The New Orleans Tribune
(June, 1995)

ERACE'S (relatively) Quiet Revolution
By Della Neese

(Click here for the printable version)


Though teeth may clench, faces may flush to dark red, and voices occasionally rise, people often find peace of mind by speaking their minds at ERACE's weekly discussion groups and social gatherings.

The forum encourages Black and white participants to share experiences and opinions about race-related issues, which Blacks and whites often do amongst same-color company. However, according to Brenda Thompson, rarely do whites and Blacks talk with each other about the real, serious, deep personal issues of racism that occur on a daily basis.

"ERACE was formed to show that there are some people in New Orleans who are open-minded as far as race is concerned . . . as far as I'm concerned, we've given the city that," states Thompson, co-founder.

Brenda Thompson and Rhoda Faust co-founded ERACE in the summer of 1993 after The Times-Picayune printed its Together/Apart series on race relations. Thompson worked at the newspaper at the time and comments, "I saw and heard things that I could not believe . . . raw, unadulterated hatred that people were willing to call in when they knew they didn't have to talk to someone. They were willing to write when they didn't have to sign their names . . . Out of that I felt a need to do something."

Thompson contacted Faust, a white woman who wrote a letter to the editor during the series. In her letter Faust "really cringed at some white people's responses," addressed skin-color discrimination between Blacks, and proposed dialogue as a solution. She concluded, "Let's think of ways to let each other know that we love and respect one another as God's fellow creatures. We each have to do our best to reassure the other race of that fact. Once that message gets through, we can go from there."

So Faust, owner of Maple Street Bookstore, and Thompson, who works in public relations for Harrah's Casino, devised a mission: "We seek ways, through person-to-person communication, to show that we are committed to treating fellow human beings of all colors with love and respect. Join us." Now, as many as 25 to 30 people attend some of the weekly meetings. ERACE holds social gatherings on Tuesday evenings, a children's play group to develop friendships amongst children of different races, along with the Saturday afternoon discussion groups. Discussion topics address issues such as racial stereotypes, the O.J. Simpson trial, Black-on-Black crime, and the "angry white man" syndrome.

Despite the political bent race-related issues tend to assume, the women are committed to adhering to a strictly non-political agenda, de-emphasizing the vast political valley between the admittedly "save-the-world liberal" (Thompson) and politically conservative (Faust).

Understanding Through Banter
"Even though a lot of times people say we are preaching to the choir‚" admits Faust, "its not really a roomful of people who are all at peace with themselves and thinking, I have no problems. There's a lot that gets said in there that I think clears up stuff even for people who are well-disposed."

Thompson recalls one particularly productive discussion, involving several Black and white women, a Black man and a white man. The women brought up concerns about Black men abandoning their children and children's mothers. Later, the white man expressed anger because he felt he had been overlooked on a contract because preference was given to a minority.

Thompson says, "Everybody just said what they thought and asked the questions they wanted to ask. And I complimented the two men because they held their ground (rather than becoming defensive)." ERACE discussion etiquette is outlined in a handout by the door for newcomers, and a facilitator referees each meeting.

Common Ground Despite Polar Backgrounds
When Thompson moved to New Orleans, she was hit "between the eyes" with racial injustice quite foreign to her Midwestern hometown. Thompson first noticed blatant polarization between races when she began teaching at Southern Illinois University, where her students were mostly from the Chicago area (one of the most segregated cities in the country, says Thompson).

Black and white students sat on opposite sides of the room and made little effort to communicate until Thompson began facilitating discussions on Alice Walker's book, The Color Purple. "There's all these issues [in the novel] and my students reacted very strongly. . . eventually one day it came down to "why do all you Black people do this?" or "why do all you white people do that?" The originally uncomfortable discussions dissolved into friendships; soon students began inviting relatives and friends to attend class and listen to the conversation.

 

  

 


 


Some may wonder why Faust, a seemingly well-to-do white Republican who does not consider herself a social or political activist, would take time from the bookstore she's operated since 1970 to devote 20 to 25 hours a week to ERACE. Adult literacy, and now ERACE has been her only volunteer work outside of working to defeat David Duke's campaign for governor.

Faust explains that the severe inequities she noticed as a child still exist today. "It's not like I don't see every day [on my way to work] all these beautiful big homes on Broadway with all these Vietnamese people working on the medians planting plants, and all these Black women standing at bus stops . . . and a lot of time you know, the Black women are limping," Faust says referring to the lack of adequate health care that plagues impoverished communities.

Thompson also recognizes poverty as an especially important issue, "If you're poor, you don't have a voice. You don't have anyone to speak for you. . . . I have been angry before about people blaming the poor for being poor."

Poverty often creeps into the group's dialogue. On Saturday, May 27, ERACE met in the Broad Street Public Library to talk about the Contract with America as analyzed by Fred Robinson, a Black editorial writer for the Atlanta Journal. The article, "GOP Contract Could be Good News for Blacks," provoked discussion about the connection between poverty and race.

Statistics provided by New Orleans' Department of Social Services (January 1994) are aligned with this notion. In the City of New Orleans, 92 percent of children served by Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), live in single-parent households. Thirty-one percent of the children are white, while 69 percent are "non-white" (mostly Blacks, Vietnamese, and Hispanics are lumped into this category).

Furthermore, according to Joel Luckow, program specialist for the Department of Social Services, Office of Family Support, 30 percent of Louisiana food stamp recipients are white; the remaining 70 percent are classified as non-white.

Toleration Evolves Into Acceptance
Tolerating other viewpoints is a beginning to accepting and understanding. "I've thought [of people in the discussion group], I can sit in this room with them, but I really don't like them. I really don't want to hang out. . . but I'm realizing that sometimes just tolerating something for a certain period of time grows into acceptance and some level of caring for that person," says Faust of her own experience.

Both Faust and Thompson hope to see more communicating, tolerating and understanding between the races take place throughout the city, whether that means via organizations like ERACE, or in other ways. Faust envisions ERACE groups in many different parts of the city, and looks for more businesses (especially Black-owned establishments) to carry the popular ERACE bumperstickers (call 866-1163 for more information).

Thompson looks for improved communication especially between high school kids, "You see on the bus all the Black kids going to public schools and the white kids going to private schools. If you're not together, you don't get to know each other."

Some question ERACE's overall effectiveness. Are all of their discussion topics always relevant to "solid" issues? Should ERACE be more action-oriented in order to effect change? Faust explains, "It makes sense [that we've received little negative reaction from the public] since we're really not a very threatening group, some people take that as a negative, that we're not doing enough so that we are threatening. But how can anybody hate us when we're saying we want people to treat people of all colors with love and respect?"

Diana Dunn, of the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, says that her organization takes a different approach to the problem of racism. The People's Institute identifies and treats racism as a socio-political construct which is systematic in nature.

It has been holding "Undoing Racism" workshops throughout the country for 15 years and has trained over 15,000 people since its inception. In response to ERACE's somewhat cautious, uncontroversial approach to breaking down barriers, Dunn says that the world needs a variety of people, efforts and approaches to problems such as racism. People who feel uncomfortable with one group may be able to align themselves with another.

Faust concludes, "I think there are a lot of people who . . . are feeling anger and maybe even great anger toward people of other colors; they still agree with our mission statement. The fear and anger and the resentment and the backlash against affirmative action—if that can be talked through or sorted out, that's such a good starting place. If you can say, 'I do believe [the mission statement], but I hate everything else out of your mouth'‚ that's still a good place to start."