Bryan Massingale: Sharing faith with those who don't look like you

The U.S. bishops are drafting a new pastoral letter on racism, scheduled for release next fall. Assisting them is Milwaukee’s Fr. Bryan Massingale, who teaches theology at Marquette University. He discussed the topic in an interview, “Are You a Social Sinner?” in the February 2005 issue of U.S. Catholic (subscription information at http://www.uscatholic.org). Here are some excerpts.

One of the key concepts in contemporary thinking about racial justice is white privilege. Because we live in a society that attaches a pervasive social stigma to dark skin color, those with light skin color have certain advantages, privileges, and benefits that persons of color do not enjoy. Conversely, people of color have certain systemic disadvantages, burdens, and stigmas that they have to overcome.

From a white perspective everything is normal, because white people don’t see the advantages that are inherent simply by being born in society with physical characteristics prized by society.
…People often express surprise that an African American is “intelligent” and “articulate.” I wish I had $5 for every time a white person has said that to me! It shows how they’ve been malformed by an ethos that they aren’t even aware of. That’s the structural sin of white privilege and white advantage.

What still needs to be done about racism?

…African Americans still encounter far more pervasive discrimination in the process of housing selection and mortgage lending than any other racial or ethnic group. This is important because residence is significant for determining so many things—access to education, health care, even wealth.

African Americans are still more racially segregated than either Latinos or Asians. …On paper, both blacks and whites say they want to live in an integrated neighborhood. But each has a very different understanding of what “integrated” is.

African Americans would see the most desirable racial mixture as 35 to 50 percent black. For most whites, that’s too much integration. Studies show that 8 percent black is the tolerance level for whites. So racial segregation is a major place where we need to look at making systemic changes.

We are not taught how to talk about race in an interracial context. Whites talk about race among themselves, blacks talk about race among themselves, Latinos talk about race among themselves. But when we get together, there is this strange code of civility that results in silence or avoidance. And as long as that’s there, there’s very little chance for any kind of understanding to take place.

What do you see as the greatest internal challenge for the church?

According to the USCCB website, 46 percent of the Catholic Church in America is people of color. You wouldn’t know that by looking at the leadership of the church—not just the bishops but also the leaders in our major Catholic organizations and universities.

The Catholic Church can’t be credible in talking about racism if it doesn’t call itself to account. The demographic shift that’s going on within the Catholic Church is posing urgent questions. The church is getting browner. It has to adjust to that reality.

• The glass-ceiling phenomenon. Studies have shown that while African Americans experience few barriers in being admitted to entry-level positions, when it comes to promotion to middle or senior management, that’s when women and racial minorities encounter the next barrier. I call it the resurgence of tokenism, where people of color are present but in limited numbers and in very limited kinds of positions.
• Use of the Internet as a tool for racist propaganda. If you Google the “N-word,” you are directed to millions of sites, some with the most vile forms of racial intolerance that are deliberately targeted at kids. We also have the rise of white supremacist music targeted at young people.
• What I call “rational racism” or “reasonable discrimination.” That’s when people say, “Granted, not all blacks are lazy, dumb, and violent, but most are, and therefore, I am justified in treating you as if you are until you prove that you’re not.” …That puts the person of color in the hole, so they’re always having to prove themselves. That justifies, for example, cab drivers passing by an African American. So the cab driver’s not being prejudiced, he’s simply exercising a “rational” form of caution.

How can the church help with racial justice?

…By promoting the fact that one of the glories of being Catholic is that we have people who share our faith but who don’t look like us.

At my parish in Milwaukee, All Saints, because we’re predominantly an African American parish and we have a gospel choir, we always get suburban parishes who send their religious education classes to our church. Afterward I’ll go to our visitors, who are always white, and I’ll say, “Why are you here?” Most of them look uncomfortable and say they don’t know. So I have them look around, I point out the variety of people present, and I say, “This is why you are here. You are here because you are practicing for the kingdom of God. Because when you get to the kingdom, not everyone is going to look like you.” No one has ever talked to them about race relations like that, in the context of faith. That is one of my missions in life.