Race

Watched "American History X" the other day, a movie dealing with various aspects of race relations in America, mostly from the perspective of two young skinheads. It's a great movie, and provides much food for thought.

The viewing came on the heels of a conversation with a newly-married couple we had over for dinner the other night. They are expecting their first child (Lord, have mercy), so we spent a good portion of the evening talking about childbirth (Shannon was foaming at the mouth) and child-rearing.

I lamented somewhat the fact that our kids are hardly exposed to any other cultures outside that of our white, middle-class existence. For our last 2 years in the suburbs, we lived in a condo in a larger complex that was almost entirely inhabited by African-Americans. Between our interactions with other residents and the fact that St. Emeric was about 40 percent minority (my estimate), Cavan was constantly exposed to people from other races and cultures. Though he was very young, of course, he never seemed to bat an eye when interacting with folks of other races, and that's what we would like to have for our children.

Unfortunately, our new situation in Champaign doesn't provide the same environment as Country Club Hills did. We live in an all-white neighborhood. St. John's is almost all white. So is St. Matthew's (our family parish). Shannon's hippie groups are almost all white. Almost all our friends in town are white. I would say that now, I probably personally interact with African-Americans maybe once a month, if not less.

Growing up in Ava, I always jokingly refer to the fact that we had one and a half black people in my high school (it was the truth). The first time I really was exposed to any minority groups was in college, and come to think of it, not even very much then. Throughout the U.S., people still tend to stay within the confines of their race and class, rarely straying outside of it.

It's a shame that my kids will get such limited exposure to other cultures on a daily basis. I remember how much my own thinking was enriched from a multi-cultural perspective during my time at Catholic Theological Union. That institution (though I had many issues with it as a whole) drew students from many different countries and cultures and encouraged them to interact and share their own experiences. I had many great interactions with other students, learning much from their own stories. It brought the universality of the Catholic Church to the forefront of my thinking and has colored it favorably in my mind.

Champaign is like most any other town; we have the "good" neighborhoods and the "bad" neighborhoods (which is usually a euphemism for "black" neighborhoods). People stay in their own area, accepting that the two cultures will usually only interact at the grocery story, the Post Office, etc., though the interaction is usually only very superficial. The cultural divide is just too great, though (limited) progress has been made in the past 40 years.

So how to expose children to multi-cultural experiences and interactions? Hmm. Unfortunately, it will take a lot of work.