With the latest race issue brewing in Ferguson Missouri the news has me thinking about racism, trying to better understand what causes it so maybe I can imagine some ways to improve the situation. It’s an introvert thing always thinking about how to save the world! I think one hurtle we need to overcome is segregation. The problem with segregation is we create different environments for each group of people based on skin color. Perhaps these environments promote differing stereotypical behavior.
Although we have taken steps to reduce forced segregation, people seem to have a habit of self-segregating! Take a look in the lunch room of any school and you will likely see students grouped by race/color.
I remember reading one time about a crowd of people dressed in costumes; I don’t remember off hand if they were on a movie set or theme park, they ate lunch in costume. The funny thing is they self-segregated by costume in the same way people of different skin colors normally congregate. The elephants sat at one table and the tigers sat at another!
I believe what’s going on here is basic genetic self-preservation. The safest place for any animal is usually with other animals just like themselves. An elephant is less likely to be eaten by another elephant than by a tiger! Of course a tiger isn’t likely to be eaten by an elephant, but still there’s safety in numbers and generally speaking it seems natural that most animals stick with their kind.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying humans of different skin color are different animals, I just think we have a genetic preference when grouping to seek out those that are most similar to ourselves.
So if we have a tendency to self-segregate and that’s the root of all evil racism, how do we fix it? Maybe we need to start by encouraging integration at the lunch table? Assigned seating? Can we teach our children and each other to look at our similarities without checking the color of their skin?
If all else fails we should all have gray colored skin in a thousand years, hopefully by then we will judge people based on their character and sit with people we admire regardless of their lineage, shape, size, age, Etc.
