Today, we welcome a guest post from George Henderson, author of the recently published Race and the University: A Memoir. In this stirring book, Henderson recounts his formative years at the University of Oklahoma, during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He describes in graphic detail the obstacles that he and other African Americans faced within the university community, a place of “white privilege, black separatism, and campus-wide indifference to bigotry.”
For nearly two years, news pundits have soundly criticized President Barack Obama for not initiating a national dialogue focusing on race and racial reconciliation. I was even more demanding. I wanted him to assume the role of race relations leader-in-chief, declare war on racial bigotry, and mount a public relations campaign to discredit and defeat bigots. But he opted to not heed those impassioned requests. Instead, he challenged each of us to be compassionate teachers during situations of racial conflict—euphemistically referred to as “teachable moments.” There are numerous hazards in assuming the role of conflict resolution teachers, especially if the would-be teacher has not gotten himself or herself together, so to speak.
Arthur Jersild cogently articulated this in 1953:
“One can master the facts, principles and laws contained in a hundred books …and still understand neither oneself nor others. Self-understanding requires integrity rather than cleverness. It involves emotion. To know oneself, one must be able to recognize feelings, act them, and deal with them in constructive ways; and this is something quite different from reading or talking about them with detachment.”
Good teachers—those who have acquired self-understanding, are knowledgeable and able to diffuse toxic race relationship situations—seem to effortlessly make sense of people, cultures, issues, places, even beliefs and attitudes, with uncanny precision. But taking advantage of teachable moments is not about presenting large amounts of information in a short period of time; it is always about allowing the participants to digest manageable units of reconciliation concepts. Information alone is never enough; appropriate action must follow. There is a kind of eloquence in this method of rapprochement. Practical experiences and scientific concepts flow together as the participants’ imaginations and empathy turn into hypotheses. These interactions are bridges that lead from ideas or perceptions to positive changes in race relations. But there are no foolproof methods of preventing or abating racial segregation and discrimination. Still, the energy, care, and skill inherent in successful interventions during teachable moments are hard to dismiss as irrelevant.
By passing on to each of us the challenge of being agents of change during times of racial disunity, President Obama is asking us: “Are you ready to do this?” What is your answer? This kind of empowerment has ample precedents. For example, Presidents Kennedy and Johnson encouraged grassroots leaders to form alliances and organizations to help abolish systemic discrimination and segregation. In truth, people like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Whitney Young, Roy Wilkins, and countless lesser-known persons assumed the role of race relations leaders-in-chief without presidential permission.
Along the way to a successful civil rights movement, the leaders/teachers stopped worrying about how they were portrayed in newspaper op-ed stories and on television talk shows. So my question to President Obama would be: “Are you ready to join us in local dialogues about race in the United States, even if doing so would cost you a significant number of votes in the next election?”
What do you think his answer would be?
George Henderson, Ph.D. is the Sylvan N. Goldman Professor Emeritus, David Ross Boyd Professor Emeritus, and Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Human Relations, Education, and Sociology at the University of Oklahoma, where he founded the Human Relations Program and served as Dean of the College of Liberal Studies.
A book-signing is planned for 5:30 to 7 p.m., Sept. 7, in Beaird Lounge on the second floor of the Oklahoma Memorial Union. Proceeds from the book’s sale will provide scholarships for students in need.
