“Racial Baptism” – Speaker presented concept to  Lacey Commission on Equity

During its regular commission meeting on Mon.., Dec. 27, the Lacey Commission on Equity focused on the concept of racial awareness, referring to the experiences as “racial baptism.”

A representative from The Athena Group, Ronald “Tevin” Medley, who has a background in African-American studies, opened up the conversation on race. He referred to racial baptism as “The moment in which we become aware that something about our color may mean something different to the people around us.”

Medley also shared his personal experience, “it was around second grade when I was playing on the playground and there was a child that told me that you know, black kids aren’t allowed to play on this area.” He continued, “I thought I was breaking the rule, I guess playground attendant folks overheard and pulled me into the office. I thought I was in trouble I was crying all the time I was like I didn’t know I will not go back over there. And they’re like no, what actually happened is wrong. And you can play wherever you want to play.”

While Medley was exposed to racism at an early age, other commission members recognized that there was a generational difference between each experience. Commission member Thelma Jackson shared that growing up in the Deep South, she did not have much relationship with white people until she was 21.

“I was in the water all the time so to speak,” Jackson said. She claimed that she grew up “in the deep south in an all-black setting, all-Black environment, having zero contact with white people.” She added, “I call it the good old days, I knew love, I knew security, I knew who I was, I knew what my values were, where I came from. I didn’t have all those conflicting things growing up in an integrated society [that we now] are struggling with.”

While she learned about racial awareness much later in life, Jackson shared that she had been living in a reality of segregation all along. “Jim Crow was a reality for me. It’s not something I read about sitting in the back of the bus: Colored, white only, Black only,” she said.

Commission member Clifton Brown also shared the transition of moving from an all-Black school to an integrated one. “In 1969, when the schools were integrated, you know, I’ve been attending an all-black elementary school and junior high school…and then they brought white kids to our school. That was my first experience going to school, going to class, you know building friendships and learning about white kids,” Brown said. He also recounted the lack of diversity at that time, “there were no other races, it was black and white, no Hispanic, no Asian.”

Another commission member, Makieda Hart, who was born in Georgia but grew up in Alaska, also shared her anxiety about going back to the Deep South. She shared that she had grown more comfortable staying in an area with more racial diversity.

Commission member Annie Clay, who is white, shared that she first learned about racism from the TV screen. “What I remember vividly is us watching television probably when I was maybe eight or nine…of the marches in the south and water cannons, and kids my age and adults being attacked by dogs…it profoundly touched me [that] people can be treated that way. It made no sense to me; it was horrifying.

In a video presentation from Vox, Medley shared that the concept of race is man-made and was further reinforced a country’s own legal system. As an example,  not until the 2000 Census, did the U.S. government recognize that a person could be of one or more races.