Pajarita Charles,
Madison, WI
My life as a white, middle-aged, educated, and otherwise very privileged member of society has left me seeking opportunities to find the simplicity of connection that can exist between myself and those different from me, those different by virtue of race. White women and black men — two groups who our country has pitted against each other since we brought slaves to this land — stand out in such interactions. Our job – my role – is to find humanity, mutuality, and commonality in everyday interactions with those who our society has taught us are less then. How do we find that element of connection? Of respect? Of honesty? Of truth? But at the basic core, most importantly, of humanness?
I sat down at a table in the airport. No one else there but a black man eating his lunch. I was there to do the same. I looked over and asked, “How’s your day going so far?” A simple question but one that opened up a 45 minute discussion about my work, my life, his work, his life, and their connection. He spent 15 years in prison; I spent 15 years working to support fathers in prison. I asked him questions, he asked me questions. We shared. We found a place of humanness. Can this bring us to a different and better place? One that is for everyone equally? Mutuality, humanity, commonality.
