framer
Well-Known Member
Kind of a funny thing. I served my mission in Oklahoma/Arkansas and had a 6'4 300 pound Tongan companion. He was straight off the island and still learning English. It was interesting to see the people there try to come to grips with him because they had likely never seen a Polynesian and didn't know how to process it. They were familiar with Native Americans, and he wasn't that. They knew he wasn't black. But because he was so big, we would often be greeted with guns at the door (which frankly wasn't all that uncommon there, especially in the country.) His first area was in Kansas, where he worked to get a drivers license and got one. So when people asked him, "Where are you from, son?" he would say "I from Kansas!" with a big grin and show him his license.I have no horse in the UoU/BYU rivalry. But I'll always say we should try to fix our own house first. I don't think anyone in in Utah should feel comfortable.
I'm LDS; I grew up in Utah. I'll start working on my anti-racism there.
The lesson is that, in Utah, most people are familiar with Poly culture and Polynesians and wouldn't bat an eye over seeing a Polynesian at Walmart. Utah doesn't have a big black population, and probably never will, just for normal demographic reasons (the entire Intermountain West is the same.) Without personal exposure to black culture, it will be hard for people to become familiar enough with black culture to not make occasional mistakes or misunderstandings. That can't be fixed with classes, or hectoring, or twitter posts. It can only be fixed with more people in Utah having experience with black people, which will likely happen as Utah grows and diversifies its economy.
None of this excuses the flat out racists, who should be called out as they were that night. But if you try lumping in some 75 year old lady from Salina, Utah who has probably never met a black person into the same bucket as these morons because she doesn't share the opinion that racism is institutional isn't really helping. Most of the people demanding that we "understand" really aren't interested in that. They just want a club to beat their political enemies, and turn a blind eye to the racism (or recent antisemitism) in their own tribe.