The WYSO Race Project invites two everyday people from the Miami Valley to talk about their life experiences through the prism of skin color. These conversations can be difficult and controversial. But they also can build understanding and healing. For this season's premiere, we have a conversation with Charles Averett and Adriane Miller.
Transcript (edited lightly for length and clarity)
Charles Averett: I call myself a hip-hop conservative baby boomer. I'm retired, and when I retired, I moved from Brooklyn to Dayton, Ohio, mostly because the cost of living was a lot less. I'm the Black guy.
Adriane Miller: I am the white part of the duo today. I'm originally from Albany, New York. So we both have that New York connection. I'm currently the executive director for an organization called the National Conference for Community and Justice of Greater Dayton.
Charles: Adrian, do you think reparations are in order for black people?
Adriane: Yes because when we talk about redlining that is going on in communities, and Dayton, in particular, being one of those cities that is greatly redlined, some people live on the west side of Dayton who bought their house, have invested in their house, and it's worth the same amount that it was when they bought it 20 years ago.
Charles: In my mind, reparations is to make right for all those years where you were underpaid and overcharged, where the government did not do for Black folks what they've done for other groups. We have to find a way to make that right because America belongs to all of us.
Adriane: Driving over here, I saw a truck with these two giant American flags. And for me now, the American flag, I feel like, is racist. I don't want to say that I'm not proud to be American, but some things have gone on in our country that I am sure not proud of.
Charles: That's another thing that I battle with. It's like you don't get to claim the American flag. I have as much right to claim that and fly that and make it mean what it means as anybody else in this country. And so, I would push back.
Adriane: You're right. Taking back pride in something is something that I need to work on. It's hard when there has been so much hatred in our country in the past several years. It used to be I think people had private conversations, but now they're having public conversations that are racist because now it's okay. So I don't know which is better: Is it better if it was in the closet or is it better to know that this is really what people feel?
Charles: I actually would rather know, and I probably find it easier to get along with somebody who acknowledged their racism, because then we can have an honest conversation.
Adriane: Charles, have you ever experienced racial discrimination?
Charles: Yes. I ended up getting a job in an industry I had been in for 15 years. I had been published in the industry, an executive in the industry, and when I got this job people thought it was affirmative action. So someone who is high caliber and has lots of qualifications still gets reduced to affirmative action.
Adriane: We need diverse perspectives. If I hire people that only look like me, think like me, eat like me, and pray like me, we're all going to kind of do the same thing. So I think in some ways, affirmative action forced people to go outside of their comfort zone. So in some ways, I think that's important.
Charles: When I think of affirmative action, I think of it differently. White people had affirmative action for years, for decades. I was talking with a guy the other day, who said we got two positions open and we need a Black guy and an Asian. And my question was, does that mean all the other positions are for white men?
Adriane: For work, we had a group of people that were unhappy with us talking about diversity within the schools, telling us that we are pushing the gay agenda and that by talking to kids about racism and sexism and gender, we are causing problems by grouping them, that if we were just all colorblind, that there wouldn't be a problem. They think that they're protecting kids but I think that they're making things a lot more difficult.
Charles: Thank you, Adriane.
Adriane: Charles, it's been great getting to know you. And I think it is so important that people sit down and intentionally have these conversations. Thanks for this opportunity.
Charles: Thank you, WYSO.
The WYSO Race Project is produced at the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices. If you'd like to participate in an episode of The Race Project, send us an email at raceproject@wyso.org