“But black people don’t even care about education”

One of the things I'd like to do with my blog is highlight the stories of others involving race and racism.  Over the summer, I heard one such story while listening to a friend from college. Eugene was in town visiting some of his family. He and my partner are fraternity brothers, so we enjoyed reminiscing on Tar Heel days, Greek life, and our comings and goings post Carolina.  As what inevitably happens when black folks get together, conversations around our shared racial experiences emerge.  That night, Gene, as we commonly call him, shared a story regarding an encounter he had with a former white male roommate.  The story was so provocative, that I asked Gene to write his narrative and allow me to share it.  Read below and tell me what you think this story communicates, if anything, about  racism, white privilege, and/or blindness.

One of the most difficult obstacles involved with overcoming stereotypes is that despite what many people believe, stereotypes are often illogical. And it often seems that no matter how many facts we are presented that challenge our stereotypes, when we have deeply committed to maintaining them, that’s what we do.

Years ago when I owned a home in Arizona, I had a tenant who often vocalized prejudices that made doing life with him closely difficult. 

He never seemed malicious but tended to articulate the ignorance of a white person who grew up in a low-income family in a small town in northern Michigan. He said he had never met a black person until moving to New Jersey at 19, so all of what he knew until then was from the media and the stories of those he knew who had done life with black people.

By the time he moved in my house, my former roommate was closer to 30-years-old than not and had visited multiple places in the U.S. with larger black populations than his hometown. So I expected that by then, he had come in contact with enough facts and experiences to make him rethink his presuppositions.

But I was wrong.

The year was 2008 and the roommate and I were both members of a predominantly white, evangelical church in suburban Phoenix. And true to its demographic, most people in the church who were vocal about their politics were socially conservative Republicans. 

One day while riding home, we discussed that.

“Why do so many black American Christians support Democrats despite their stances on gay marriage and abortion,” he asked.

I explained that while generally socially conservative, black Americans tend to be more fiscally liberal and favor politicians who support programs and initiatives that they believe best serve the poor.

“Like what,” he asked.

Given that we lived in south Phoenix – one of metro Phoenix’s poorest neighborhoods – I explained that Democrats tend to support increasing funding for public schools, where most black Americans receive their education.

“But black people don’t even care about education,” he replied.

And he stopped.

And was simultaneously silenced and embarrassed that he vocalized such a prejudiced generalization.

“I’m so sorry,” he said.

I, on the other hand, didn’t budge.

“(Roommate’s name), I’ve lived with and listened to you for the past sixth months. This is not the first time you’ve said something like this, so I already knew you felt this way,” I replied. “It saddens me, but more than that, it confuses and perplexes me."

I explained to him that here we were with him being a high school dropout (he eventually earned his G.E.D.) living in a house owned by a black man who graduated from college in a part of town represented by local black officials who were college educated attending a church where the average black person’s education was higher than the average white person’s at the church and living in a country headed by Barack Obama.

There has never been a couple in the White House with more Ivy League degrees than Barack and Michelle Obama. Never.

And despite all of these facts, there are some white people – even white people who did not finish high school – who believe that black people generally do not value education.

This is when I believe I realized that for many people, facts just don't matter.