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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Our View: BLM caught in the middle over forest policy ... Are smoky skies the new normal for the Rogue Valley? ... Since You Asked: 1983 building collapse affected three businesses ... Our View: BLM caught in the middle over forest policy ... Are smoky skies the new normal for the Rogue Valley? ... Since You Asked: 1983 building collapse affected three businesses ... Michelle Teheux: Lack of diversity leads to myopia Comment By Michelle Teheux More Content Now MailTribune.com By Michelle Teheux More Content Now Posted Dec. 3, 2014 at 9:40 AM By Michelle Teheux More Content Now Posted Dec. 3, 2014 at 9:40 AM » Social News I’ve lived most of my life in very white places. My hometown, population 200 at the time, was totally white. One black family lived in our small school district in a neighboring town. I got to know a handful of black people in college, but not many, frankly. When my children were small, we lived in a very mixed neighborhood in the central part of Peoria. Some whites, some blacks. Some renters, some homeowners. Some very young people, some elderly people. All of us huddled together somewhere around the lower middle class. We were friendly with a black family that lived two doors down, and our kids played together, but we were never close. But then we moved to Tazewell County, and finally to Pekin. So those years in central Peoria were the only time I’ve lived in anything close to an integrated neighborhood. I find that most of us tend to segregate ourselves. Which is too bad, frankly, because it’s clear that the majority of us do not understand each other. This is why the views of what happened in Ferguson are so starkly different. The two views are like night and day. Like black and white. I can see both sides of it. The grand jury proceedings were clearly conducted in an unusual manner. Darren Wilson should have been indicted, because an actual trial would have helped bring the facts to light. The whole truth probably couldn’t come to light even with a good trial, however, because we don’t have anything but Wilson’s word to know exactly what was transpiring up close and personal between the two men. Hopefully, the calls to introduce more cameras into police work will be heeded. I hope everyone is listening to the stories from black people reporting all the ways in which their world is different from the white world. Stories of being hassled routinely for minor offenses, or for no offense at all. How would the average white person’s world view change if we were the ones being commonly subjected to that sort of thing? In my cozy white world, those of us who aren’t involved in any illegal activity can take it for granted that we aren’t going to be subjected to hassles from the police. It’s all too easy for us to think it’s the same for everyone — that if you keep your nose clean, you’ll be fine. But what if you and all your relatives routinely recounted to each other stories of all the ways you were hassled in spite of being a good citizen just minding your own business? What if you were a black woman walking down the street with a friend, and the police stopped you and asked if you were “working” tonight, i.e. working as a prostitute? Think you might feel insulted? What if you were a young black man driving to work, following all traffic laws, when police pulled you over and searched your vehicle after claiming you had done something innocuous and hard to verify, like rolling through a stop sign? What if you were late for work and lost your job? Think you might be a bit perturbed? What if you had such things happen frequently, and all your black friends and relatives recounted similar occurrences often, but your white friends seldom did? Think you just might conclude racism is alive and well? Think you might become just a bit angry? Can you imagine that if you were subjected to such crap your whole life, that your outrage might conceivably push you to take protesting too far and cross into actual rioting? Michael Brown wasn’t an angel. Arguably he was an inappropriate person upon which to build a movement complaining about unfair treatment by police — there are probably thousands of young black men who are better citizens who have been subjected to police injustice for no reason other than racism. Fortunately for most of them, their injustices have stopped short of being shot to death. The truth is, I really don’t know if the shooting was justified. I doubt it — but I don’t know. I do know Brown’s poor behavior helped put himself at risk. However, I also know that the movement to improve race relations needs to happen. Perhaps Brown isn’t the best example of black people being targeted unfairly — but let’s not let that possibility prevent us from learning something. Pekin Daily Times editor Michelle Teheux may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @michelleteheux. By Michelle Teheux More Content Now MailTribune.com By Michelle Teheux More Content Now Posted Dec. 3, 2014 at 9:40 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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