To the editor:

I read the July 22 and July 29 issues of the BC Democrat with more than usual interest.

I write to offer three kudos and a couple of suggestions.

First, the praise and gratulant. The two-part article “Black in Indiana” by Rachel Perry and Joe Schroeder was both informative and accessible. Such pieces as this offer a real service to the community. I also admired Bill Swigert’s wry reflections about an occasion in his childhood when the awareness about the realities of racism in daily life began to dawn on him during a 1950s family trip to Florida. I read the collection of stories about COVID sufferers with the poignant awareness that I, too, could succumb to this plague.

And now, here are my suggestions: We can build on what Rachel Perry and Joe Schroeder have done. I encourage my Brown County neighbors to dare to make the legacies of racism more visible. We are, at most, three generations removed from the period when 1 in 4 white males in central Indiana were members of the KKK.

If I am honest, I have to say that I am not very optimistic about “moving toward acceptance and sensitivity” in matters of race as long as we prefer to ignore the chains of practice that connect us to the 20th Century legacy of racism. But I am also not convinced that we are helpless to do something about these matters. We can tell the stories and remind one another that racism is a devilish plague that is deeply embedded in American history. We owe it ourselves to be honest about our complicity with white supremacy, and we owe it to the next generation to acknowledge. Indeed, we have stories to tell.

Perhaps a Nashville neighbor or two could curate some reflections along the lines of Bill Swigert’s letter to the editor. Or from time to time, we might collect narratives about lives lived (past and present) in a world still divided by the color line. Unlike the COVID stories, not all of these narratives can be veiled by anonymity (as Suzannah Couch did with good effect). Some of us will need to risk embarrassment by describing how we failed in living by the courage of our convictions, as well as telling the stories of the difference our neighbors made when they stood up against racism practices.

As I write this letter, I am conscious of the fact that I have lived in Nashville for seven years, but this is the first time I have written a “letter to the editor” even though I am a fairly devout reader of The Democrat.

It is all too easy to sit back and read the “fine print” of the police blotter and that can be more or less amusing. But as the late Hank Swain taught his BC neighbors, we can also tell truthful stories about ourselves. That is the kind of (non-racist) legacy that can make a difference for the future.

Michael G. Cartwright (aka “Pastor Mary’s husband”), Brown County

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