[Peace-discuss] A bit more about racism

[John W.]

I thought this musing by Maya Angelou was a propos to our discussion of a 
couple days ago....

John Wason

**********

Excerpt from Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now
by Maya Angelou


Our Boys

             The plague of racism is insidious, entering into our minds as 
smoothly and quietly and invisibly as floating airborne microbes enter into 
our bodies to find lifelong purchase in our bloodstreams.
             Here is a dark little tale which exposes the general pain of 
racism.  I wrote ten one-hour television programs called Blacks, Blues, 
Blacks, which highlighted Africanisms still current in American life.  The 
work was produced in San Francisco at KQED.
             The program "African Art's Impact on Western Art" was fourth 
in the series.  In it I planned to show the impact African sculpture had on 
the art of Picasso, Modigliani, Paul Klee, and Rouault.  I learned that a 
Berkeley collector owned many pieces of East African Makonde sculpture.  I 
contacted the collector, who allowed me to select thirty pieces of 
art.  When they were arranged on lighted plinths, the shadows rell from the 
sculptures on to the floor, and we photographed them in dramatic 
sequence.  The collector and his wife were so pleased with the outcome that 
at my farewell dinner they presented me with a piece of sculpture as a 
memento.  They were white, older, amused  and amusing.  I knew that if I 
lived in their area, we would become social friends.
             I returned to New York, but three years later I moved back to 
Berkeley to live.  I telephoned the collector and informed him of my 
move.  He said, "So glad you called.  I read of your return in the 
newspaper.  Of course we must get together."  He went on, "You know I am 
the local president of the National Council of Christians and Jews.  But 
you don't know what I've been doing since we last spoke.  I've been in 
Germany trying to ameliorate the conditions for the American 
soldiers."  His voice was weighted with emotion.  He said, "You know, the 
black soldiers are having a horrific time over there, and our boys are 
having a hard time, too."
             I asked, "What did you say?"
             He said, "Well, I'm saying that the black soldiers are having 
it particularly tough, but our guys are having a bad time, too."
             I asked, "Would you repeat that?"
             He said, "Well, I'm saying..."  Then his mind played back his 
statement, or he reheard the echo of his blunder hanging in the air.
             He said, "Oh, my God, I've made such a stupid mistake, and I'm 
speaking to Maya Angelou."  He said, "I'm so embarrassed.  I'm going to 
hang up."  I said, "Please don't.  Please don't.  This incident merely 
shows how insidious racism is.  Please, let's talk about it."  I could hear 
embarrassment in his voice, and hesitations and chagrin.  Finally, after 
about three or four minutes, he managed to hang up.  I telephoned him three 
times, but he never returned my telephone calls.
             The incident saddened and burdened me.  The man, his family 
and friends were lessened by not getting to know me and my family and 
friends.  And it also meant that I, my family, and my friends were lessened 
by not getting to know him.  Because we never had a chance to talk, to 
teach each other and learn from each other, racism had diminished all the 
lives it had touched.
             It is time for the preachers, the rabbis, the priest and 
pundits, and the professors to believe in the awesome wonder of diversity 
so that they can teach those who follow them.  It is time for parents to 
teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is 
strength.  We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and 
we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value 
no matter their color, equal in importance no matter their texture.
             Our young must be taught that racial peculiarities do exist, 
but that beneath the skin, beyond the differing features and into the true 
heart of being, fundamentally, we are more alike, my friend, than we are 
unalike.

...Mirror twins are different
although their features jibe,
and lovers think quite different thoughts
while lying side by side.

We love and lose in China,
We weep on England's moors,
And laugh and moan in Guinea,
And thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland,
Are born and die in Maine,
In minor ways we differ,
In major we're the same.

I note the obvious differences
Between each sort and type,
But we are more alike, my friends,
Than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
Than we are unalike.
We are more alike, my friends,
Than we are unalike.


pages 121-125
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/private/peace-discuss/attachments/20061024/1870cbaa/attachment-0001.html