TRH on Racism No. 2: CST and Engaging the Problem

by Dan Masterton

A rudimentary definition of white privilege is “inherent advantages possessed by a white person on the basis of their race in a society characterized by racial inequality and injustice,” and I am the basic embodiment of this, pun intended. Though the son of an immigrant, I, as a white kid and now a white man, have enjoyed socioeconomic stability, unmitigated opportunity, and social security my whole life. As such, I am increasingly intimately aware of my privileged upbringing and adulthood.

I will not damage the dialogue by commenting from my point of privilege. I also make no claim that the Catholic Church or Catholicism overall are not at all complicit in racism. Instead, I want to write as a theologian and pastoral minister and share the prophetic insight of Catholic Social Teaching and how it plays its small part in the way forward. I think that theology is often simply a vocabulary to describe and articulate the good things people are already thinking, feeling, and doing, to lend voice to the desire to do good that exists in parts of our world. In this case, the two principles of CST most central to my spirituality resonate with momentum that is chipping away at the racism we perpetuate either by our blindness and deference, or worse, by our active complicity.

Solidarity

This principle challenges us actively and intentionally to put aside ideas of “us” and “them,” to disavow ideas of the “other.” Instead, Solidarity calls us to love and be mindful of every person as our brother and sister. Imagine that the homeless person begging on the off ramp were your sibling -- would you, could you ignore them them? Solidarity challenges us to extend the same love we feel for our family and closest friends to all people, such that the pains and triumphs of any person are intimately felt as if they are our own.

I will admit that I am not much of an activist. I have never attended a demonstration or participated in a protest. I don’t canvass door to door or work phone banks. I am fairly skeptical of the efficacy of a lot of these things, which don’t feel all that impactful sometimes. However, I have realized that sometimes it’s not about the direct change that may or may not directly and immediately follow from these things, but rather the opportunity for accompaniment and acknowledgement that cooperative demonstrations can manifest.

Movements to restore or establish the standing of marginalized groups are important to realize the full dignity and value of lives that may be endangered for various reasons. I’m thinking of groups like unborn children, the LGBTQ community, and Black Lives Matter. And the tricky thing here for a born, heterosexual, white man, is that I do not and cannot belong to any of these groups. A small thing I, and others, can do -- something I first saw modeled by rainbow ribbons and pins seen across my college campus -- is be an ally, someone who openly and overtly expresses my relationship, support, and companionship for a group who is being forgotten or overlooked. It can even be a small way of acknowledging one’s privilege and using it to stand with a group that lacks that same social standing.

Here in Chicago, that ideal of Solidarity was beautifully expressed toward victims of homicide, largely fell by gun violence, through a powerful demonstration at the end of 2016, a year which saw over 700 murders in the city. While gun violence and homicide disproportionately affect neighborhoods that are primarily people of color, people from all over Chicagoland turned out to honor the memory of these victims. Carrying four-foot crosses -- each marked with a heart, a name, and an age -- family members of victims, alongside allies of victims who otherwise would have been unrepresented, marched in silence down Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, a stretch usually dominated by tourists, window shoppers, and happy consumption. Their silent march was broken only by the amplified reading of 29 pages worth of those names that adorned the crosses.



While not everyone who held up a cross was directly affected by the loss of a murder victim, those who came as allies walked in solidarity. Acknowledging Christ’s call to see all people as our brothers and sisters, attendees not personally touched by gun violence nonetheless stepped in to march alongside the victims’ families. While allies must be careful not to assume familiarity with the wounds these families have felt, their respectful, earnest desire to walk alongside those families can evaporate some of the distance mainstream society may otherwise attempt to place between apparently violent, undesirable communities and itself.

A solidarity march won’t pass reasonable gun control laws or push back against undue lobbying influence from pro-gun camps; it will manifest the bonds that tie humanity to each other across neighborhood and racial boundaries and show small ways that people can and should accompany one another. That’s not enough, but it’s a small piece worth doing.

Preferential Option for the Poor and Marginalized

This CST challenges us not to block out those in need from our mindsets. Rather, we need to intentionally and consciously consider people on the margins in every decision we make individually, communally, and socially. This means everything from budgeting and spending habits to voting and law-making. Anytime we make a decision that intentionally excludes its ramifications for people on the margins -- or even fails to specifically consider these people -- we are falling short. The Preferential Option invites an intentional mindset that adds a needed layer to conventional decision-making.

While some people criticize things like affirmative action as “reverse racism” or something, the principle is sound. Consider parents with multiple children, one of whom is sick. Should the parents continue caring for all children the same way, status quo? Or should the parents dedicate extra care and attention to the sick child -- adding things like a doctor visit, medication administration, and extra rest time? Surely, parents shouldn’t just treat all kids equally and assume the sick kid will naturally catch up. That specific care to help the sick child get better is what more effectively and more compassionately helps your kids feel equally well again. And no one would accuse a parent of loving that child more because they provided extra attention while the kid was sick. The idea is that we specifically consider and respond to the needs of those on the margins such that our social activity will draw everyone back together into one society.

When it comes to the Church, I think the most concrete and effective way that the Church is accompanying those on the margins is the Cristo Rey model of secondary education. The approach is more akin to development than charity, an example of working for justice by creating access to private education in a new way. While Catholic schools certainly must all fundraise, and many rightly provide robust financial aid to families who could not otherwise afford it, Cristo Rey takes a slightly different approach to bridge that financial divide, and does so in a more sustainable fashion. The Cristo Rey model creates access to exceptional education for those who could not otherwise afford it, primarily serving people of color.

The Cristo Rey Network depends on its schools establishing corporate partnerships to animate a Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP). Companies create and supervise entry-level positions for students from their partner school; they can also underwrite positions at non-profits. The school groups students into work days and places them with CWSP jobs, where they work five days a month such that they and a few other students together do the work of one employee; their academic schedules are built around their work days in a way that the four (sometimes three) days of school they attend each week are comparable to the instructional time for a traditional high school student. The student then earns an income from their CWSP placement that pays for most of their tuition. Families, who have applied, interviewed, and qualified for admission based on financial need, then make a more manageable contribution to tuition (usually, a few thousand dollars), and schools fundraise to complete the cost to educate (usually, a few more thousand dollars per student).

Financially, students gain access to a private, Catholic education, primarily on the backs of their own work at their placement; likewise, families still have skin in the game and must contribute. Practically speaking, students gain unique experience at their placement. They must maintain appropriate dress, professional behavior, and become accountable workers. Students become substantially work experienced, not just at your typical teenager job behind a fast food counter or stocking shelves at a store but in a corporate setting, where their employers report strong satisfaction with the performance of their student-workers. In addition to the practical experience they gain, they are exposed to a world and lifestyle beyond minimum-wage, blue-collar jobs and ideally realize they have a choice in their future and career via their experience and education. Rather than blue-collar labor by necessity, their experience and education can hopefully liberate them from that cycle to choose a path that fits their gifts and abilities, be it skilled labor or a more white-collar path.

This model of education goes beyond charity. It is a unique combination that puts students on the spot to commit to a program and dedicate themselves to maturity and responsibility, requires them to invest in themselves, and provides the means to choose an outcome that can bring both fulfillment and stability. Opting for these students on the margins by executing and sustaining this model ideally means that these students’ children will not need the CR model for their education, that coming generations can proceed from their parents’ liberation and thus thrive.

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This is just the tip of the iceberg in applying Catholic Social Teaching to the racial issues in our country and our world. And these are just two small ways I’ve witnessed CST lived out in substantial ways. There is ever deeper resonance between the prophetic teachings our Tradition imputes and the perennial problems society faces. We’ll always have more to understand and more justice to enact. Though often brought up with respect to ecumenical and interfaith ministry and dialogue, I hear the prayer of Jesus echoing through our racial friction and feel the tension in considering Jesus’ yet unrealized hope: “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” (John 17:20-21)