Article first appeared in The Orlando Sentinel, June 4, 2018

Circa 1979, I walked into a lesbian bar with a friend who fit that profile. Once inside, roughly 50 lesbians glanced at me — a man — before turning back to their drinks. I became invisible.

But this isn’t about lesbians. It’s about racism. And I see my first excursion inside that lesbian bar as a metaphor for institutional racism, though the example could be extended to other minority groups, including those lesbians. Here’s the amateur over-thinkers guide to institutional racism:

• “Racism Classic” is assertive. It’s demonstrated by someone who hates blacks inside his home and is willing to take it to the streets. He might march, paint symbols, burn crosses or simply complain at his local bar.
• “Institutional Racism” is quiet. It’s exhibited by someone who academically believes in equality and says, “I have black friends,” or “I don’t remember much racism,” or “I don’t see color.” He equates “racism” with “hate,” and, as a decent person, refuses to see something that makes him doubt his own goodness.

Assume the lesbians in my 1979 metaphoric bar are white and I’m black. No one told me to get out; no one said I wasn’t welcome; no one asked what I was doing there. The bartender politely served me a drink, but everything suggested that I didn’t quite belong.

That’s the lesson for my white friends: You can’t point to institutional racism and say, “That’s it!” You discover institutional racism looking within for attitudes and assumptions that have always been there, an admittedly painful process. Institutional racism isn’t an event; it’s a baseline social system that requires a person-by-person fix.

Individual events against blacks — a white cop shooting, a retail clerk shadowing or a 911 caller complaining — might not be racism. But if those single events happen four times as often to blacks as to whites, it’s racism. Whether it’s institutional or classic depends on what the perpetrator is thinking.

Imagine that you live in a world where many nice people generally ignore you. And imagine that 2 percent of these folks, when angered, pick on black-skinned people more than white-skinned people. And imagine that 89 percent of decent white folks disavow the action or don’t see it.

If you’re black, you keep your guard up. You follow specific rules if a white cop stops you. In a racism conversation, you brace yourself as you await your white friends’ opinions: It won’t be the first time a friend’s attitude surprised you.

For my “What does institutional racism feels like?” I had to reach back to 1979. How can I, a really white guy, understand what it’s like to live in a world like that all the time? I can’t. I can only momentarily imagine snippets of the pain.

I believe most people are good. I believe institutional-racist snubs are unintended though very real. I believe this problem can be fixed by identifying it, and that requires a mirror.

Each one of us must re-examine our personal attitudes about equality, hurt a little when we discover cancerous spots, and remove what must be changed. If we can do that, equality will follow.

© 2018 SmithTakes.com