The Rev. Al Herring teaches Hill community how to shape our 'common humanity'

Tuesday, September 22 marked the inaugural event for the 2009-10 academic theme “A Common Humanity,” as Hill welcomed The Rev. Alvin Herring, the CEO and founder of an organization dedicated to teaching students to form stronger communities by embracing diversity. All students spent the morning and afternoon in a workshop, during which they engaged in activities designed to increase their awareness and help them embrace their differences.

Later in the evening, the Rev. Herring addressed the entire Hill community in the Center For the Arts. Jared Feinman ’10, a member of Hill's Diversity Committee, introduced the Rev. Herring. He said to his classmates, “After the fast-paced, dynamic, and fun workshop today, I want to say that I am proud of each and every one of you. I am proud that we have explored the meaning of diversity and the power of community.” He continued, “ I am proud that we have experienced how we all are different and we all are the same. I am proud that we now know we are all in this together.”

The Rev. Herring engaged the packed auditorium with high energy and enthusiasm, giving an insightful talk peppered with life experiences to serve as examples of how one person can bring change. Touching on this year’s theme, the Rev. Herring told the students the way to shape this common humanity is to “remember the work we accomplished today [in the workshop]. You hung in there and were committed to working together.” He said of the students’ willingness to open up during the workshops, “You heard things today that you never heard before, from different people.”

A Common Humanity: Hope, Love, Justice, Mercy

To achieve a common humanity, the Rev. Herring said there are four kinds of work we must master: hope, love, justice, and mercy.

“Hope is different from optimism,” he remarked. While he did say it was good to optimistic, optimism “won’t change the world.” Rather, we must “invest a significant amount of hope in ourselves and in our relationships.” He said we must be hopeful “even when things might not work out” because hope is “based on faith.”

“Hope is built on a bright golden thread that is knitting us together as one common humanity,” the Rev. Herring exclaimed with enthusiasm. “We are changing the world for the better as we become masters at weaving this golden thread together.”

He then instructed each person in the room to touch the shoulder of his or her neighbors, and when this was done, “instantly the energy in the room changed.” With the audience applauding and his powerful voice filling the room, The Rev. Herring exclaimed, “There is nothing we can’t do if we have hope! No challenge we can’t overcome. Don’t give up hope!”

Love, the Rev. Herring observed, is a term we use too often; however, it is the “most powerful force in the universe” as all great things “happened because of love.” At the root of it all, he said, “Love at its best is about service - the good you can do for someone else.” The Rev. Herring challenged the audience to “put yourself out there on behalf of someone else.” He added: “Serve someone and then you really will have the privilege of understanding love.”

When talking about justice, The Rev. Herring talked about the plight in our country – homelessness, joblessness, poverty, and the health-care related issues – that are affecting more people than most even realize. He noted, “If we want to build harmony, a common humanity knitted together, we have to be come committed to justice.” He acknowledged that many individuals in the room might think these issues are “too complex” and he or she cannot do enough because of a “sense of fear or hopelessness.”

Commanding the room’s attention, the Rev. Herring thundered, “You have everything to do with making this world just! There is a hurting world waiting for you.”

“Mercy is the toughest thing for us as human beings to master, ” stated the Rev. Herring. While he admitted it is tough for someone to say he or she is sorry, he acknowledged it is even tougher to say “I forgive you.” He said: “We have to each get better at giving each other mercy. We need to reconcile, repair, and renew.”

He then asked each person in the room to turn to his or her neighbor and say “I am sorry” and to then say “I forgive you” to illustrate that these simple words are not as difficult to say as people perceive.

The Rev. Herring concluded, “If we are going to build a common humanity -- be a better community, town, country, world -- we have to have hope, demonstrate service, have a commitment to justice, and seek and offer mercy!”

Following a standing ovation, The Rev. Herring met with sixth form students and faculty in the Boyer Gallery for a reception.

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This week I was asked by a colleague at the Race Project.org to comment on an experience he and his wife had recently on the train…

Stephen

My wife and I were climbing down into the Harrison Red Line subway station in our neighborhood in Chicago when we happened upon three young Black boys -- maybe 13 years old -- tagging the station walls with spray paint. It was particularly surprising because there are security cameras down there, yet the kids were dancing around and acting as if they didn't care if anyone saw what they were doing. I thought about it for a second or two and decided to let them know that I saw what they did. Rather than express disappointment or anger (I figured at that age, irrespective of race, they wouldn't care -- I wouldn't have!), I simply wanted them to know that they were not as quick or careful as they though they were. Even now, I'm not sure if I was trying to scare them or warn them that they could easily be caught, or if I was trying to discourage them from doing it again. In any case, they all denied having done anything wrong, and as we boarded the train, one of the boys stuck his head in the door before it closed, called me some names, and flipped me his middle finger while another boy spray painted on the window of the train as it pulled out of the station.

I spent the rest of the night thinking about whether there was anything I could have done to meaningfully intervene in those boys' lives. Since I am a White ally, I am very conscious about not wanting to be act like, feel like or be perceived as though I need to "save" (Dangerous Minds-style) persons of color. On the other hand, as an adult who wants to see all children succeed and who knows that sometimes getting in trouble is the best thing that can happen to turn someone's life around, I wonder if I should have tried to call a CTA employee or otherwise "bust" the kids. Further complicating the issue is the fact that with all the youth violence and gang activity in the area, saying anything to kids that age at all -- particularly while they are engaging in an illegal act -- probably isn't a particularly smart thing to do. Would I have felt the same or acted in the same way if I were Black (a man or a woman -- and would that matter) or if the kids were White? Would the kids have reacted to me differently? Did I act appropriately (do enough, do too much)?

And my response…
It would be all too easy for me as an African American male to categorize the angst my White brother felt over this incident as just another example of the privilege Whites enjoy – as it relates to race - to stand at a distance from the dirty work of confronting the tough realities racism creates and retreat to the sidelines where behaviors, motives and choices can be safely analyzed and timidly dissected. For sure, that is the choice of many White liberals, intending to sound like allies and then losing their voice when situations and circumstances call for a more vigorous assertion of solidarity.

But in the real world of race, no one gets a pass. Racism exists to systematically rob of us our humanity and psychically prepare us for the dirty work of denying to those deemed “less than” or “other than” opportunity, access, power, wealth and the very essentials of life itself. And racism doesn’t ever stand alone as a single issue but pulls in every other societal structure in around it, forcing us to contend with unholy combinations of race and other social dimensions such as class, gender or sexual orientation.

What has to be remembered is that race is the predicate, the root. Indeed, a racist system will never truly let you forget it. In the encounter with the boys making mischief on the train, the scenario is as it seems. No matter of intent, goodwill or progressive racial sentiment can alter the reality that a White man has stepped into foreign territory and entered the world of these Black boys without invitation. Their response is neither novel nor unexpected. They rebuke him and put him “in his place.” His angst is also part of the “script.” Was he right to express his displeasure at the boys or was his behavior based on race? Did they reject his correction because he was an adult censoring youth rebellion or did they interpret his actions as racist?

In a better world a grown-up should be able to confront misbehaving juveniles and have his intent be seen if not as helpful and corrective at least benign. But this is not a better world. It is the world that racism has created. In that world –our world – racism is an idol that must be worshipped and our desire for community is the sacrificial lamb.

How do we ever get past this? How do we meaningfully enter each other’s worlds and build real connections across race lines? The answers are not simple ones but they begin with a need for a universal recognition of what racism is and how it distorts the human heart and mind. It begins with Blacks and Whites each speaking to the ways our lives have been wounded by racism. Whites must summon the courage to acknowledge how they have been privileged by the oppression of people of color and undertake the work of dismantling that privilege by working for justice. Blacks must come to grips with centuries of rage and bitter resentment (much of which has been focused internally) and become earnest partners in forging a more just society.

Real community ought to be our goal, but to get there we are going to have to have the courage to step up to situations such as this and confront how incomplete our lives are in the shadow of structural racism. We’re going to have to finally reach that place where justice demands that we stop business as usual and get down to the real business of confronting racism.

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