A Note from Providence Associates Jane Fischer and Pearlette Springer, September 11, 2024

Providence Associate Jane Fischer grew up in a small town in Southern Indiana. It was (for all intents and purposes) all white and Catholic.

Words like ‘non-catholic’ and ‘protestant’ were part of our everyday language. So while issues for POC were not present, we had our own culture based on religion and ethnicity. We did not distinguish between Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, or any other faith.

People were either Catholic or they were not. And we were all white. I had little or no exposure to POC until I went away to college. Once I became aware of my whiteness, I sought out social encounters and conversations with non-Catholics and POC. But I treaded carefully: I didn’t want to reveal my ignorance of other people and cultures.

Jane believes that if you have grown up in a predominantly white (or sameness) culture, it is difficult to acknowledge white privilege because “you” didn’t discriminate. Well, how could you? There were no POC to discriminate against. We were not aware of discrimination with housing in our town because we were all white. As young people, we could not exercise the power that is associated with white privilege – we did not hire, we did not separately educate, we did not deny services. So in ‘same’ communities, citizens can be blind to the difficulties in the lives of POC.

Providence Associate Pearlette Springer, on the other hand, grew up in Northwest Indiana in a midsize urban city where POC communities were separated by invisible borders.

Hispanics and Latinos lived north and northwest, Blacks lived across the middle of the city — east to west, and Whites lived closer to the resources such as the hospitals, police station, shopping, and Cathedral. And they lived along Lake Michigan and on the south side away from the hustle and bustle.

Even though Pearlette lived in a “same” community with people like her, it was not odd to see White people in and out of the POC neighborhoods. After all, they owned most of the properties. They were the insurance agents, the doctors, the lawyers, the store owners.

Don’t misunderstand. There were plenty of Black and other POC businesses, doctors, lawyers, store owners, and other professionals. But not enough where the POC communities could be independent of Whites.

We did not have the privilege of not knowing about discrimination. We did not have the privilege of not experiencing discrimination. We did not have the privilege of walking away from discrimination. We did not have the privilege of traveling across the city without harassment. We could not go to the beach on the lakefront or enjoy the park on the south side of town.

Jane Fischer was educated in a Catholic grade school and didn’t get to know any ‘protestants’ until high school. I didn’t know their faith until I was in college. Then I was so eager to learn! When I picked up the book White Fragility this year, I didn’t begin to think of the following quote from Kenneth B. Clark in Robin Diangelo’s book White Fragility could apply to me: “Remarkably, a sense of white superiority and knowledge of racial power codes appear to develop as early as preschool” (p. 108). Surely not! I came from a great town with wonderful teachers! But I do have early recollections of first seeing a black person…and the admonishment I received from my grandmother for walking on the lawn of a non-Catholic church that was next to her house. Where did I learn to identify someone as non-Catholic? Here’s a common sentence from my small-town childhood: I played with Susan today…she’s not Catholic. I couldn’t say that I played with Susan today, she’s black – simply because there were no black people in my town – but that non-Catholic thing was a conversation stopper and/or starter.

Pearlette Springer is a born and bred Catholic and was educated in a Catholic grade school. She says:  I was always aware of my Blackness because the priests, religious sisters, and the bishop were White. I saw a Black religious sister for the first time when I was in the fourth grade. It was then that we began to sing Negro Spirituals at school and in church. I was in high school when I saw a Black priest for the first time. 

I lived in a mixed-religious community among Protestants, Muslims, and Black Israelites. Using terms such as non-Catholic was not a part of the vocabulary spoken in the community. Everybody was who they were – Baptist, Missionary Baptist, Southern Baptist, Church of God, Church of God in Christ, Muslim, Jewish, Israelite … No differences were made in the community. We played together, we ate together, we socialized together.

It was not until I went away to college that I found out that there were White people who had never seen a Black person, a Hispanic person, or an Asian person. I have never read the book White Fragility. I never understood the guilt, fragile emotions and self-esteem associated with racism and cultural awareness. I do know it exists, but I cannot grasp its meaning. After all, the truth is the truth. After all, I did not have the privilege of wearing blinders.

Call to Action

When asked what we as individuals can do, Eileen and Dr. Bercovitz replied as follows:

• Educate yourself and try to understand the issues. 
• Recognize the white privileges we have enjoyed all these years.
• Repeatedly take part in interfaith and intercultural meetings and dinners. Sitting across the table and enjoying a meal is a great way to get to know others.
• Involvement – it takes a lot of people doing a lot of little things…more than once.

Visit the St. Thomas Aquinas Race and Culture Committee online. Since 2017 this group has been addressing racial issues in their community. There are eight activities listed on their parish’s website linked above. If you wish to learn more, please contact Patrice Payne (patricejpayne@gmail.com) or Karla Hudecek (khudecek@staindy.org). Additional racial equity resources can be viewed here. It is a well-developed listing by categories. This is a great place to start your program research for you and your church community. Try starting with this video: Exploring White Nationalism with Rev. Joseph A. Brown, SJ, Ph.D.