To change racism, we need to transform our racial perceptions

By Don Boucree
Guest Columnist

Many years ago, I attended the Catholic School Administrators Conference in Biloxi, Mississippi. One evening, about 10 of us went to the hotel’s buffet for dinner. After dinner, we were standing outside having a conversation. As we stood there talking, a white female walked up to me and asked me to get her car. I informed her that I was not the valet. She did not apologize nor say she was sorry. Instead she walked off disgusted.

Minutes later, a white male walked up. This time I had moved myself to the opposite side of the group. The man asked the only other black male who was standing in the group to get his car. The other African-American male was Dr. Derek Rovaris, then an administrator at Xavier University. The man quickly apologized and went back inside to find a valet.

We all looked at each other in disbelief. Dr. Rovaris and I were the only two African Americans in the group. Dr. Rovaris has a Ph.D. in higher education. I have two master’s degrees. But our skin color said we were valets. 

Some may ask, what is the big deal? It was a simple mistake. The mistake was not that simple. Both individuals asked only the two African-American males in the group. They never asked if we worked for the hotel. They never asked any of our white colleagues to get their car. They asked us. It was based on their perception.

Several years later, while teaching at Christian Brothers School, where I was the only African-American teacher, we took a group of students to the Clearview movie theater. While we waited in the lobby area, my colleague, Doug Joubert, looked at pictures of the old movie theaters on the wall. 

Doug looked at me with excitement and commented  how nostalgic the buildings were. I looked at him and stated that all the buildings hanging on the wall represented a history of segregation to me. Not one of the buildings pictured on the wall was a place where blacks could go without being discriminated against. It represented segregation to me.

Doug looked at me with sadness and apologized. He stated very clearly that he never thought of it that way. I told him he had nothing to apologize for. However, the mere fact that he understood my perception of what racism and racial bias are moved me deeply. He got it. He understood that my experience was not the same as his experience because of the color of our skin.

If we as a society are to move forward from systemic racism, racial bias and racial inequality, then we must first change the perception that some whites have of African-American people, specifically African-American males. As Dr. Mark Barnes from Dillard University stated so eloquently in a recent interview, “It is not black people’s problem to fix.” We need our white brothers and sisters to examine their own conscience, habits and inner prejudice. We need them to examine their perceptions. We need them to change.

It is not good enough to believe that because you have one or two black friends or colleagues that you know African-American history, culture or beliefs. Understanding comes by way of listening and having constructive dialogue with people of other cultures.

Diversity begins in our schools. Diversity is not created by having a Black History program in the month of February or celebrating Cinco de Mayo in May. Diversity cannot just be our student athletes or the coaching staff. 

It begins by having a diverse student body. It begins by having a diverse and racially mixed faculty and administrative team. Without diversity, we only get a one-sided view of what our community and society at large looks like. Without diversity, we can never prepare all our students (and adults) how to handle cultural differences.

What students learn early in their development tends to stay with them and mold their perception for life. If we wish to really change racism in society, then we need to change how that perception begins.

Don Boucree is a math teacher at Resurrection of Our Lord Elementary School in New Orleans. He can be reached at donboucree@yahoo.com.