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'Lawrence is still a segregated community,' professor says
MACKENZIE CLARK
@mclark59
Following the June 17 shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., national conversations have centered on issues of race, segregation and the Confederate flag.
On Thursday, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Shawn Alexander, associate professor of African and African American Studies, released a statement about the history of violence against black churches in America.
The statement offered a brief overview of violent acts against black churches for the past 200 years, but also raised a point: "We live in a state that fought against slavery, but despite that history we have signs of the confederacy and white supremacy around us every day."
Alexander, also the director of the Langston Hughes Center at the University, said despite the "Free State" nickname, racism is an issue in Kansas — and here in town.
"Lawrence is still a segregated community," he said. "There is integration — whatever that word means, I'm not quite sure — [...] but there are places where it is distinctly racially segregated."
Cassandra Osei, a May graduate from Shawnee who recently contributed a guest column to the Kansan, said she agrees.
"The U.S. is more segregated now than it was in the '50s," she said, "which is kind of hard to believe, but it is true."
Regarding segregation, Osei cited statistics about the racial wealth gap. According to a 2010 report from the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, nearly half of single black and Hispanic women have zero or negative wealth. The median wealth for single white women is $41,500.
report from the KIDS COUNT Data Center, 39 percent of black children in the United States live at or below the federal poverty level.
"If we had to have that conversation [about the wealth gap], we would talk about the implications of sexism and racism, but we don't," Osei said. "Instead, we use the barometer of racism as how somebody feels about somebody else."
Additionally, according to a 2013
The AME Church was originally founded in protest of segregation within white churches, Alexander said. Members of a Methodist church in Philadelphia were not allowed to worship in the front pews and were limited to certain areas of the church, so in 1816 they branched off.
"That made, obviously, no sense to them in a place that talks about equality, 'Everyone is the same in the eyes of the Lord,' so they created their own separate church," Alexander said.
However, Alexander said segregation within churches continues.
"Today, the old adage is, '11 o'clock on Sunday morning is still the most segregated moment in American society," he said.
Alexander and Osei both said with the election of President Barack Obama, many Americans have resolved that racism is no longer an
Osei said she believes it's hard for people to discuss historical, institutional racism.
issue in the United States. However, Alexander said that is not true.
"You don't want to implicate an entire society — it's easier to blame somebody in a trailer park who hates black people than, you know, your cousin who's a doctor," Osei said.
The problem is not limited to the confines of the church walls, though. Alexander said people often claim it's time to sit down and have an "honest conversation" about race issues in America.
"The fundamental economic, social and political underpinning of racism and white supremacy have continued in America, despite the fact that we have broken down barriers and have integrated our nation," he said.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
"But we've had a number of conversations. What are we going to do?" Alexander said.
Osei said most of the behaviors regarding racism she has personally experienced or witnessed in Lawrence where she believes the history of segregation is often forgotten" has been "very subtle," with some exceptions.
"Nobody is going to go out of their way to be super obviously racist to you to your face," she said. "[...] Very, very rarely would anybody call me the n-word or anything like that, or deny me service because I'm black — but in terms of getting dirty looks and knowing that I didn't belong somewhere, that's happened a lot of the time."
Alexander said subtlety does not mean the problem has gone away.
Osei said it doesn't make sense to her that people take pride in the
"You can be a proud Southerner; you can use that flag for that," Alexander said, "but don't tell me it didn't stand for slavery. Don't tell me it didn't stand for white supremacy — and doesn't stand for white supremacy."
"We can't just pat ourselves on the back saying that racism doesn't exist because we don't use the n-word," he said.
Alexander said he was shocked to see the flag flying at a home in Paola across the street from an elementary school. Although he acknowledged the rights that come with private property, he said he was concerned for the kids who may see it and not understand its full implications.
Another issue Alexander and the OMA mentioned in the statement was the Confederate flag flying in Kansas.
Shawn Alexander, associate professor of African and African-American Studies, saw this truck flying the American and Confederate flags Tuesday, June 30, at the intersection of 23rd and Iowa Streets.
Confederate flag.
"People genuinely think that there is no significance with racism when it comes to that flag; it doesn't matter to them that actual Klansmen and neo-Nazis use that flag," she said. "[...] I don't understand why its defenders claim patriotism when it's a flag that is literally treasonous."
Alexander said just taking down
the flag won't change much.
"It's a good first step, but just taking down the flag won't end racism," he said. "It won't end the drive for white supremacy. It won't end violence. It's nice to not see it, but that's not enough."