GEORGE FLOYD, DREW BREES, TEACHING, AND READING ASSIGNMENTS: THE EDUCATION OF WHITE AMERICA ABOUT RACE

George Floyd’s family buried him June 9 after

services in Minneapolis, North Carolina, and Houston. The trauma his murder caused his family, African Americans generally, and many whites continues. Since we can’t discuss all the things that surfaced from the Floyd case, we’ve picked one we think urgent and interesting: talk between African Americans and whites about race.

The three of us see value in African Americans engaging whites on race. Some African Americans think that’s a waste of time, offering some version of, “Educating white people about race isn’t our responsibility. They should figure it out for themselves.” Those arguing that note it’s been tried for years with disappointing results. We understand the underlying frustration, but we hold a different view.

Drew Brees: Tone Deaf

We can’t find a better example of why we think engaging white Americans on race makes sense than the case of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees. After Floyd’s death, Brees clung to the familiar talking point that he could “never agree with anyone disrespecting” the flag when asked about his feelings now on former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and kneeling during the national anthem. Because Brees counts as a “good guy,” his comments showing he didn’t get it felt worse than had they come from a source known for insensitivity. His community service record in predominately black New Orleans suggested he understood better than many white NFL players the need for recognizing the impact of racism on African Americans. He led Katrina recovery efforts, donated millions for feeding the hungry during the pandemic, and helped rebuild parks and playgrounds.

Black NFL players, including his Saints teammates, pushed back. They said Kaepernick’s protest had nothing to do with the flag or the military, which Brees referenced in mentioning the Second World War service of his grandfathers. San Francisco defensive back Richard Sherman tweeted, “He’s beyond lost. Guarantee you there were black men fighting alongside your grandfather, but this doesn’t seem to be about that. That uncomfortable conversation you are trying to avoid by injecting military into conversation about brutality and equality is part of the problem.”

Brees apologized, saying he was “sick about the way my comments were perceived,” and

that his “insensitive” statements “completely missed the mark on the issues we are facing now as a country.” San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ann Killion wrote that his apology “felt late…Four years late.”

It Is About Race

The Brees story illustrates how even well-intentioned white people convert discussions

of racial animus into discussions about something else. “This isn’t about race” we’ve heard  often. As sociologist Robin DiAngelo writes in  White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, “Most white people have limited information about what racism is and how it works. For many white people, an isolated course taken in college or required … in their workplace is the only time they may

encounter a direct and sustained challenge to their racial reality.” That reality includes the fact that, according to a Public Religion Research Institute study, 75 % of white Americans have entirely white social networks. If Drew Brees, who plays in a league that’s about 70% black, has trouble understanding why kneeling concerned brutality and inequality, not the flag and the military, what about those in the 75%?          

We believe the Floyd case and the angst it produced are about race. The protests are

about the disparity in police treatment of African Americans and whites. The Floyd case and the protests are about the fact every African American faces a greater risk of being the victim of police assault than does a white person, regardless of education, socioeconomic standing, or zip code. It is about race.

Class Assignments

White people often ask what they should do to better understand racism. We believe

African Americans should keep talking with whites about the challenges of living in America as descendants of enslaved people. We would not leave our white brothers and sisters to their own

devices and conversations among themselves about the nature of that experience. We recall from the Bible (the word of God for some, wisdom literature for others, and meaningless fable for others) Matthew 15:14, which says “… and if the blind

lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” As distressing as some may find it, we must say that when it comes to racism, many white Americans are blind.

Still, the responsibility for whites learning about the effects of racism doesn’t fall solely on African Americans. Recently  on his church’s call-in forum, Woodson noted the importance of studying the history of this problem. That’s part of anti-racism work. With this topic, ignorance is not  bliss. Woodson suggested our three favorite books on race – Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other

Suns, The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein, and Edward Baptist’s The Half Has Never Been Told. Henry adds Ralph Ellison’s great novel, Invisible Man. We understand the tough sledding these books sometimes require, so we also offer works that present the issue in more digestible form:

·Racing Across the Lines: Changing Race Relations Through Friendship by Deborah Plummer;

·Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad;

·So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo; and

·How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi.

At least one of us has read all these titles and believes each teaches something about how African Americans and whites can talk concerning race and about white intra-race talk, something we see as valuable. None pull

punches. Some readers may find parts of them disturbing. We think that’s necessary, seeing virtue in the old saw about comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. What we've been doing certainly hasn’t worked.