If
you want to understand people who are different from you, listen to them
directly.
By
A
few of my African friends have adopted a slogan: “not about us without us.”
They use it to protest international decisions about their continent that are
developed without any input from African people.
It’s
a wonderful phrase. I think it applies to a few recent events in our country as
well.
Take
Michelle Obama’s commencement speech at Tuskegee University.
The first lady spoke honestly and directly about the racist attacks black
Americans — including even her and her husband — regularly endure, while
raising up heroic African Americans like Charles DeBow, a World War II fighter
pilot.
Now, I live in a happy little bubble in which I get my news mainly from NPR. And, in my view at least, NPR did a pretty good job covering the speech.
Host Tom Ashbrook, for example,
invited a panel of three black women to discuss their views on Obama’s
speech and the media’s reaction to it. They felt that Obama spoke
relatably about her own personal experiences in a way that was appropriate
to the audience at the university.
As
a white listener, I appreciated getting a chance to hear what they had to say.
After all, it was a speech by a black woman to a mostly black audience that
dealt with the experiences of black people. But some white pundits felt
comfortable jumping to their own conclusions.
Rush
Limbaugh accused Obama, predictably, of “playing the race card.” Sean Hannity
concluded that the first lady just didn’t “appreciate the opportunities” she
had. Mark Levin, I kid you not, said the Obamas had “done more to drag the
United States backwards with race relations than anyone in modern history.”
Thoughtful,
huh?
Another
episode that comes to mind is Caitlyn Jenner’s recent coming out as a trans
woman.
NPR,
again, seemed to do a pretty good job.
One
segment I tuned into featured several transgender people providing their takes
on Jenner’s Vanity Fair cover. As a cisgender person — “cis”
meaning simply that I identify with the gender I was assigned at birth — these
were valuable viewpoints to hear.
The
guests celebrated the heightened awareness and acceptance of the trans
community that Jenner promoted.
But
they also noted that Jenner has access to medical care and surgical procedures
that many trans people lack. They discussed problems of violence against
transgender people, particularly trans women, and brought up the high rate of
suicide attempts in their community.
By
giving trans people space to speak directly to their own experiences, the show
broadened my understanding about the wider issues the community faces. This is
media done right.
Sadly,
that’s not how the rest of the media handled it.
Particularly
in the case of Fox News and conservative talk radio, transphobic hosts wasted
no time aiming a steady stream of criticism at Jenner.
“Bryan
Fischer said Jenner’s transition is a sign that America is ‘morally corrupt’
and on the verge of destruction,” reported People For the American Way’s Right Wing Watch. “Alex
McFarland has called it ‘demonic’ and Sandy Rios said it was ‘a human
tragedy.'”
Everyone
has a right to their own opinion, of course. But understanding and tolerance
will continue to elude us all without broader dialogue. And good conversations
require listening.
At
the very least, the media can help the white people who still don’t get it to
understand the experiences of black Americans. And it can help more cisgender
people understand the lives of transgender folks. Inviting more members of these
communities to speak on talk shows is a good start.
In
other words, as my African friends would put it: “not about us without us.”
OtherWords
columnist Jill Richardson is the author of Recipe for America: Why Our
Food System Is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It. OtherWords.org.