On Being White: A Series (1)

When I entered college at Indiana University in 1961, the subject around which American liberal and illiberal opinion was centered was that of racial integration, a charged issue to which I was introduced, of all places, in my sociology class. In my perusal of the table of contents in the textbook, I had noted that a chapter was devoted to race, but one morning this perplexing American social problem was addressed by my professor with considerable vehemence. I can't recall the specific content of his utterance, for the blood rushed to my head and made coherent thought impossible. To hear this white professor dwell so openly on instances of shameful treatment of blacks made me uncomfortable, which I suppose was his intention. My discomfort could be seen as an effect of the new environment into which I had plunged at seventeen, one that challenged one's dearest preconceptions. Indeed, the episode is the first I recall in which new social realities collided with my own convictions.

I speak not of civil rights, however, but, rather, of the professor's forthrightness. From my point of
view, the professor was engaging in a flagrant breach of decorum: he was talking about inappropriate things, like sexual intercourse, in mixed company. My discomfort was principally because of the black students in the class. Although I could scarcely know what a black person had suffered –– no more than could the professor –– I knew that blacks suffered. But I also felt that suffering was an intensely personal matter and that the real blight was the deep inner wounds. Being forbidden to use a water fountain was not something you wanted people to notice when they thought about you.

 This open injecting of political content into the classroom was a first, but it did not galvanize me to engage in civil rights activity. What had a stronger, if more subtle, effect was the professor's breach of decorum, particularly the lack of challenge or response to it. Although his comments, focused as they were on the less-than-human treatment of blacks, might be very wounding to blacks, openness was apparently all part of being a smart, with-it person, especially if it concerned airing mortifying aspects of one's experience.

Picture credit: The Daily Mail