Amid our ongoing national conversation over race, the denizens of my liberal Los Angeles neighborhood—who like to think of themselves as being Caucasian by accident while being upper-class by dessert—bubbled over with defensiveness when someone politely suggested our listserv was sometimes racist.
It started innocuously enough. Last month, one neighbor sent a typically banal email to the neighborhood forum, including a picture of some white children near an African-American homeless man and this message:
June 23, 2015 11:03 a.m.: These children had to pass by this homeless man camped out next to [identifying information deleted] tunnel today. He was rolling a joint in front of the kids and it is not right for the children to see this behavior. Bike patrol is needed since this area has become the new Venice Beach!!!
Someone else cordially responded a short time later with the accusation:
June 23, 2015 11:27 a.m.: “Homelessness doesn’t equal dangerous. There has [sic] been a lot of racist comments on this group. If I can please recommend everyone double and triple check what they want to send out before they press send. Many Thanks.”
This particular comment ignited a flurry of responses briskly chiming in to explain why everyone’s prior comments weren’t racist:
June 23, 2015 11:38 a.m.: … I don’t consider it racist to be concerned about things like this. And, I do consider there has to be help for the homeless as well.
June 23, 2015 12:27 a.m.: Racist? I did not see ANY racist comments…. Homelessness issues can be best helped if everyone participates in the community meeting!
June 23, 2015 12:55 p.m.: Nonsense! As both the parent and aunt of black children (now adults), I’m very attuned to racist comments. I haven’t seen any racist comments at all on this list.
June 23, 2015 3:25 p.m.: I may have missed the racially charged comments, but this isn’t a race issue, it’s a safely issue, not to mention that it’s illegal. The smell of pot is a given, and it’s only a matter of time until someone steps on a syringe, or worse. There is no way this isn’t a dangerous situation….
June 23, 2015 3:50 p.m.: I hope all of us are aware regarding racist issues. God knows we all need to be, but I don’t see that here.
June 23, 2015 6:46 p.m.: Racism has NEVER BEEN AN ISSUE … human decency IS!
In the photo attached to the original message, a heavy-set dark man is lying on the sandy walkway with his shirt rolled up, allowing his belly to spill out next to the contents of his backpack—a paperback, some CDs and a Discman, shoes, and travel-size shampoos. Absent from the photo was any trace of drugs, weapons, or anything else untoward. The man reclines comfortably but his gaze staring back at the woman taking his picture looks slightly befuddled. The blonde children are taking their shoes off about to run on the sand. Race is never directly mentioned. But everyone agreed: This black man’s presence in our neighborhood was a dangerous threat to our innocent children.
But were we racist?
Everyone who responded was white. I can’t be sure, but I don’t think there are any African Americans living in my neighborhood, although the area that is serviced by this listserv is very small (about a hundred houses). So in a white neighborhood, a bunch of white people went about assuring one another that they were most certainly not doing anything racist. There was not a single email in support of the white woman who had gently (“Many Thanks”!) reminded her neighbors to watch what they sent to the group. And that was that. We moved on to talking about how high our new speed-bumps should be. After all, how could we be racist? We love Obama! We know Dylann Roof is the Devil incarnate! We watched the Wire!
