up around them to get heard.”  “I don’t like the TV so loud.” “I hate it when they take them out or adjust them in public.”  “I just hate being around them because it reminds me of being old.” “I think they are just faking it sometimes.  They can hear but make you shout just so they are sure.”  The last comment borders on bigotry because it expresses distrust, the sort of things researchers try to find when they research racism or sexism,etc.  But only about ¼% of people have distrust or extreme dislike of people who wear hearing aids. 

On the other hand, this points out a number of things to me about deaf behavior I need to watch.  I’ve spent a lifetime orienting myself in a room or conversation so I can hear effortlessly.  The speakers probably are clueless, but it’s up to me to make do.  Sit right next to the TV.  Don’t mess with your aids in public. Apologize always about your disability so the speaker knows it isn’t their fault.  Tell them you have been deaf forever.  Put them at ease. 

It gets more interesting with race.  Research shows that fewer than 3% of Caucasians are hard-core racists who distrust or hate some other race, but about 30% who find some American Negroid behavior objectionable.  That’s cultural stuff. “I don’t like it when I can’t understand their language.” “I don’t like it if they are loud or rude.” This says to an Afro-American, Be Polite, Speak Normal English.  It goes a long ways towards making friends.  Amusingly a Congolese friend said those same things to me about Afro-American behavior, then grinned and said, “Well it’s actually kinda cool what they do say to one another, but they always have to translate it for me.”

Dr. Thomas Sowell’s landmark research on immigrants and minority groups points out 3 highly important cultural attributes. (true for immigrant groups worldwide like South Asians to Africa and others)  Regard for education, hard work and strong family ties were the 3 golden rules.  Sowell, a Californian and Afro-American, first began his research trying to answer the question of why Chinese succeeded admirably in California and Afro-Americans didn’t.  Both had readily identifiable racial characteristics, were poor and had cultures out of the mainstream, but the Chinese also had a foreign tongue and religion. It came down to the fact that too many Afros had former slave mentality towards working for a boss, didn’t trust the white man’s schools and saw a breakdown of family ties in the 1960s. 

And so Sowell concluded that the sudden success of Jews in the late 1800’s in America was due to support of the 3 golden rules. Ditto Germans, Scandinavians, Irish and Japanese.  Italians were laggard because they kept their own culture and language very dearly and didn’t have as much regard for education.  Here he also has some words of warning for Hispanics who are often lax concerning educational achievement.  Traditionally, they have some of the strongest family ties but USA is breaking that down quickly with a culture of irresponsibility and Hispanic out-of-wedlock birth rate is high.

My thinking is for churches and charitable organizations to lead the way with the social hurdles because government cannot do it.  In the past, it happened that way.  And it can be done again.