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It was the early 1980s, and I was president of this service club for young men in high school. I don't remember the exact conversation, and Mr. Barbaree for sure did not lecture me or make a public stand. He made a moral stand, however, as he declined to place the banner of the all-white youth organization in our public school, which had been integrated twelve years prior.
I had entered school during the first year of school desegregation in 1970 and attended school for twelve years in a system with a majority of black students, however, I had limited insight into the actual history and significance of race in our culture. We didn't talk about it much, and I recall very little drama. (There was a walk-out by black members of the football team when an all-white cheer squad was selected one year, and the school found a way to work through this by diversifying the group - resulting in several white families leaving the school - the only race related incident that remains in my memory.)
Black and white - we attended class together, played sports together and participated in school clubs and prom together - but there wasn't much integrated socializing outside of sanctioned school activities - not in church and not at home, not in dating relationships. Social integration was happening in a very gradualistic manner, probably typical of most southern small towns at that time. Ours was a quiet town, not known for racial violence. We didn't have those signs at the town limit warning people "not to let the sun set..." (2), although for the most part, the residential sections remained segregated.
But the black students, which attended our school at a ratio of two-to-one with the white students, were not invited into our service club which was under sponsorship of the white Rotarians - bankers, insurance agents, businessmen and factory workers. In that club we had opportunities for service and leadership development, and even got to attend the all-expenses-paid summer convention at the gulf beach in Pensacola. Our club earned thousands of dollars each year at the town fair, where whites and blacks attended and enjoyed the attractions and ate the cotton candy, and the members of our all-white club parked the cars and and earned the money for our endeavors.
I was barely aware of the segregated nature of this youth service club experience, enjoyed by white members of the public school alongside students from the all-white private school across town. Members during our high school years, we met and learned, worked and served, and eventually I was "president." Leaving my small town with this experience and other opportunities in my background and on my resume, along with the outstanding support of my devoted parents, I was able to receive a full ride scholarship to a state university and embark on a rewarding career in ministry, law enforcement, and nonprofit leadership. All of these benefits stood behind me and all of the doors opened in front of me.
All of these benefits stood behind me and all of the doors opened in front of me.
My point is not to vilify these men, or our parents, or our community. To the contrary, I appreciate and value my school and my community of origin. But segregation was just a way of life at that time. It was the ocean that we swam in, so an awareness of race inequity was not brought to the front of our consciousness. (I'm not here excusing the racist attitudes that I held at that time.) I was cruising along, enjoying privileges that were not equally available to my black classmates, largely unaware of the issue of race and certainly not doing anything about it - a classic case of white privilege.
I'm not casting blame, pointing fingers. The relevant point, however, is that segregation persisted, and the opportunities were separate and not equal. This was not the 50s of Jim Crow but it was the 1980s - a mere 40 years ago - barely more than one generation. So now as we debate "black lives matter" and continue to confront this legacy of inequality, we cannot think that these battles are long over, we cannot think that the work was completed some time in the past.
This was not the Jim Crow 50s but the 1980s, after the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and school integration. But the segregation persisted, and the opportunities were separate and not equal.
There is no great threshold that we have passed over where the damages of slavery, white supremacy and segregation was overcome and inequality erased. The time has been too short, and the remedies too slight and inadequate. We must do more - this is our reality, this is our history, this is our moral obligation as a nation. This is my obligation as a white American, not only to my African-American fellow citizens, but to our Native-American citizens, the immigrants among us (documentation status set aside), and to others whose rights have been denied and equality circumvented by the social momentum of our institutions which have served in many ways to protect the status quo in the areas of wealth and power. The data bears out this ugly truth.
Some may say... that was a long time ago. What does it have to do with today?...
What has something that happened in the 80s have to do with today? No doubt experiences like mine were multiplied across thousands of communities and the young leaders of the 80s are now in the prime of their careers as business owners, administrators, supervisors and executives, teachers, ministers, partners of law firms, enumerable roles in the fabric of our community, making decisions over the lives of others, hiring, firing, promoting, cutting business deals. Preference for those similar to us is ingrained in our base psychology even if we don't see it. In many cases, people slide right through life without deep and significant relationships with those outside of their cultural demographic, leading to a continuing blind spot whereby they proclaim ... "where is this white privilege? I don't see it." To which a person on the other side of the conversation may be willing to say..."let's sit down and talk."
This is not about blame and guilt, but about working together to achieve the ideals of justice and equality that were stated in our nation's founding but have yet to be fully realized. It remains our moral imperative to go forward and not back, to have an open mind an heart, to be guided by the love and generosity of our better selves rather than the protectionism of our selfish nature. Even the present day mission of the Interact Club exhorts us ..."take action, build international understanding, and make new friends around the world ... discovering the power of service above self."
Notes:
Image Credit: https://www.timesknowledge.in/nature/why-do-some-fish-swim-in-schools-and-others-alone-1295-1.html
(1) I do not here claim any insight into the history of diversification of the membership of Rotary International, which doubtless had already begun to take place prior to the 1980s. My only observation here is that our club, to my knowledge, had historically included only white members.
(2) I must note that there are six (6) names listed of individuals lynched in Clarke County, Alabama, in the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Montgomery. At present, I do not know the background of these stories, but I intend to learn more.