Some little discussed things about ethnic relations

Sam Smith - As I read about civil rights I’m increasingly struck by how the complexity of multicultural relations gets short changed. I am, as just one tiny example, reminded of how complicated it was for me to discover  and become part of it.

·      For me it started with having five siblings. Today the average American family consists of 1.6 children.  At a very early age I began to realize that other people weren’t like me.

·      When I grew up I asked my mother to look after our son as we took a trip. She replied that she had raised one bunch of children and wasn’t going to do it again. I mentioned this to my parents’ black cook, then 23 years older than my mother, and she said that she had raised me - not my mother. So true, I thought. And no one had mentioned it before. The kitchen had been my childhood haven.

·      I took one of two high school anthropology courses in the country when I was in 9^th grade. It was so powerful in opening my eyes to cultural variety that I went on to major in anthropology in college.

·      I got into jazz and no small number of those I’d admired were black musicians.

·      After graduation, I took part in a protest against a DC bus and streetcar fare increase, drove 77 people that day and wrote a piece about it. The guy who had organized the strike, Marion Barry, later DC mayor, called me up and we became friends until he got into drugs and even had a short jail sentence. 

      ·      My brother married a Puerto Rican woman and I have four Puerto Rican nephews and nieces.

Though there may be nothing typical in this list, many have multi-racial experiences that are uncommon and get ignored when we talk about ethnic relations.

On the negative side we do a lousy job teaching our young how cruel our national ethnic history is. Here are a few facts from our past that are usually left out:

·      One analysis found that in Maryland in 1776, lacking the expected amount of property, 90% of the population couldn’t run for public office.

·      Historian Howard Zinn wrote: “Around 1776, certain important people in the English colonies made a discovery that would prove enormously useful for the next two hundred years. They found that by creating a nation, a symbol, a legal unity called the United States, they could take over land, profits, and political power from favorites of the British Empire. In the process, they could hold back a number of potential rebellions and create a consensus of popular support for the rule of a new, privileged leadership.”‘

·      By 1800, slaves in the US capital outnumbered freed people by five to one.

·      Some historians have criticized Columbus for initiating the widespread colonization of the Americas and for abusing its native population  British historian Basil Davidson has dubbed Columbus the "father of the slave trade” but Columbus Day is still a celebration.

·      By the year 1515, there were perhaps fifty thousand Indians left. By 1550, there were five hundred.

·      James Madison told a British visitor shortly after the American Revolution that he could make $257 on every Negro in a year, and spend only $12 or $13 on his keep.

Slavery ended in 1863 and was followed by a favorable period known as Reconstruction that lasted until 1877. In other words, in the first century of the USA, only 14 years found more than some Americans entitled to freedom. 

In short, in only about a third of our history have we been making progress towards civil rights.

We also ignore a lot of the good stuff. For example, in working on this piece I reread Marion Barry’s autobiography, coauthored with Tyree Omar, Here are some excerpts:

•        I used to tell black college students in my speeches, “It’s not about being anti-white; it’s about being pro-black.” I told them you had to be that way to continue to push for equality.  I never had a problem with working with white leaders and organizing with them, as long as we all knew the goal. I had worked alongside white supporters in my days in SNCC, and while a student in Memphis and in Nashville. You work with whomever you need to work with to get things done….
• When the primary vote was finally held that September, the Post endorsement helped us claim 47 percent of Washington’s white vote in the Democratic primary, and just enough to beat Sterling Tucker by more than 1,500 votes….
• I even took campaign organizers with me to certain gay and lesbian functions around the city. It was the first time a lot of straight people had ever been exposed to those various cultures of the District. But I understood that we all lived there in Washington, and we all made money and paid taxes. So every voice needed to be included, and the community respected me for that. No one else had bothered to reach out to them, let alone attend their events. I wanted them to know that I was genuine. You don’t really know a person until you can come where they live, and have a drink and party with them for a few hours. You can’t ask to have a person’s vote and you’re never willing to come to their community events. I made sure that no one felt left out, even visiting the Jewish synagogues and public housing projects that no one else would go to….
• I attracted the young people, a lot of older people from different areas, the entrepreneurs who wanted more black business opportunities, the women who admired a black man who carried himself with pride and passion for his family, and the working-class people of D.C. who could relate to me. I also connected to some of the white people in certain areas. They were still a part of D.C., and I wanted to lead all of Washington and not only blacks. You can’t cater to one demographic when you run for mayor; you have to serve everybody. So I was able to relate to people even when they didn’t like me….
•  I understood that you can’t stay in one place with one group of people and one philosophy and expect to make a difference for too long. I figured you always had to move into a new space and expand your abilities to help. So I was ready to take on more responsibilities to affect the lives of more young people in Washington. I don’t see anything wrong with being active and participating in the process of human advancement. You have to be flexible enough to work with different people….

I lived for several decades in a majority black town – 60% black for a while. I seldom felt threatened, treated badly, or unrepresented by the city’s leaders.  There were issues like self government and opposition to freeways where blacks and whites joined.  

The national media paid little attention to the DC of the 60s and 70s but it’s well worth looking at to see how our continued ethnic problems could be eased by dealing with them in a more complex manner.