I know a young man who is from Sudan, and though we share no common blood, I have had the privilege to call him son. His skin is as dark and beautiful as the soil of Minnesota’s farmland and his mother has (thankfully) taught him to take pride in that, as well as in his Sudanese heritage.

One time when he was spending the weekend with us back when he was in about 4th or 5th grade, we went together to a BBQ at my friend’s house. My friend just happened to have a feisty little dog at her house. And her dog just happened to be a black lab mix. Solid black, as dark and beautiful as the Minnesota soil.

As the boys settled into playing together and the adults separated out to talk, that dog came bouncing into the room at full speed, ready to be a part of all the festivities about to happen. And as the dog did, I was shocked by the reaction of my Sudanese son. He hemmed. He hawed. He moved around to try and avoid the dog at all costs. He was trying to make sure the dog did not cross his path. And as he did, he launched into quite a monologue:

“Keep that dog away from me. My mom says that black dogs carry evil spirits. I can’t be near that thing. It will bring me bad luck. It will bring evil upon me.” Etc etc etc.

He went on and on.

I was shocked, to say the least, and more than a little horrified. Really, I was beside myself. I had to pull him away from the group and talk to him. Because he was embarrassing me in front of my friends, but also more importantly, because he was showing his own bias.

Luckily, this chosen son of mine is pretty near a genius (definitely future MENSA member here). It didn’t take much explaining on my part for him to see. All I had to say was that if our superstitions and myths demonize darkness in animals, how easy will it be for someone to take that leap and believe it about people as well? That it is the same unconscious bias telling us “not to let the black cat cross our path” that is making us believe the black man on the sidewalk is going to bring us harm as well. And that in perpetuating the superstition that black dogs are evil, that he might actually be opening a door for people to believe evil about him as well. The look on his face when he made the connection is something I will never forget; it touched some of the deepest sorrow I will ever know.

I believe deeply what I said to that wise child is true: that our unconscious bias runs deep into our mythical stories, superstitions, and even our sacred texts. It is written into the dictionary’s very definition of black. ( https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/black ) And if we are to eradicate our biases from within our hearts, we need to reexamine everything we’ve learned, from our Bible stories to our irrational fears to our dictionaries themselves. I have started to do this for myself, in writing things like THIS, and I am realizing that it is going to take a lifetime of undoing even in my own heart.

Black dogs do not carry evil spirits. Black cats do not bring us bad luck. That is just our bias showing. And when it shows, let us reexamine everything.

Let us reframe blackness until we can embrace and celebrate it the way we do the beauty and richness of Minnesota’s soil.