The Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

There is a place that changed me, a place that made me see things I did not want to see. It is called the Black Holocaust Museum, and it's located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I chanced upon it some years ago and the things I saw there, the questions that were asked of me, the questions I asked myself, changed my view of how I look at and think of people who are different than I am.

The mission of the museum is as follows: America’s Black Holocaust Museum (ABHM) exists to educate the public of injustices suffered by people of African American heritage, while providing visitors with an opportunity to rethink their assumptions about race and racism.

That alone is a powerful statement. It asks me to look at how people of my culture treated people of differing cultures. It asks me to examine why I believe my culture is superior to another culture, one that is very different than my own. It asks me to challenge my beliefs and the reasons for which I believe what I do, or in this case, used to believe.

The answers are not often easy, and they change or evolve over time. I saw things that I had known about, but had never personalized. It is like when someone sees Jesus on a cross and thinks, "How cruel!", but they never actually wonder, what if that were me? It is as if someone sees the pictures of Jewish people, or other people, in concentration camps and thinks, "That's terrible!", but never ponders, could that happen to me?

When you can mentally put yourself in another's situation, empathise with them, step into their shoes, their time and place, you begin to personalize the experience and become part of it. I did the same thing when I visited the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. I felt the same thing when I visited Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam, or when I saw the memorials at former concentration camps in Europe.

I personalized the experience and began to wonder, what if that were me?

No, it didn't happen all in one blinding flash of enlightenment. Indeed, it is, as I said, an evolving experience, one that is more strongly felt one day and less so on another. But, and this is the important part, it is now a part of me. When I look at the news on television I am internally asking myself, what if that were me in Darfur? What if that were me in Mexico? What if that were happening to me? How would I react?

Often I find that I empathize with others, even if I don't understand their culture, their anger or their hatred. Often I find that reasons for hatred and anger are the same ones that I used to feel. I do not understand you, therefore I do not like you. Palestinian hates Jew because ... , Jew hates Palestinian because ... , each has their reasons, but their logic is flawed, the information by which they formulate their opinion is lacking balance, lacking comprehension of the root cause of their anger and hatred.

White man hates Black man because ...; Black man hates White man because ... Again, there is a cultural divide, a chasm that neither think can or even should cross. It is much easier to stay where you are, secure in your beliefs, even if your beliefs are wrong. Why? Ah! That is the most difficult question posed by the Black Holocaust Museum, and by other museums like it.

When you can answer this question, you are on the narrow path to better understand not only strangers, but also yourself.

In spite of what you think about the recent controversies concerning Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and no matter what sound bites you choose to believe, listen to what the man has to say, and listen to others with whom you do not agree. I did, and here is what I learned.

1. Jeremiah Wright said that cultures are different, but that does not mean one or the other is deficient. Both can be equally valid and equally valuable. I can't think of music, for example, without the Blues or Jazz, any more than I can think of it without Country, Classical and Rock. I can hear roots of Indian music in Flamenco, roots of Arabic music in many modern European songs. There is a cross-cultural mix that creates a whole new experience, a completely new and intriguing sound. Yes, each type of music has importance, validity and value. There are even traces of each type found in the others. Antonin Dvorak, for example, used folk genres in writing much of his music, and he was extremely interested in what was then called "Black music." So much so that he helped found a college where people of many different cultures and colors could come together and teach each other.
   
2. There is a change coming, a change about how we, as individuals, engage with and interchange with people of other cultures. Some people lament that America is changing and becoming too exotic, too different from it's traditional European roots. They forget that there was a time when people said that very same thing because America was predominantly English and German, and those pesky Irish and Italians were coming here, not to mention those Eastern Europeans, with their foreign ways and customs and attitudes. Yes, things change, they evolve, and in spite of what some people believe, if a society remains static, it dies. That is a lesson history teaches us, yet one which many people do not wish to hear.
   
3. We, as a nation, are responsible for our actions, as well as for the reactions to our actions. Keep a people in bondage for centuries, deny them opportunities, force them to live in abject conditions, and guess what, it comes back to bite you in the butt! This is not to say that White and Black people can not overcome the past, learn to live with respect, treat each other with dignity. However, such a day is not here just quite yet, and we have to be reminded that we are, indeed, working to fulfil the true American dream when we make it possible for each person, regardless of color or culture, to add to and take from our overall culture that which he or she needs to survive and thrive.
   
   

So, what is your outlook, what do you feel in your heart about people who are different from you? Why do you feel that way, and more importantly, just how sure are you that what is in your heart is correct? Check it out, and if you get a chance, visit the Black Holocaust Museum and see if you walk out with a different attitude about your own beliefs and ideas. Even if you don't, at least you may start to understand how America looks through a different set of eyes.

Some information taken from the museum website:

America's Black Holocaust Museum

2233 North 4th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212

Phone: (414) 264-2500

Fax: (414) 264-0112

www.blackholocaustmuseum.org

HoursTuesday-Saturday: 9 am - 5 pm