Cowards

We’re not a nation of cowards, just a bunch of folks afraid of the unknown…An unknown that breeds a lack of trust from all sides. But if you’re going to call me a coward, I do have a second opinion and will visit the race issue whenever I choose. Be forewarned however, I consider myself fairly well educated in the area of cowardice, having lived with two women for more than twenty years.

Segregation exists today because people do not trust one another. And this lack of trust comes from people not knowing one another. So it’s what you might call a “catch-22” I don’t know you therefore I don’t trust you and I don’t trust you because I don’t know you. Those of you who have friends of another race, probably don’t think of them in terms of race, but only as a friend. Now that’s a beautiful thing. Although let’s not be naïve here, there are people we all know that we still don’t trust.

So, around 67’ someone came up with the idea that we should put Masters Clark and Jamal in close proximate to each other by integrating the schools. We sent school buses over to master Clark’s neighborhood and took young people to master Jamal’s school and sent buses to Jamal’s neighborhood and took more young people to Clark’s school. We did that in an effort to ensure Jamal was getting as good an education as Clark, among other things. But, while our efforts were noble, Clark and Jamal’s lives were never integrated because even though the Clarks and Jamals were sitting under the same roofs, there was no communication taking place. We are just not going to tolerate socializing in the classroom! After all, we are here to learn. Consequently, Jamal and Clark had no opportunity to get to know each other and develop a sense of trust.

The only two opportunities these two had to develop trust came at lunch and on the bus ride. When lunch did arrive they sat with friends they already knew and another opportunity to learn about each other slipped away. Well, we all prefer eating with friends rather than strangers but what’s that old saying, “A stranger is just a friend waiting to happen?” Try telling that to a fifteen year old. The truth is they were probably just as hungry to get to know each other as they were for lunch but the safe haven they once had at the old school was gone, along with some of their friends. And, because no one enjoys eating with someone they don’t know, lunch was just a greasy piece of cheese toast or a brown bag full of banana sandwiches. This was back before we realized we were what we ate.

Buses are noisy but at least these two guys were near each other. Maybe we should have assigned seats and ridden them around town for an hour or so before dropping them off at school so that “face time” could be increased.

Now, when you think of what our political leaders did to Clark and Jamal back then, you have an idea about cowardice. Busing was an expensive yet simple “solution” to a huge social problem in order to avoid a real issue; an issue that is still in existence today.
So "lunch" and the bus rides go through four generations, four presidents, three recessions and one assassination. They go through millions of dollars of gasoline spent on moving Clark to Jamal and Jamal to Clark and trees and trees of paper spent on making sure Jamal and Clark are seen sitting next to each other in a classroom. We did it. We integrated the schools! And the results were? Our lunchrooms remain the same…segregated. Most of the Clarks and Jamals have yet to know each other in that way that blinds one to another’s race. But...there are no cowards here…just people who are afraid of the unknown.

Today we bus Clark and Jamal to a location on the outskirts of town; “Out of sight, out of mind.” Maybe we should have started by busing children to church. At the least we could have counted on a more varied menu for Wednesday night suppers.
No one would deny that integration is necessary. Maybe it’s just the way we’re going about doing it that has me confused. After all, who are the adults here?