Sister Kathleen Burke now freely admits she had been like a great many other white Americans. She had come to believe that racial bias against blacks was mostly a thing of the past, a relic of the bad old days. Surely as legislation has been put in place to outlaw discrimination, as blacks have achieved greater economic and social status, as society has grown more tolerant, blacks no longer had to worry about the kind of overt racism they experienced before the civil rights movement.
Burke believed that, until she took an African-American roommate–a fellow nun–into her apartment on Chicago’s Northwest Side in 1994. Within days after Phillis Sheppard moved in, their white landlords demanded the two tenants move out, even though Burke had peacefully shared the apartment with a white roommate for four years.
The landlords, Clarence and Eileen Jacobs, said they needed to make room for a relative. Burke and Sheppard knew better. Their federal housing discrimination suit against the Jacobses has been settled for an as-yet-undisclosed amount, housing officials announced Thursday.
“Like so many in white America, I had felt that the worst of racial discrimination was far behind and found mostly in history books,” Burke said at a news conference. “I must say to you now that I was wrong.”
Her revelation should be enlightening to other skeptics at a time when it has become fashionable to tilt the discussion surrounding race relations toward issues of reverse discrimination and bias against whites. Though many are eager to declare the playing field level for all, racial transgressions committed against minorities remain by far the more common problem in this country.
Sister Kathleen’s insight comes not from some poor-mouthing, self-proclaimed victim, or a guilt-ridden do-gooder. It grows out of the irrefutable experience of having walked in the shoes of another.
It is a sobering reminder that racism encountered by minorities cannot be dismissed as passe. It deserves relentless attention–still today.
