The Fear of Being Challenged

(WeatherVane Article I wrote in February 2012)

I was at the Black History Month event last week: the showing of the phenomenal movie Gifted Hands. There were about ten people there. Several of them were not students. And the weekend movie, a documentary about gospel music, had a turnout of a total of fifteen between the two nights. Fifteen!

I had a conversation with some of my roommates later about what the problem is. Why is it that people do not come to multicultural events? Why do Black Student Union and Multicultural Services have so much trouble with attendance to such events?

                I do not claim to have all the answers, but I do have an idea about the answer to this particular question: Fear. We are afraid of being challenged.

It is easy to go to a talk about organic agriculture or a discussion about the conflict in Israel/Palestine because those are far off issues for many of us. Most of us do not have the access or ability to make a difference in those areas. So there is no threat.

We can go to a discussion about the conflict in the Middle East and get angry about injustices, and then move on with our lives and forget about it. It requires no personal change, because in this season of life we are more or less powerless to change anything.

Going to events surrounding race and diversity issues is much more difficult because it demands a change from us. It makes us uncomfortable because we are forced to face the realities of life here and now – not in a distant land but here on our campus and in our face every day. Each of us affects this issue. And it is not fun to recognize that we all play a part in racism.

Some might argue that attendance is low because people just do not care enough, and I would say this is part of the issue as well. I am sure that there are some people who simply do not care or do not think racism is a problem that we need to be concerned with. Unfortunately that is a mistaken belief. Racism is alive and well. It may not be as obvious as it once was, but stereotypes and segregation are very prevalent, even (or dare I say, especially?) here at EMU.

Justice issues are not restricted to environmental sustainability, international conflicts and sexual freedom. Those are all important, and we definitely need diversity of passions as well as racial diversity.  However, unless we are willing to address the issues that make us uncomfortable in our own community, we cannot expect to be able to make a difference globally.