The past few weeks have required us to be asking questions about structures of racism in our nation in general, and with police in particular. Those are not comfortable questions, but as our own scriptures remind us, "The Truth will set us free."  One of the most important clarifications for me in all this has been the distinguishing of people’s personal racist attitudes from systemic cultural conditions that are inherently biased against persons who are not white. We've all met individuals who are bigots by temperament, and there's a limit to what can ever be done to change that. But the problem is that it can allow some of us an "easy out," to note that we are not personally prone to racist attitudes and therefore we are no longer responsible for the conditions which keep others in a state of constant suspicion and subjugation and limited opportunity. I don't regard myself as racist, but I live in a culture that is, and I benefit from that culture as a white male. And while I don't accept personal guilt and shame for that, if I fail to acknowledge the fact, then I am part of the problem. It's not a matter of blaming people or groups for how we got here. It's a question of what is required of us now, as Christians and as human beings, to change the encrusted ways of thinking and behaving in public life. And that is an enormous question.

One very intelligent Catholic voice in all this is that of Fr. Bryan Massingale of Fordham University in New York. He is a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, an African-American priest, and a longstanding intellectual in theological discussions on this topic. He recently wrote an important article for the Jesuit magazine America, in which he situated the problem in terms of what our society simply assumes about the relationship between white and non-white citizens. I commend it to your reading. But it isn't merely a complaint. It is an initial road map to what we can do to fix this. It's not easy reading for white Americans, but it is necessary. Here I will quote part of his conclusion, which is perhaps the least disquieting part of the article.

"Finally, pray. Yes, racism is a political issue and a social divide. But at its deepest level, racism is a soul sickness. It is a profound warping of the human spirit that enables human beings to create communities of callous indifference toward their darker sisters and brothers. Stripped to its core, white supremacy is a disturbing interior disease, a malformed consciousness that enables white people to not care for those who don't look like them. As historian Paul Wachtel succinctly declares in his book Race in the Mind of America, ‘The real meaning of race comes down largely to this: Is this someone I should care about?’.”

I will welcome further discussion at Pax Christi about how to engage such a noble sentiment and essential challenge.