by Craig Colby
This cartoon recently appeared in my Facebook newsfeed. Its two frames and two sentences are loaded with cultural pain. The person who posted it is white, and she shared it from another white person’s page. To the people who posted it, and to most of the people who commented, it represents their frustration with the way white people are being treated during discussions of race.
To me it represents a missed opportunity.
Since Charles Schultz didn’t write this, so the cartoon doesn’t reflect his views, we'll call the characters “Franklin” and “Charlie Brown” from here on in.
In the first frame, “Franklin” opens up to “Charlie Brown” about how he’s been affected by institutional racism. From what I've been told and I’ve read, it's not easy for people of colour to initiate this conversation. “Franklin” obviously trusts “Charlie Brown”. This is an opportunity for “Charlie Brown” to learn about “Franklin”'s experience. It's a chance for “Franklin” to be heard and gain an ally. The first frame represents the potential for growth and connection.
In the second frame “Charlie Brown” takes the attention away from “Franklin” and puts it on himself. “Charlie Brown” tries to relate to “Franklin” by making himself a victim too. Instead, it's a rejection of “Franklin”'s trust.
Power Imbalance
White people in Western society have not suffered from racism. We hold the power here. The richest people in the world are all white. Most politicians and CEOs are white. It’s been this way for centuries. This power structure alone is white supremacy in action. While we may face some discrimination, we can’t receive racism, only initiate it, which white people have for centuries both intentionally and through negligence.
Today, I suspect negligence is far more widespread than intent, but it does a lot of damage. “Charlie Brown” is perpetuating racism through his own disregard because he’s diminishing “Franklin”’s experience to focus on his own.
I recently read “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism" by Robin DiAngelo. It revealed some of my blind spots. By not paying attention to race for years, I haven’t been acknowledging people’s racial experiences. Even being openly against racism has led me away from examining how my actions may have affected others. I’ve looked at my own experiences to see how I’ve contributed to the problem, despite my best intentions. The self-reflection has been useful and needs to continue if I want to be part of the solution.
A Different Perspective
There is one area in which I disagree with the author. She talks about racism being perceived as binary. You either are racist or you aren’t. Therefore, if racism is bad, you’re either good or bad. DiAngelo says racism is actually a spectrum, and we’re all somewhere along it. Since our society is so steeped in racism, we can’t help but be influenced to some degree. She argues that we must accept our own racism to address it.
I think a different approach would be more productive. Asking white people to associate themselves with the horrifying images of people laughing at a lynching, the KKK, or white people carrying tiki torches chanting “you will not replace us” stops the conversation. Anyone who cannot stand those actions are likely to recoil at the suggestion that we have anything in common with them.
“Charlie Brown” doesn’t want other people to think he’s a racist. In fact, he doesn’t want to be a racist at all. He’s ready to be an ally. He can be recruited to become an anti-racist. Unfortunately, his defensiveness shuts down that opportunity.
Trying to convince “Charlie Brown” that he’s racist is a lost cause. He’s going to fight it. So is everyone who shared this cartoon and everyone who responded “yes!” to it.
I shared some of the main thoughts from this post with my friend who originally posted the cartoon. She said I was overthinking. I posted it on the site from which it was originally shared. I was scolded and my response was deleted. That is textbook white fragility. A conversation about racism couldn’t even be entertained.
So how do we overcome this?
We need to change the second frame.
Reframe the Response
In the second frame, “Charlie Brown” needs to say, "tell me about your experience" or "how can I help?". That would have given “Franklin” a chance to express himself and “Charlie Brown” a chance to learn. To me, it sounds more like what Charles Schultz's Charlie Brown would have done. That Charlie Brown knows what it was like to have the world against him, to fail, yet keep trying to make things better. No matter how many times a hard-hit ball scatters his laundry, Charlie Brown always gets back on the mound. Charles Schultz's Charlie Brown aspires to a more just world.
We can't eliminate racism until white people start leading with their ears. Once we listen and learn, then we can address the problems. We won’t get “Charlie Brown” to turn the attention away from himself and onto his friend by saying “guess what, you actually are racist.” I think we need to start with “you can help defeat racism.”
Here’s the catch. Convincing “Charlie Brown” to see things differently is not “Franklin”’s job. Other white people need to do that.
It’s On Us
White people need to have difficult conversations with white friends and relatives. But before we can convince “Charlie Brown” that his actions contribute to racism, we have to let “Charlie Brown” say his piece. Then we need to share our own shortcomings and desire to be better. Dialogue is more constructive than reprimands. Our focus needs to be on how we can make things better. To do our part in creating the better world we want, we must all own our failures, but focus on improvement.
To really help “Franklin” we need to be less like “Charlie Brown” and more like Charlie Brown.
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Craig Colby is a television executive producer, producer, director, writer and story editor. He runs a storytelling consulting and production service for businesses. He can be reached at craig@colbyvision.net.