Abstract:

This post from 2015 about the Charleston Church racist murders demonstrates how treating life like a science experiment can teach us lessons about some of the most unconscious bigoted behaviors, our own . . . my own.  This current moment in our history is tumultuous, and necessary for all of us.  We must learn and grow . . . finally!

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(audio version available at the end of this post)

Let me share a recent interaction I had to illustrate the difference between a thought, a belief, and an action predicated on a belief.

It was about four weeks ago and I was walking through a park. Two black teenage boys approached me.  They appeared lost to me.  One asked me where a certain Capitol Hill school was located.  I told him I did not know but that I could look it up on my iPhone.  As I pulled the phone out of my front pocket I thought, “What if this is a scheme to steal my phone?”  In any event I gave them the directions and off they went.  I could have stopped there with my seemingly innocuous thought.  No growth, no learning.

Instead this was my next thought . . .

If they had been white would I have ever suspected a scheme?

Probably not.

Thoughts, Beliefs, and Actions

So why is a business and life coach writing about his relationship with race?

Because our thoughts have enormous power if we afford them that power . . . all thoughts. And yet thoughts have no hold over us if we disregard or challenge them in our effort to evolve and grow.  As a fascinating book by a duo of psychologists argues, you and your thoughts are not one in the same.

But when we choose to incorporate a series of seemingly connected thoughts about a particular topic/subject with the “lessons” shared with us by family, friends, mentors, books (the internet), etc., on that topic/subject, then poof . . .  we usually end up with a belief.  And beliefs often spur action.

Undoubtedly our beliefs and actions go a long way in defining who we are.

Beliefs can be as helpful as “I treat all people equally and interact with them from a posture of curiosity and non-judgment,” as sensible as “I better seek shelter when there is lightening nearby,” or as harmful as “the darker a person’s skin the more suspicious I must be because they are out to get me (or my family, or my country, or my ‘way of life’).”

And in fact the vast majority of time our beliefs are somewhat coherent, congruent, scientific, and virtuous because they are based upon the empirical evidence of our everyday lives.  For example, most people are helpful is a belief I subscribe to since I have found in my life, after living in five countries and nine cities, that when I need help, people are usually there for me if I ask for it.

What am I arguing here?

We can have beliefs that range from the virtuous to the vicious.

The good news is we can create a pious bias toward the virtuous if we are open to self-examination to discern why our thoughts emerge the way in which they do, no matter how uncomfortable our findings are to us or to our community.

My suspicious thoughts related to the two teenagers described above I find illogical and anti-empirical.  No one of any race has ever stolen my phone, and even if they had they would not represent a random sample of their race, age cohort, or gender.

Accordingly my mistrustful thought in the park does not contribute to my beliefs about race nor does it control my actions, and therefore it did not prevent me from acting virtuously this time, thank goodness.

Virtue requires consistent vigilance however and I have come up short many times in my life . . . many.

When I was a teenager, for instance, my stepmother shared a story of how her grandfather was killed protecting his convenience store from black burglars. “That is why you should never trust a ni**er,” she exclaimed. And if those robbers had been white, should I never trust a white man?

God how I wish I responded that way. I did not, choosing cowardice instead.

The Charleston Church Murders

Can this thought-belief-action dynamic help us process (not justify) the horrific actions of Dylann Roof, the murderer of nine innocent churchgoers in Charleston? Now, he may in fact be “nuts”.  But I caution using words like “nuts” or “crazy” because it may get him and his influencers off the hook.

Roof holds a vicious belief about race, one that requires a series of foundational thoughts. For instance . . .

1) Black people are different (who and/or what influenced him to have that thought?).

2) That difference is dangerous to me and my community (who and/or what influenced him to have that thought?).

3) So I must act to stop them (who and/or what influenced him to have that thought?).

4) The only way I can do that is to kill them (who and/or what influenced him to have that thought?).

In the weeks and months ahead the “who and/or what” is worth exploring even if we uncover troubling truths.

We all have racial thoughts (making assumptions entirely based on the color of someone’s skin).  The good news is the overwhelming majority is not racist, i.e. we never use them to formulate vicious beliefs that may contribute to violent actions or the condoning of such actions.

Most of us probably disregard those thoughts.

Some of us even take the next helpful step, one that requires time carefully spent assessing where these thoughts come from and why they appear in the first place: perhaps our families, friends, the internet, our churches, our clubs, etc., are explanatory elements that we can choose to consider and critique.

This effort to bias in favor of virtue is such an inclusive human enterprise.

And racism is the opposite of inclusive . . .  it’s ignorant and unscientific (the two go hand-in-hand). [2020 note: as we have sadly seen, practically hourly, in our presidential discourse since January 20th 2017 from noon onwards . . . oh how I wish I attended Hogwarts so I could learn a spell to mute a vile man.]

It is Black and White

Racism is a heinous vice, forged in the thoughts, beliefs, and actions that come from many places and people.  And do not think for a moment that any one of us is incapable of thoughts that have the potential to lead to vicious beliefs.  To paraphrase a famous scholar, evil is banal.

Roof’s actions must remind us that we are all capable of damaging vice to varying degrees if  1) we refuse to take the time to question and challenge the vicious thoughts that enter our minds each and every day and when 2) we refuse to take the time and energy to challenge the vicious beliefs and actions of other people.

I hope, in truth, we have evolved as a species more than it seems lately in the USA (a species ironically that originated in Africa).  I mean, come on, I suspect our black ancestors are not particularly proud of us right now.