When the topic of race relations comes up in conversation, it is often said these days that we are fortunate that young people don’t carry around the same baggage as their elders.
It’s part of the same conversation that suggests that, with the election of President Barak Obama, we have reached some sort of post-racial society where the old prejudices are falling away and people don’t see skin color.
But with alarming regularity, something happens that very quickly and painfully reminds us that simply is not true.
Most recently it was the incident in the Grosse Pointes in which three high school students posted pictures on social media of themselves with the N-word written across their stomachs. Fortunately, school officials reacted quickly, disciplining the students involved.
It was a welcome reaction and a real sign that things have changed for the better in the Grosse Pointes from the days when a point system was used to determine whether an individual could purchase a home there.
But it was also proof that we still have a long way to go in this country. Kids make mistakes. It’s part of being a kid. But you have to ask how that sort of thing could come up at a party in the first place. What sort of thought process would lead a young person to believe there was humor in an ugly racial epithet? What messages have they received that led them to think such actions were acceptable?
Clearly there is still a lot of work to be done on all levels. Equally clearly, our schools at all levels need to be doing more to address the issue of race, both its history and its current status, in this country. It shouldn’t take an incident like this to prompt people to action.
That is why New Detroit convenes an annual Youth Leadership Summit on Race to bring together young people from all over southeast Michigan to develop strategies for improving race relations in their schools and neighborhoods.
The day-long summit, held every fall on the campus of the University of Michigan-Dearborn, which is a co-sponsor, includes students from Macomb, Oakland, Wayne and Washtenaw counties.
The summit is planned through the year by a committee of young people from all backgrounds. It proves that young people from all races and socio-economic backgrounds can work together to confront issues related to racial inequity and stereotyping.
The summit and the activities leading up to it allow young people to interact with a diverse group of students their age in a safe setting where they can discuss race and issues related to race. It is often the first time many of the participants are in an environment where they can openly discuss race in such a diverse setting and it gives them the inspiration they need to change the future of race relations by starting with their own community.
It is good that the Grosse Pointe community reacted in a very swift and positive way to a very ugly incident. But that reaction should not be the end of it. Rather, it should be the start of something much more involved. Because that incident did not occur in a vacuum. Somewhere along the line those young people with the words written across their stomach were given the idea that such an expression is acceptable.
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