Martha P. Gibbs, Rutland, Massachusetts:
I have long pondered the term "African American." It seemeth to me to sound divisive, so I refrain from using it. I had a patient. He looked at me suspiciously. I touched his hand and said to him: "You're not black. You're brown." He touched my hand, looked at me and said: "You're not white. You're pink." We became instant friends. What is the matter with English terminology: "Negro," "Caucasian," "American?" Are we talking about race or nationality? Are all Negroes from Africa? My friend from Jamaica strongly states he is "not African. I'm American." Would it help end some divisions if we didn't use terms that foster divided images?
Ellen Marlow, Chapel Hill, North Carolina:
We must be of an age as your memories of how you learned about race -- and where -- are aligned with my own. Quite alone among my acquaintances, I welcomed the candidacy of Mr. Obama, and, like you, cast my vote for him twice. I am appalled at how he has been treated. Racism is very much alive like a nasty virus. I appreciated your essay on the subject.
Grant Reynolds, Jacksonville, Florida:
You would have to admit that your childhood "learning about race" did not take place in an inner city somewhere in this country where liberals like you were turned into hardcore conservatives by the bad behavior of blacks who then cried "racism" when they were called to account.
Martha O'Kennon, Albion, Michigan:
Thanks for the essay today. You may be happy to hear that at your alma mater today, the prospects for diversity seem to have made a monumental leap. There are still the various ethnic and culture groups (Black Student Alliance, Asian Awareness Group, Muslim Student Alliance, Hillel, the Latin Student Group, the International Student Organization, etc. But today the members of these groups tend to join each others' groups. BSA is about half black and half white. At Briton Bash each Fall I join all these groups. That way I can participate in many of their activities. And not only do they join each others' groups, the groups have joint activities. Last year the AAG and MSA took a bus to Dearborn to sample the delicious wares of an Arab-style restaurant and then to University of Michigan Art Center to see an exhibition of Islamic art. This year MSA and Hillel went to a Mosque together. Nothing's perfect, but the students in these groups are amazing! The new administration has promised that on its watch, Homecoming won't be scheduled on Yom Kippur again. One can only sigh and hope so. The students are just a joy!
Tom Richie, Anderson, South Carolina:
Thanks for writing your story about race. Most of us have not thought ourselves through our story in such a manner. It may be why we keep repeating the story without thinking of the consequences of lessons unlearned. We just keep living in the shadows and projecting individual and communal ills onto others. This may be the legacy of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Cameron Lacy, Bellaire, Michigan:
I remember that hat very well. You wore it proudly, as I recall. I'm so glad we were raised without prejudice. People were people. No distinction of race or religion. I remember the sweet Hotel Tuller maids who were caring. I never thought about the color of their skin, but how they "mothered" me, which I loved. I'm amazed you remember the names of the porters. I was too young to go to the depot to watch the trains come and go. What a great childhood we had. Love your essays that take me down memory lane. I also get your point. [Disclosure: This response came from one of the essayist's sisters.]
James Royle, Saginaw, Michigan:
This week's essay struck a very personal chord for me. We shared a small liberal arts undergraduate experience. As a freshman, my dormitory hall procter was Jim Waller (whom you referenced in the essay). He was an incredible "role model" for the young men on our floor. The only thing that I remember being a bit puzzled by was the fact that Jim, while he was very popular with both the men and women on campus, didn't appear to have any serious girlfriend. This was before mixed race relationships were even considered, and there were not that many African American women on the campus. I quickly learned that he was a member of the social fraternity in which I was particularly interested. At one rush party, I recall that Jim, when introduced as a part of the night's entertainment, humorously indicated that he was there "to add a little color to the program." He was actually quite talented. I went on to join that fraternity and count him as one of my "brothers." Later, another of my new "brothers," Claude Jacobs (also an African American) invited me to stay at his home on a Sociology Club field trip to Chicago (his home town). I recall his parents as being most gracious hosts. While my own high school experience allowed much exposure to a diverse population of students (I came from a large metropolitan high school), it was not until my college years that I really experienced the commonalities that I shared with my African American friends. Still, it wasn't until some years later that I was confronted by yet another concept. After a particularly enjoyable outing with a professional colleague (a person of color), I commented that we "thought the same way, acted the same way, laughed the same way. We are just the same." Her response was something of a surprise to me. She gently reprimanded me by saying: "No, we are not just the same. You are white and I am black, but that difference doesn't separate us when we have so much in common." Another lesson learned!
Fred Fenton, Seal Harbor, California:
My dear mother tried to teach me about race. She put a picture of a black infant and a white infant sleeping together on the wall of my nursery. Mother was so good to the succession of black maids she hired that they all loved her. One of them said of my mother, "She doesn't see color." But of course she did. I learned about race by never encountering a black person except as a domestic servant or a shoeshine boy. There were no minority students in the public schools I attended, and only one in my class at Andover. I had no minority professors at Harvard, and the faculty at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge was all white men. As a U.S. History major in college I began to read about race in America, and what I learned turned my stomach. I became involved in the civil rights movement. My wife and I participated in the Selma March. I wept with joy at the election of a first black president. The fierce, unreasonable, damaging opposition to him shows that, for all the advances in race relations in my lifetime, we still have a very long way to go.
David L. Ewick, City Librarian, Southfield, Michigan:
Your ruminations brought a story from my own past to mind. My mother worked for the Indianapolis Public Library on one of their bookmobiles in the 1960s. She would check books in and out to the various citizens who climbed aboard seeking knowledge or entertainment. One morning she was grousing about the kitchen as she made herself a lunch. I asked why she didn't eat out on that day as she did many other days. She replied that in some areas of the city, restaurants would not let Ben eat in their establishment. And if they wouldn't let him in, she wouldn't enter either. Ben was the bookmobile driver. Ben was black. That was my introduction to racial politics at about six years old. I didn't understand the implications at that time, but as I grew and learned of racial politics my pride in my mother grew and grew. She had made her own stand. It was a small thing, but I'm sure Ben appreciated it. It made a big difference in the mind of that little boy about standing up for what is right. Thanks for reminding us that we have come far, but we are not finished in our journey to equality.
Nicholas S. Molinari, Brick, New Jersey:
Thank you for your superb essay about your discovery of racism. I look back upon my 79 years on this planet; my education and reading during those years; my participation as a citizen -although a critical one for which I've been labeled "un-American" or worse. When the top judicial officer of the nation can make a decision to undo the Voting Rights Act of 1965, thereby jeopardizing the ability of millions of Americans to actually vote, one is forced to contemplate the rationale by which he and his ilk on the court could so blatantly and knowingly disenfranchise so many citizens of a fundamental right. Chief Justice John Roberts apparently based his reasoning upon the casual and ignorant view that the special protections for minority voters in historically bigoted States are no longer necessary "because a black man is now President." "A black man in the White House. What more do they want?" was the more likely reason behind the stated (and erroneous) reasoning. The very next day, Texas and other bigoted states went forward with laws that tightened and restricted the ability to vote. What a surprise that 95% of those impacted by this specious and pernicious decision would be minority would-be voters! Farewell Democracy! At that moment, I came up with the word that describes American racism: Substitutionism. This nation's original sins were slavery and the extermination of native peoples. Our founders shook off the yoke of tyranny and oppression in the Old World only to instigate these evils in the New World. The "red race" problem was brutally eliminated by bloody massacres, ever-increasing segregation to ever-shrinking reservations (a harbinger of camps like Manzanar centuries later) with numerous purposely-planned deaths along more than one Trail of Tears. Theoretically, the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation ended black slavery; but actual slavery was merely substituted by its offspring Jim Crow. Jim Crow remained unfettered for another chunk of decades, in the South as well as the North, gleefully with wide approbation keeping those "coloreds" in their place, job-wise, housing-wise, education-wise, voting-wise, etc. From a disgraceful period to another, this nation tallied over 4,000 lynchings of blacks; and has proceeded to over-prosecute and over-incarcerate blacks and other minority groups. That is, those lucky enough not to fall victim to immediate capital punishment in the streets, courtesy of a perpetually gun-loving populace. And now, not surprising to this writer, Donald "X" Trump arises as the nation's savior. "X" stands for Xenophobia, one symptom of America's bacterial, fugal and viral epidemic of racism!
Asae Shichi, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan:
I enjoyed your essay about race.
David Cook, Onalaska, Wisconsin:
This piece was most interesting to me as you traced your direct engagements with black folks as you were growing up. I have been giving some thought to the "whiteness" of my life recently. I have never had a black friend. I don't remember the names of the few black folks with whom I've had some contact, including one young black man whom I hired to be part of the counselor education department that I chaired. When I left Northeastern University in Boston to move to Wisconsin I lost touch with him. My blessing was that my father, a year before my birth in 1928, was hired as principal of an all black elementary school in a white suburb of Philadelphia. He served this school until he retired in 1957, including integrating his school children with the white children when a new school was built just a mile away in 1955. He did, of course, have many black teachers. He loved the black children and his teachers with a deep Christian faith and helped bring that school and its students up to a reading and learning level that resulted in many more going on to high school and college. While I visited his school many times over the years starting in early childhood and met all his teachers, I was still living in the white suburban world and in our high school, while there were a small number of blacks, I didn't befriend any of them. I know when I think about racial issues in America, as I have for years, that my full empathy and a rather deep understanding of what blacks have faced in America is the result of growing up with parents who were themselves immersed in black lives with nothing but a deep love for all of them. A white young man like myself couldn't have been more blessed by the parents who raised him.
Dick Johnson, Tupelo, Mississippi:
I believe segregation is increasing. It is a new kind of segregation and could be voiced by saying, "I am a white Christian male and I want my country back." There are not a lot of comments about Muslims as you don't encounter many of them other than they all own motels and convenience stores. You will occasionally see a sign in the front of a store, "American owned." President Obama brought out the "n" word. It is not uncommon to hear our President referred to as, "that "N" President. Unfortunately, our public education is under serious challenge. These misguided actions are coming from our state elected officials, and it seems like their decisions are applauded by many of the white residents of the state. I recognize that generalizations are usually not of much value. So, perhaps my comments will be viewed as a personal plea for my state, hoping we will not continue the slide into bygone days when Mississippi's reputation was firmly planted in the minds of many people.
Bonnie Smith, Acme, Michigan:
What a beautiful writing. Thank you! I look at my multiracial grandchildren, and one great-grandson, and think how I was so sure all of this racism would have been over by now. However, xenophobia and this type of really narrow thinking mixed with Axis II personality disordered leaders seem to abound in our country.
Barbara Holmberg, Utica, Michigan:
I have been proud to be an American and proud to have a President like Barack Obama. He possesses such dignity, but I don't know that we will ever see his qualities again. At this time of political turmoil, I'm not a very proud citizen anymore.
Harvey H. Guthrie, Fillmore, California:
There's a really deep thing in the American psyche that assumes humanity is really white and male. It has bubbled down there all through Obama's presidency, and it is the deepest source of the dislike of Hillary Clinton.
