A Level Playing Field

I am in Chicago taking a Doctor of Ministry Class, "Culturally Attentive Leadership."   Reading has been interesting, lectures have not been boring, and the folks in my group are all people of faith.   Learning about  managing conflict, understanding different cultures, and leadership has been interesting.   Today we did an exercise that Dr. Choy led called "The Level Playing Field."   Most folks of color have done this exercise where we all start out in one line and then the leader says, "If your parents weren't born in this country take one step back."  or "If you inherited money from your family take one step forward."   We started in one line holding hands.  As Dr. Choy read more "if" statements around race and privilege, and our steps made the gap between each of us wider, holding hands was not an option.   I ended up outside the room with two of my brothers of color.   The persons in the front ahead of us all were not of color (okay so white is a color).   This exercise brought up feelings from each one of us. Some didn't want to let go of the hands they held.  Others didn't like the way the "if" statements were designed.    I was saddened that the questions were about our past that will never leave folks like me.   So what does that say for the future generations.  If my children did this exercise, they would not have ended outside the room but they would be close to the back because their parents both graduated from high school and have college degrees and their parents were born in this country.  One of the "if" statements was "If you have ever been followed around in a store while shopping take a step back."  I had to take a step back.   I remembered that I was in a Christian book store looking for just the right gift for someone when I noticed that someone was following me pretending to straighten out shelves or look at books.  To test him I started just meandering around the book store, picking up a book and putting it down, touching some figurine, etc.  When he realized that I was playing with him, he came up and asked me if I was looking for something in particular.   I said no and walked out and never went back.

This exercise brought back experiences I had chosen to forget.  The purpose of the exercise was to remind us that there are gaps between us and we need to work hard at filling the gaps. There is no such thing as a level playing field for people of color, women, gay and lesbian, the poor or anyone else on the margins.   And if there are sales clerks in Christian book stores that judge me by my skin color, it seems that a level playing field may be impossible.  For the sake of my granddaughters, I hope not.

Comments

[lauren]

Whoa! Me and my peeps just did a workshop yesterday on race and its role/effects on our teaching practice/relationships with students. And we totally did this activity, but boiled it down to "just" racial privilege. Criz-azy.