OLLI’s Will Singleton on the Racial Divide in America: “Replace Racism with Humanism”
Will Singleton, an active member of OLLI’s Board of Directors, a teacher, and frequent panel moderator at OLLI University Days, as well as the former president of the Berkshire branch of the NAACP, is concerned about racial relations on the local, everyday level in the Berkshires.
In January, Singleton led a community forum at the Berkshire Athenaeum focused on discrimination by local businesses and the need for education to end its occurrence. Local young and men and women spoke about their experiences of discrimination while shopping, attending events or in restaurants. Speakers told of their being watched by storeowners as they shopped, being accused of theft and being ignored in restaurants as white people were served ahead of them.
Business leaders who attended this discussion agreed that education was needed to change this attitude toward blacks and other minorities; they proposed including training sessions for employees on the importance of treating all people with respect.
Singleton noted, however, “It should be pointed out these concerns about racist acts do not apply to all businesses in Berkshire County. I believe most business establishments in the county treat all of their customers fairly.”
In a recent interview, Singleton cited a Pew Research Center report of 2019 to substantiate his views on the continued existence of social, economic, political and racial divisions in America.
According to this report about 80 percent of black people think America has not gone far enough in acknowledging that black people should share the same rights white people. In addition a majority of Americans of all types – whites, blacks, Hispanics - think race relations are not good and many think they’re getting worse. The issue involves not only legal situations where discrimination laws are broken or where minorities are unfairly treated by the criminal justice system, but also on the personal level where people are insensitive to the ways their comments and attitudes affect and continue the racial divide in our country.
Singleton also said he thinks that the long history of racism, stereotyping and discrimination in our country makes the process of changing these practices very challenging. He said he believes that we should start on the personal level by replacing racism with humanism: “I think we should all learn as much as possible about the different groups that make up the great variety of people we have living in America. However, treating each other like we want to be treated does not require extensive reading, study, research or workshops. It is really all about recognizing the humanity in every human being with whom we make contact."
OLLI continues to rely on Singleton as a leader and supports his efforts to make broad appeals for equality in our everyday interactions and in our community.
by Joanna Fribush
