Chris Jepson: What 'they' do to the least of us

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

— Martin Niemöller

Martin Niemöller was a German pastor who was ultimately imprisoned for seven years by the Nazis for opposing Adolf Hitler. His now famous 71 words succinctly sum up the reality of doing nothing, of turning a blind eye, of not speaking out against injustice, of not doing the right thing because, well, it’s not my problem.

This column is an exploration of how do you mindfully communicate, how do you argue with those in opposition to justice or who deny history? This is difficult and challenging, particularly in an increasingly polarized America. Are minds capable of changing? And how would one successfully pursue that objective, the changing of hearts and minds?

How, for example, does one effectively discuss race in America? I’ve read a number of statistics on race relations in the United States. A recent August 2014 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute, for example, reported that 91 percent of white American's closest friends and family members are white with 1 percent black. Is it any surprise then that there is a gulf — nay, an ocean — of misunderstanding between the races in America?

How necessary is it to have black friends to realize that racism is alive and metastasizing in America? That President Obama is black, yes, that is a racial hurdle passed but it should not divert, relieve or absolve white America from the realization that 400 years of slavery and Jim Crow is still wreaking profound devastation on our black communities – and on all of America, for that matter.

We are but one generation from the civil rights battles of the 1960s. I could now recite the incarceration statistics, the employment numbers, the health discrepancies between whites and blacks as well as the results of poll after poll indicating white ignorance and indifference to the challenges of being black in America.

Many white Americans, however, do have a sense that black Americans were dealt a historically bad hand, a raw deal, that, yes, discrimination was and is wrong. But there is also the accompanying white attitude that asks, “So what?” before asserting, “Yep, times were tough, now get on with it.”

“Getting on with it” is so difficult for white Americans to understand. We have little to no understanding what it is like to be a minority (see: the unique and tragic history of American blacks), to be an “outsider” in your own country – “a stranger in a strange land.” To stand out because of your skin color – and all that that implies – is unfathomable to most white Americans.

As a result, the heartache of blacks being unjustly stopped and frisked by police, of unarmed black men cut down by law enforcement, is received with indifference by many white Americans. Whites simply do not understand the rage, frustration and fear of being black in America.

I do know that what can be done to the least of us, well, we’re all at risk. Intellectually, that is an undeniable historic argument, one we all should comprehend.