DBF: Level Playing Field

(This is part of a series discussing Michael Emerson and Christian Smith’s excellent book, Divided By Faith)

In a previous post, the racialization of contemporary American society was demonstrated with a number of statistics. Most telling was that the average white household has 22 times the wealth of the average black household and that in Jacksonville, while the white intant mortality rate is average for the US, the black infant mortality rate is on par with that of Libya. The point: Race impacts outcomes in America.

It was also discussed that white evangelicals employ a particular cultural toolkit and that as it pertains to race, this toolkit’s emphasis on individualism, relationalism, and anti-structuralism becomes very important. This individualism value is rooted in the view that God has made individual persons and that are responsible for their own choices. Also, as an outworking of this staunch accountable free-will individualism, the authors also found most white evangelicals particularly committed to the idea of equal opportunity in contemporary America.

As a part of their research, the authors asked their interviewees to complete the following equation with regard to race in America:

Equally Created Persons + Equal Opportunity + X = Unequal Outcomes

Equal creation is enshrined in Scripture and cannot be challenged by any reasonable Bible believing Christian and equal opportunity is a staunch American value that is reinforced even more so for evangelicals by their anti-structuralism and individualism. However, almost everyone interviewed by the authors did agree that outcomes are drastically different for Americans of differing races.

So, the question becomes: Why is that? What factor (X) causes this inequality? If we are equally created and are given equal opportunity, why would some groups have different outcomes than others?

The authors engage is a fascinating discussion of the different answers plugged in for X (education, culture, motivation, history, discrimination, etc.), but I’m going to skip all that (I have to give you some reason to buy the book, right?) and go to what I think is the most important point.

The equation is flawed.

Specifically in that it carries with it an assumption that is not provable nor necessarily widely held. A view that is especially not widely held within the black community. The assumption of “equal opportunity”.

While the “bootstraps” story is a part of the American meta-narrative and "land of opportunity" is a fine concept, I would challenge you to ask, if it is actually true in reality for all Americans? Are we truly operating under equal opportunity?

The assumption of a level-playing field is one generally only held by those who were given a leg up on the playing field from the get go. 

For example, looking at my own background I can easily see how I would be able to buy into “equal opportunity.” Growing up, as a general rule, when I did well at something, I was rewarded whether tangibly or intangibly. Further, the same was true for most of the other families in my neighborhood. It was an assumption I could hold because all of my experience showed it to generally be true.

So, what other conclusions could I come to other than: “people generally have equal opportunity” and "get what they deserve."

But, what if I changed the situation? 

What if, as I grew up, I consistently saw the people around me who tried hard get pushed back down. Or get fired because they missed the bus one time or try to go to college at good ole Kaplan University, but end up with a handful of lies, student loan debt, and no diploma (a blog series on for-profit colleges is forthcoming and I will not be mincing words).

What if my experience showed that “equal opportunity” is a myth? That the playing field is not level? Well, then obviously, I would draw different conclusions about the equation offered above. 

In fact, I would probably laugh at it.

This was the finding of Emerson and Smith, non-white respondents did anything but explain the playing field as level. Even more interesting though, they also found that non-isolated white evangelicals (those who had multiple close relationships with those of other races) firmly rejected the “equal opportunity” premise.

Respondents base their explanations from their own life experience and then assume that everyone else is experiencing the same conditions they are. For white evangelicals, this presumption is fueled even more so by the individualism value that will subvert any discussion of disadvantage or inequality. If opportunity is actually unequal, then this is not just inconvenient, but feels like a threat to their accountable free-will individualism worldview. It makes a heavy emphasis on accountability feel unfair.

No one likes to have their worldview challenged. It's uncomfortable. It requires us to re-assess everything (and quite possibly change our actions as well) and that takes hard work. But, if the premises lead to a faulty conclusion, perhaps its time to re-examine the premises (Guess which of my favorite bald New York City pastors I heard use that phrase?)

There are literally thousands of explanations for why there are unequal outcomes by race in America and I don't intend to give my answer(s) here. 

I simply want to present this: If white evangelicals are on an entirely different page (or different book) than their brothers and sisters of a different ethnicity about the equation above, a page so distant they are not even willing to consider that their equation may be wrong, then we will see no growth real towards unity or reconciliation. 

However, if we (I'm talking to white folks here) laid aside our cultural assumptions and simply listened (without comment or conclusion), there would be a great opportunity before us to at least start flipping those pages in the right direction.