Today is Blog Against Racism Day

So this is my blog against racism.

This is the sort of thing I rarely participate in. It’s the sort of thing I wish I participated in more often, the same way I wish I was better at recycling and I wish I was better at speaking out every time I see a wrong. Somehow, I always fall back on excuses. Isn’t enough to just NOT be racist? Isn’t it enough to just approach the world with an open mind and teach my kids that people are people? It’s easier… but not always enough.

What finally prompted me to go ahead and write today was this. Not even about racism, specifically, but being who I am, I tend to dump all the –isms together in one basket. Professor Mirecki is the faculty advisor for the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics.

Don’t you love that word – open-minded?

Mirecki has recently come under fire for his comments on a list-serve for the organization, regarding a class he plans to teach on intelligent design and creationism as mythology. Handled with the dignity of a truly open-minded person, I honestly believe Mirecki could have gotten by without so much as a scrap of attention from the media. My initial reaction was that he should have known better. Nobody sends an email these days without considering that ANYbody could be reading on the other end. But, of course, Mirecki’s offending comments don’t seem to be isolated to this one incident.

A truly open mind seems to be a very difficult thing for we humans to acquire. We crave community. We seek company that assures us that our thoughts, our feelings, are justified. In doing so, we shut others out – sometimes violently – in both words and deeds.

When I was a kid, certain members of my family were very fond of Polack jokes. I delighted in memorizing these jokes and passing them along to friends. It was fun to make people laugh. It was thrilling to have a morsel of cleverness that could bring a smile to someone’s face. One day I brought my newest “Did you hear about the Polack who..” line to a teacher on the playground. He was wonderful guy. Easy to converse with, and well-liked by all the kids. My joke didn’t make him smile, and I was very puzzled. “You know, Tracy,” he said me after a moment, “My family is Polish. My grandfather came from Poland.”

I wish I could claim I had a revolution in thinking at that moment. I didn’t. I was embarrassed, certainly. It probably wasn’t long before I eliminated Polack jokes, as well as black jokes, Mexican jokes, and maybe Chinese jokes entirely from my repertoire.

I think the most accurate summary of my reaction to my teacher was, “Sheesh… it was only a joke.”

It took me years of thinking about how we present ourselves, whether within the privacy of a community of like-minded friends or the open world of email communication, says volumes about who we are.

Professor Mirecki should have known better.

It may be that I don’t tell racist jokes, but continuing to listen to them, without at least commenting on their hurtfulness, makes me no less racist.

You don’t call yourself open-minded, and then attack those whose beliefs don’t mesh with your own, even when just "joking." That simply equals close-mindedness, only on the other end of the spectrum, perhaps.

It’s not always easy to be that person who transcends the –isms.

I’ve grumbled about the Christian right.

I’ve mocked working mothers.

I’ve criticized those who send their children to public schools.

I’ve been known to judge beautiful people poorly, especially blondes who wear conspicuous jewelry, makeup, and high-heeled shoes.

I’ve been afraid to make conversation with a person because their skin is darker than mine or they speak with an accent I am not comfortable with.

And I know at least one person from each of these categories is going to be reading everything I’ve written here.

What can I say? I’m sorry feels shallow. I can argue that I don’t do these things often or with viciousness, but I have to admit that I’ve had my moments and they were truly ugly. I’m only human, and I hope you don’t see that as an excuse, but just as a matter of fact.

The only word I can come up with that comes close to providing an answer is mindfulness.

As a faculty advisor, Professor Mirecki should have been leading his students in the practice of mindfulness. Our differences in faith, belief, motivation, appearance, presentation, philosophy, language… they can create huge gaps in our communities, but we don’t have to let them do that. We can appreciate diversity instead of fearing it. We can embrace diversity instead of letting it divide us.

What I have learned, since that day with my Polish teacher on the playground twenty-five years ago, is that where there are differences, there are also similarities. Every person has something to offer. Something to think about. Something worthy. Something marvelous, even, to embrace.

We must remain mindful. We must keep doing enough, and then asking how we can do more.