{"id":14323,"date":"2020-02-14T15:45:06","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T21:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/?p=14323"},"modified":"2020-03-02T14:28:41","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T20:28:41","slug":"an-imbalance-of-empathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/2020\/02\/14\/an-imbalance-of-empathy\/","title":{"rendered":"An imbalance of empathy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article is a part of the Dialogue on Diversity series. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He\u2019s not going to get much support from black voters, but I still like him enough.\u201d She was referring to Pete Buttigieg in a conversation about the democratic presidential candidate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy aren\u2019t black people voting for him?\u201d Another girl asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUm,\u201d the first girl hesitated, \u201cI think because he\u2019s the mayor of South Bend and he doesn\u2019t do a good job.\u201d Though true, in the broadest of senses, the events that have hurt the trust between Pete Buttigieg and the black community in South Bend are complex and span the years he\u2019s been in office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t upset that my friend was unable to recite the details of Buttigieg\u2019s record on race. But I was upset that her answer was seemingly satisfactory to the rest of the group, all of whom, excluding me, were white. Knowing that many black constituents of South Bend are distrusting of Buttigieg was trivial to them. It wasn’t a source of concern or a potential barrier to supporting him. They chose not to follow up with questions or Google searches. They knew what \u2014 not why \u2014 but that was enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve frequently witnessed this apathy toward truly understanding the concerns of marginalized groups, and there\u2019s a double-standard at play: People of color are always expected to understand and empathize with the majority perspective, while the majority expect brownie points for returning that empathy. Perhaps in deciding to read this, you felt as though you were going above and beyond to accommodate the needs of minorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, when a white comedian tells an insensitive joke targeting minorities and is publicly criticized, members of the minority are called to have empathy for him. \u201cCome on, it was just a joke. That doesn\u2019t make him a racist. Should he really lose his career over this?\u201d When a white girl sings the n-word at a concert, \u201cShe was just singing the lyrics. The song means a lot to her so she should be allowed to sing along.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This expectation of empathy extends even to those whose actions have caused incredible harm to minority groups such as George Benson, an ardent segregationist, whose legacy can\u2019t be criticized without the swift reminder that \u201che grew up in a different time.\u201d I\u2019ve been told often that \u201ca lot of Harding alumni remember him fondly, and he did a lot for the school.\u201d Oddly, I\u2019ve yet to hear that from any non-white alumni. Oh, right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having empathy for minority perspectives isn\u2019t something passive. It requires that you become familiar with those perspectives, all of which are as diverse within minority groups as they are amongst white people. Nothing can truly substitute for honest, serious conversations between close friends. But seeing as Harding severely lacks diversity, those conversations don\u2019t happen often enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This opinion piece is the first of our series, \u201cA Dialogue on Diversity,\u201d which will feature stories and thoughts from people of color in Harding\u2019s community both online and in print. I encourage you to read these stories with an open mind and an intention toward growing in empathy and understanding how race influences the lives of members of our community in diverse ways. Unfortunately, you won\u2019t receive any brownie points, but you will gain a better understanding of those around you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darrian Bagley is the head graphic designer for the Bison. He may be contacted at dbagley@harding.edu. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article is a part of the Dialogue on Diversity series. “He\u2019s not going to get much support from black voters, but I still like him enough.\u201d She was referring…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15086,"featured_media":13876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[658],"class_list":["post-14323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","tag-dialogue-on-diversity"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}