Potent Quotable (April 2021)

“I love a few people and they love me and some of them are white, and isn’t that more important than color?” -James Baldwin

“This is why the most dangerous creation of any society is that man who has nothing to lose.” -James Baldwin

Be good to each other,

Nathan

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My Skin Color

If I am reading American and world history correctly, I see a world shaped greatly by the harm caused by people who look like me. In my own country, I see lynchings, exclusionary acts, separate but equal policies, slavery, internment, genocide, chemical castration, xenophobia, and nationalism. Looking more broadly across the globe, I see colonialism, eugenics, anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, Apartheid, and much more.

Reading history forces me to pause. A thought then rolls through my mind which is not new. Are white people the most wicked thing to ever exist on this planet? This question is then followed by another. Am I or should I be embarrassed by my skin color?

Of course, I can talk of countless heroes who worked to undo these injustices and cruelties. History is littered with names known and unknown who share my skin color who worked against these acts from the outset. Some sacrificed their lives and others lost everything. Still, I cannot help but think of which race served as the genesis for such brutalities and indecent behavior. Over and over again, it is people who look like me who served as starting points for some of history’s darkest periods.

The proof of this is written in history. I once heard it said that a white man could travel back to any point in history and still live in relative dominance and safety. While a person of color is currently living in the best moment in history and traveling backward would only reveal horror and pain.

So, yes, as of today, I find myself embarrassed by my skin color. I am embarrassed by those who use it as a weapon to dominate others. I am embarrassed by those who believe pigmentation determines superiority. I am embarrassed by those who think they speak on my behalf while fervently preaching of our place over others. I am embarrassed by those who cling tightly to an evil past in the name of heritage. I am embarrassed by those who do not understand the science of evolution and believe the survival of the fittest gives white people a blank check. I am embarrassed by those who think tolerance is a bad thing and those who benefit from a system that was created for them. I am embarrassed by those who see the Civil War as a war fought over a state’s rights and not slavery. I am embarrassed by those who want to enshrine a lack of tolerance in a statue.

I am not a proud white man. I am an American and a citizen of the world. Despite the pain and shame, I am moved. My country finds itself reckoning with its past and once again coming to terms with who we have been and who we might become. Before us is an opportunity to write a different future. Before us is an opportunity to perfect a newer version of this grand social experiment.

So, while I find myself embarrassed, I am also moved. I am moved by those unafraid to face reality. I am moved by those who are using their power to make room for others. I am moved by those in leadership roles choosing not to close the door behind them, but instead, pull others forward. I am moved by those who believe in an inclusive society built upon equity. I am moved by those who do the arduous work of silencing toxic voices with better arguments. I am moved by those of us who can remove their rose-colored glasses when analyzing history. I am moved by those who see the diversity of thought, people, abilities, orientations, and beliefs as a bonus. I am moved by those working to undo a system meant for the benefit of one race. I am moved by those willing to truly understand our country’s Civil War. I am moved by those willing to remove false prophets from our public square and place them solely in the books of history.

And, if I may be so bold, I hold some pride for myself. Coming to such realizations has not been easy. I have found myself distraught after family arguments, disappointed in friends, and heartbroken by loud corners of the internet. Through it all, I found myself determined to come to my own conclusions. This essay serves as the tip of the iceberg. While I feel a sense of pride, I know it will need to be retired quickly. Waiting in the wing is real work. It is not enough for me to feel moved. I am a white man and I have a part to play.

Be good to each other,

Nathan 

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Guest Spot: Nathan Woolard

Guest Spot is a recurring post on Natetheworld. In it, I provide a guest author an article, story, or video and then ask for their honest response. This month, we are featuring Nathan Woolard. Enjoy! 

To read the original article, "How a Hate Crime Changed My Life, click here. 

There’s this episode of South Park, which, in all its glory, does what South Park does best, parodies society and culture. It’s this episode where the fictitious town of Beaverton, built under the world’s largest beaver dam, falls victim to an epic flood. The irony of course is that it was only a matter of time that the dam collapse and Beaverton represents New Orleans. What I found to be the funniest part of the episode was Randy (who is of course the best character on the show) says “Saving all those people is not what’s important right now... It’s finding who to blame.” Hysterical.

I was asked to provide a review of an article written by a Turkish-Muslim man in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He was not an instigator, zero ties to Al Qaeda, just a kid serving as a Resident Hall Assistant at a university in Pennsylvania. The premise of the article is that the author attempts to shelter an 18 year old freshman student who, in the early morning of September 12th, unbeknownst to him, fell victim to a hate crime. Before the young freshman awoke, the author cleaned graffiti from the Muslim student’s door that included profanity and racial slurs. Toward the end of the article the author apologizes for not allowing the freshman student to see and learn from the hate first hand. The author believes he should have left the graffiti so the young student would observe and learn what the world truly is. This is what we are. This is what you are thought of. It is best that I not shelter you from it, experience these things to learn, understand, and grow.

I typically keep my political and social beliefs close to the chest and really only discuss in small intimate settings where it causes minimal collateral damage. This hasn’t always been me, in year’s past I was happy to have a strong opinion on anything. I would like to emphasize the word anything. I think organically as I have aged that sense of fighting has waned. I’ve learned to be more objective and empathetic; to have an opinion but not at the expense of others. Most of the time that is. Not that I’m great at, I’ve suffered from a beer-inflicted lapse on many occasions. Taken together however, I think more than anything I find the discussions to be exhausting. It’s nothing self-righteous, I just rather watch Netflix than bother arguing with people who will never see things the way I do or the flip. But, in the interest of providing an analysis I will divulge in to behavior here that, in a sense, is counter-intuitive to the message I attempt to convey. Buckle your damn seat belt.

One of my favorite pictures (relatively speaking) is a young girl with the bible, holding a semi-automatic weapon in front of the American flag (see below). In seeing the picture, some internet superstar out there realized that picture struck an odd resemblance to this one...

At this point, I’ve probably done well to segregate a couple of camps and they likely center on political belief. There is of course those who identify as liberal and in all of their fight and pursuit for equality and inclusivity, I am likely speaking your tune. I just stuck in those ‘pubs didn’t I? Sorry, Republicans, amirite? This articles is an indictment on the agenda and lacks true Americanism. What a leftist. Of course he’s a leftist, he’s a professor, it’s kinda what they do.

The reality is that I am attempting to do nothing of the sort. This picture is not intended to be an indictment of conservatism, but rather to illustrate an indictment on our culture.

The parody extends beyond conservativism and liberalism. It’s not a discussion of political choice or human values, it’s an indictment on humanism. We are hard-wired for struggle, amplified in the current climate by the keystrokes we blog, Facebook, and tweet. This struggle is not limited to political ideology or social belief systems, liberals do this on the regular and disguise the behavior under the umbrella of equality and social justice. It’s not that the fight isn’t worth battling, it is the way we do it. We are to the point where we sensationalize, we justify, we objectify. We have opinions of opinions, amplified by the soundboard of our followers and Facebook friends. Two of the greatest poets of our lifetime, the Avett Brothers, once said that “People like to talk on things they don’t know about.” The problem here isn’t that you have an opinion, it’s that we’ve entered an age of entitlement where are opinions lack objectivity or empathy. We are so strongly set in our beliefs that we cannot dare to allow someone to believe that homosexuality should not be legalized. And, when they don’t believe things we do, we label them. Who are they, right? Bigots! We are so committed to the eradication of guns and flags that we sensationalize arguments and use phrases like “highly offended” and “outraged,” and “this world is going to hell.” The reality is that this time in history, even with its struggles, is a pretty nice time to be alive. And, you’re not highly offended, you’re highly entitled. Quit wallowing in your own self-righteousness.

You see, we’ve created a culture of social lynch mobs. We don’t have the opportunity to shelter the innocent like the author of the article, they learn of hate through keystrokes and well-timed GIFs. This article was written about a time long ago when the world wasn’t so connected. How can anyone even be sheltered anymore? This was written about a time 14 years ago in a preFacebook utopia of Xanga’s (I think) and AIM where dial-up internet ran rampant through college campuses. We don’t have the luxury to shelter the innocent any longer. They learn of hate and opinions through 140 characters. They develop opinions of Obama subconsciously through pictures and memes that they are subjected to. They learn about “equality” through passive aggressive posts that ironically ostracize those who think differently. They learn homosexuality is an abomination from a blog that mentions Leviticus. They see that the defense of traditional marriage is modern day racism because of a side-by-side photo comparing the movement to the Civil Rights. And, the more we view these things, the more Facebook is programmed to send them our way. We created a culture of social lynch mobs.

The sad part is when we sensationalize our views on social and political ideology, we actually do harm to the movement. When you post a picture of something radical (the girl above) you do little to advance your belief system, you simply come off as bitter, shallow, and cold. When you use a picture of two overly flamboyant gay males making out as a middle finger to those who support traditional marriage, you do little to show true gay America. You hurt the movement. That’s not gay America, that’s sensationalism. And, collectively, when we do these things we build cultural divides. We build a right and wrong way to view political and social ideology; we put up walls between each other. We perpetuate stereotypes and fuel hate crimes.

The role of higher education, especially in relation to race, religion, and sexual orientation, is to provide a healthy place for discussion and to teach our youth to view issues objectively. When we’re able to openly discuss gay marriage without sensationalizing in a room with self-proclaimed rednecks and gay men, we bring down barriers and empathy is born. Not every issue should turn your face red, and quite frankly, you don’t have the right to, you’re just being entitled. You’re not right because you are right, you are right because you think you are. Reality is socially constructed and situated in how members interpret meaning. What you believe to be true isn’t true because it is true, it is true because you think it is.

Now I’m not talking about the big elephant in the room here. Race in America is far too long overdue for radical reform and we are making small strides. There is such a thing as white privilege, you just got to know how to look for it. Not to get too much in to it, but as an example, go watch ABC Family for two hours. Count how many white people you see and how many black people you see. It’s probably a 15:1 ratio. Now, for each person you see and that they allude to, write down the occupation of those people. Yup, white privilege. It’s not that white people are inherently racist, we just in many instances fail to empathize. We don’t see it. That’s not racism, that’s a failure in cultural identification. I’m never going to truly understand what it’s like to black in the United States so I won’t pretend here. What I’m talking about is people who get “highly offended” by everything. The people who write in all caps on Macy’s Facebook page or stand outside abortion clinics with cleverly stupid signs.

So, what does this all mean and how to do we move past it? What I am suggesting is that in many ways we’ve created a culture of extremism. And, it’s not limited to any one political party or social ideology, we’ve taken extremism to the extreme on the stupidest of shit. We protest outside Chik-fil-as because their CEO says something we don’t like, or, we hold a candle lighting or hetero hug fests because he did. Stop it. Stop doing these things. When you take your fight to the extreme you’re not helping the movement.  People who think differently can’t empathize, they actually loathe you and your actions further perpetuate hate. Find a way to empathize with those who think differently than you. Attempt to view movements and social ideology through each other’s eyes, to understand that we all operate on a different set of belief systems that are learned from our experiences. Stop blindly following a political party on every issue; these are not football teams fighting against each other. If we do this, we might be able to create a culture of understanding and respect. We may create a culture born out of true tolerance (and not using the world tolerance as a strawman for labeling people bigots). If we can create a world of true tolerance, empathy, and understanding, maybe acts of aggression and extremism will wane. And, maybe, just maybe, this article wouldn’t have been written.

So, what is the most important takeaway here? Is it race, religion, sexual orientation? It’s actually none of the above. The most important piece has nothing to do of extremism either. We’re going to switch the focus entirely. The takeaway is centered on the way I presented my arguments. Think back on this review. I want you to consider the language used to discuss each of these topics. I don’t actually use any sort of objectivity while arguing my point. I make the argument that everyone lacks empathy and objectivity while not actually being objective or empathetic myself. Everything I said was so definitive and direct. I make statements like “We sensationalize” and “You believe.” That language isn’t fair and it wasn’t intended to be. In many ways, this is my own view of culture and humanity based on my own experiences and interpretation. My beliefs are not true because they are true, they’re true because I think they are true. Would this be my view if I were black, gay, Arab, or from East Tennessee? What we do need however is for many of us, myself included, to take a step back on occasion and view world issues from 50,000 feet. A good place to start are the issues we feel so strongly about. We should all attempt to truly consider how you might view this issue if you were a completely different person. This is a good exercise for everyone, regardless of their background. So what is the most important takeaway here? This review was intended to be part of the problem.

-Nathan Woolard 

Left, Right, Center: Black America

This isn't a post about what it is like to be black in America. I would never for a second assume to know what that feels like. More than anything, this is an analysis of my own privilege. See, I am a white male. I was born to white parents. I grew up in a middle class home. Never have I felt the sting of poverty. While I have worked hard my entire life, never have I had to worry about when my next meal would come. I was born into a system bent toward my success. For 28 years of my life, I was unaware of these conditions. More than unaware, I was ignorant.   

Growing up in a small town in southwestern Oklahoma, I saw racism first hand. I was surrounded by people who used the "N word" to describe every African American they came in contact. On rare instances, I even saw them muster the bravery to say such things to the face of the oppressed. I saw how people treated those who lived on the other side of the tracks. This racism also extended to people of Hispanic backgrounds or any other person seen as different. No one was immune to xenophobia in small town America. 

My mother taught us treat people fairly and based on their actions, not their skin color. In fact, if you would have driven past my neighborhood growing up it would have looked something like the United Nations. Kids of every color and gender, playing sports, tag and whatever else our imaginations could conceive. We were the wealthier kids in our neighborhood and we loved to share and have people over to play. 

As a child, unaware of the name to be given to racism, I knew the names levied at people with different backgrounds than my own was wrong. I asked for people not to use those words around me. I made friends with the new kids. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the underdog. If I found people were unable to put aside their insults, I simply avoided them. I did this, because I was taught to do so. See racism and intolerance are a product of the environment we are born into. No one is born to hate. 

There was something else I wasn't taught; to fear police officers. My parents made sure we respected authority figures, but cops were never something to be feared. I have also never been followed around a store, because of my skin color. I have never been denied employment or housing, because I am white. I was never uninvited to someone's home, because of my race. Preconceived and ignorant notions don't follow me around. Never in my life, have I ever felt the sting of racism. See, this is my privilege. I am white, middle class and a male, who has it better than me. 

Let me give an example here. While in college, a buddy of mine and I were at a local bar. I will admit we had one too many pitchers. Soon after leaving the bar, I was pulled over. Embarrassed, I was asked to step out of my car by an Edmond police officer. I walked the line. I touched my nose. I counted back from 100. Like every intoxicated person, I thought I had nailed it. The handcuffs and my placement in the back of his police car said differently. As I set back there hoping for a miracle, a second police officer showed and began talking to the first officer. I was soon asked to step out of the car. I was told to call someone to come pick us up. I would later learn that I was let go, because the officers thought I was related to a high powered Oklahoma City attorney who often appears on Channel 9 News (I am not by the way). See here is a perfect example of my privilege, both perceived and real at work. I know in my heart of hearts no black kid would have been released that night.

As I said in the opening, I didn't become aware of my white privilege until I was 28. Graduate school opened my eyes. I heard the stories of others. Their trials and tribulations just because of their race. These stories had a tremendous impact on me. I was confronted with on the job discrimination, denied admission to colleges, suspicion while shopping, harassment from law enforcement, negative looks based on clothing choices and the phrase "acting white." All of which, I have never ever had to worry about.

This brings up a fundamental question; what now? I write this as a 30 year old male who fully believes in order for things to change systems must change. The ruling class must relinquish some power. This is easier said than done. To do so, has the potential to impact our wallets and our livelihood. Still, it is something we must do. When we are in the position to hire, we must work to interview and hire people from diverse backgrounds. When confronted with verbal and nonverbal racism, we have to name it. We must demand reform for our police departments. We must show hoodies are nothing to be feared. We must make little changes together and together systemic changes can be realized. Why? Because we are at a tipping point. The very fabric of our society and culture needs shared opportunity. America cannot succeed if it continues to leave half of its people behind. All ships must rise and it starts with conversations with friends and strangers about what it is like to be black in America.

Thanks for entering my world,

-Nathan