Local

They say that you can tell how long someone's lived in my neighborhood by their response to gunshots. When bullets shatter our routine, newbies run away to take cover. The long-term folks run toward the horror to see what's really going on.

So I guess I passed the "local" test that hot August night when the sound of gunfire at the end of my block called me out of bed. I grabbed the nearest ratty T-shirt, slipped on my sandals, and headed to where the crowd was already gathering.

Help was just arriving from the other direction as the lifeless body lay in the street. I started to ask the couple dozen or so people around me what had happened. Before I got to hear from the witnesses and those who had arrived before me, a police car pulled up and parked next to us.

The cop got out and parted the crowd as he made a bee-line toward me, the one white guy on that corner. Looking me straight in the eye he asked, "Did you see what happened?"

"No, sir. I arrived after the shots were fired."

Without even acknowledging another person in the group, he left our corner to wait with the other officers for the ambulance, leaving a number of eye witnesses to eventually go home without being interviewed.

I wonder if this officer, himself African-American, was aware of his actions or how they played out in the community. I wonder how equally unaware I am of my own actions' racial bias.

I have a different perspective on racial issues than most of my white friends and colleagues. Intentionally living and working for nearly 20 years in places where I was clearly in the minority has shaped my beliefs, understanding, sensitivity, and actions.

Still, I caught myself a couple years back in my own biases while shopping at a store in the Midwest. I needed assistance and couldn't find anyone to help until I realized that there actually were employees all around --- they just happened to be pale like me. Pretty much all the store employees (and customers, for that matter) where I usually shop have a darker complexion than my own and I had somehow unconsciously warped that into a prejudice.

I'm glad I caught and repaired that one before any harm was done. Still, I wonder how much other bigotry lurks within me. I don't want to go around damaging people and I don't want to reinforce any potential biases others might already have against people who look like me.

Perhaps if I can hang out more in the Kingdom I'll recognize my own prejudices and be better able to respond whenever racial bias, either inside or around me, shatters my routine. Will I run away to take cover or will I run toward the horror to see what's really going on?

I want to pass the "local" test there someday, too.

Let me see people only as You do, Lord.