Joy in One’s Race and Culture
Can there be joy in one’s race and culture?
“Yes!” said Dr. Sydney Freeman, Jr., a professor of education at the University of Idaho. And he is unapologetic about his joy in his African race and culture. “This joy should lead and foster me flourishingand thrivingwherever I am,” he explained.
It was something I had never considered, but in thinking about it, there is a joy in one’s race and culture. Not to the exclusion of any other group, but in celebration of all cultures.
This statement is coming from a woman whose great-grandmother used to tell her, “Be glad you can pass. It is a shame to be Indian.”
For those of you who may not understand, “passing” is when a person of color can appear to be white. This generally means that person can get an education and a job/career which elevates them out of poverty.
Personally, I attribute much of my ability to “pass” to my red hair, a gift from some unknown Celtic ancestor. That said, I still have strangers stop me on the street and ask about my ethnic background. Apparently, I can pass, but it isn’t completely without question.
Joy in One’s Past Doesn’t Always Mean Everything Was Happy
Back to Sydney’s idea of joy in one’s race and culture. When I started looking into my family’s Cherokee heritage, I was able to answer so many questions about who we are and why we do things a certain way. Just answering those questions was joyful. But does this always mean happy?
No. Obviously, it cannot be.
There are far too many dark passages in our country’s history, and some people seemingly want to return to those days when any non-European person has no standing in America. But if we wish to be accurate in who we are as a country, we need to acknowledge the warts-and-all history so we can find the joy in co-existing, and for many of us, the delight in understanding our own racial and cultural backgrounds.
When I taught cultural diversity at the University of Idaho, I would often use a TV news magazine clip where a woman discovered her grandmother was African American, but her skin was so light she was able to pass. The grandmother was the first Black woman to graduate from a prestigious East Coast college, she married a similarly light skinned man and together they abandoned their families so they could live as a white couple. My students often marveled at the trauma this caused the family, that the couple’s children never knew their grandparents or history.
What I always found amazing is each semester I would start by asking people to bring something to class to talk about their own cultural background, and so many would say they did not know their family history. The TV news clip would come three weeks later; by then it was easy for them to look at the loss from someone else’s family yet ignore a search for their own family stories.
Even Negative Family Histories Contain Gems of Joy
Not everyone has a good family story. Many of us have histories filled with genocide, war, anger and loss. But hidden in all that can also be gems of joy.
Being told all your life your family was Irish, and you discover they came from Wales can lead to some astounding insights about resiliency. Discovering your “American” family is Basque in origin is a journey of history and pride among many of my former students.
At the same time, realizing there was a “one drop” rule where if your family had one drop of non-European blood made you that racial group can be mind-boggling. Some students came to realize their African, Spanish, Asian or Arab ancestor from 200 years ago would have placed them as “other” under the old Southern Jim Crow laws did make them stop and think. It certainly threw a negative light on the idea of America as a melting pot.
That brings us back to the idea of joy in one’s race and culture. Yes, there can be celebration of who we are both as Americans and as individuals. This should be without fear of retribution by any other group. Acknowledging our own family pathways, trials and victories is always a cause for reflection, and joy.
Yet, Describing Joy Can Be Elusive
Outside of our races and cultures, there is a theology of joy: that joy is fundamental to human existence and well-being, and yet it is elusive and resists definition. At the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, theologians have spent much time studying the concept. The result is an understanding that joy has flattened out, all but disappeared from our faiths, areas of study and virtually vanished from our daily lives.
Finding the elusive can start by looking into our own pasts, into who made us as people. Looking at and finding the joy in our own races and cultures is a great starting point. The ancient Greeks called on people to know themselves as the starting point in life, and I say knowing the people who created us and celebrating them is our best starting point.
Joy in our race and culture, much less the rest of our lives. What a concept to embrace, hopefully unapologetically, so we can flourish and thrive wherever we are located.
