Brave Talks takes aim at racism

Small group setting allows more honest look at racial divide

By LOUISE WREGE

HP Staff Writer

Many white people “woke up” to racial injustice in America after watching the video of George Floyd’s death in May while a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.

The incident sparked weeks of marches and protests against racism and police brutality, which multiple studies have found happens to Black people more than white people.

But after the marches die down, now what?

Liz Garey of St. Joseph, who is white, said that’s where Brave Talks comes in.

Brave Talks is where Black and white people get together in small groups to talk about racism in a private setting. Garey maintains that “nice” white people can’t be silent anymore. She said they need to not only educate themselves about racism and its history, but to speak out against it.

Brave Talks grew out of the Community Grand Rounds speaker series, which focuses on health equity and is sponsored by Spectrum Health Lakeland and the Todman Family Foundation.

Garey was one of the first hosts of a group in 2018. She said one of the first steps is for white people to truly listen to Black people and to not brush their concerns and experiences aside.

“I can’t tolerate that I know some people walk into my community and don’t feel welcome because of the color of their skin,” she said.

Brave Talks has evolved into a six-part series, with many groups deciding to continue meeting once they’ve completed the series. For more information, contact CGR@lakelandhealth. org.

Not surprised

Barbara Sistrunk of Benton Township, who is Black and a member of Garey’s Brave Talks group, said that while Floyd’s death woke many white people up, the Black community wasn’t shocked.

She said that Black people have been living with racism in America for centuries, and it gets pretty tiring.

“Over the years, it’s become so much a part of my normal existence, you just learn to pick your battles,” she said. “I had learned to

See RACISM, page A2

Barbara Sistrunk, left, and Liz Garey are active with Brave Talks, which tries to bring people together in small groups to work through issues revolving around race.

Photos by Don Campbell / HP staff

Liz Garey, left, and Barbara Sistrunk talk about the formation and expansion of Brave Talks.

Liz Garey displays a Brave Talks T-shirt.

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say nothing because I felt that whatever I would say would fall on deaf ears and that my voice didn’t matter.”

Her sons and husband have numerous stories of being stopped by police while driving, she said. And yet the sons of her white friends rarely get stopped.

Sistrunk said Brave Talks has helped her to process what is happening.

“It helped to provide a really good foundation for the things that have happened over the last 60 days or so since the whole George Floyd incident, and it was nice to be around people who had begun the work of change within themselves and within their circles of influence around racial inequity,” she said.

Through her Brave Talks group, Sistrunk said she has learned that many white people don’t see the white privilege that they have benefited from, although it is painfully obvious to Black people.

“I think it comes from people being able to live in bubbles and not have to have experiences outside of things that are unpleasant,” she said. “I can definitely see how easy that is because it’s just the way we exist. We’re focused on what’s going on in our realm and if it doesn’t affect us personally, it doesn’t count as much.”

Sistrunk said it’s nice to be with a group of people who want to be more “woke.”

“The one thing that I’ve enjoyed about being a part of Brave Talks is being with people who are genuinely interested in my perspective and I feel genuinely care about my experiences and are sorry for what I’ve had to experience as a Black woman in America, in our Twin Cities,” she said.

White privilege

Marty Goldrick of St. Joseph said Brave Talks helped him to understand his white privilege.

“It was the beginning of quite a journey for me,” he said. “I’m a 74-year-old white male who immediately had a reaction to the term ‘white privilege.’” His initial reaction was he didn’t have any advantages in life due to the color of his skin.

“I come from a very low income family and I paid my way through school and I’ve always taken care of myself and paid off my college loans,” he said.

While he was in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War, he said all of the soldiers had to rely on each other to survive, Black and white.

“I considered myself nonracist,” he said. “But Brave Talks has helped me to uncover a lot of implicit bias.”

Goldrick said he came to realize that no matter how hard he worked, he would have had to work much harder if he was Black to achieve at the same level.

And during the meetings, he said he became aware of how unbelievably stressful it is to be living in America as a Black person.

One of the first books he read with the group that helped “wake” him up was “The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills,” by David Ansell.

He said the book gets emotional at times but for the most part, it paints a picture of systemic racism in America with numbers and facts.

“Those things started to really hit me in the face,” he said.

Hard work

Garey said there are several Brave Talks groups that meet regularly in the Twin Cities. And the George Floyd incident has inspired many people to want to join, leading them to start training more facilitators.

“To do this work, you have to be brave, and you have to talk, and it’s not always easy,” she said. “Sometimes you’re feeling really overwhelmed and trying so hard to understand other people.”

But she said that the rewards are more than worth it to bring about the change that is needed to give everyone the same opportunities.

“We have to actively fight against racism to bring about real and lasting change, whether it’s in the workplace, at the grocery store or at the dining room table,” she said. “We can no longer be silent.”

Garey said that she knows it will never be perfect, but it can be a lot better.

“I know there are a lot of people who feel like I do that there needs to be changes,” she said.

And it involves more than just talking. She said white people need to educate themselves about the history of racism in America and the impact it has had on Black people today.

“The thing with white privilege is we’re not saying that it’s bad to have opportunity,” Gary said. “What we’re saying is it’s bad if everyone doesn’t have opportunity. And just because we’re white gives us a leg up in many areas.”

She said that everybody deserves access to good health care, housing and education.

“We’re not trying to take away power or opportunity from others,” Garey said. “We’re trying to make sure that everyone has equal access to it. It isn’t a question of taking from somebody to give to another. The answer is to provide those opportunities for everyone to have.”

And she said that of course all lives matter.

“But all lives don’t matter until every life matters,” she said.

Right now, she said Black lives are hurting.

“I think the best analogy is if you’ve got a burning house on a block of houses, then the fire department has to go to the house that is burning and help that house for the good of the whole block,” she said. “Black lives matter to everyone.”

She said people need to think about where they are in the process and what talents they have to make a change.

“Silence is not an option,” she said.

Contact: lwrege@TheHP.com, 932-0361, Twitter: @HPWrege