Alva James-Johnson: Why I write about race

I was traveling back from a conference last Sunday when I noticed an email in my inbox. It was from a woman who had just read an article I wrote about the racial makeup of law enforcement agencies in Columbus.

I wrote the story in light of the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., where an unarmed black teenager was killed by a white police officer. The over-representation of white officers in Ferguson had become a national story, and I decided to look at what was happening in our community.

Well, the woman who emailed me didn't like that very much. She wanted to know why the article focused on the black/white issue and not the shortage of female officers in the Columbus Police Department and Muscogee County Sheriff's Office. I could tell she was fuming from the email.

"I'm absolutely appalled that, as a female yourself, you would completely overlook that fact when writing an article about DIVERSITY and having a force that 'mirrors' the Columbus population," the woman wrote. "But with your writing history, it always needs to be just about race."

Two days later, I received an email from another reader, this time a man who said he found the article repulsive and racist.

"It seems that every time I read one of your articles it is geared to dividing our city," he wrote.

Then he went on to explain that he is colorblind and looking for the day when people will be judged by their character and not by the color of their skin.

The responses were not totally unexpected. I have been writing about racial issues for years and have received positive feedback from readers of various races. But this week wasn't the first time that I also got negative responses. When writing about controversial subjects, it just comes with the territory. And I've learned not to take it personally.

But the emails did get me thinking: "Why do I write about race?" And I have been pondering that question ever since.

The truth is I wish I didn't have to write about race, and that the world was as colorblind as some of us would like it to be. But I also realize that we have a long way to go before we reach that reality.

In cities like Columbus, there's still too much poverty, too much crime, too many people incarcerated, too many children lacking a quality education and too many fathers not in the homes. And many of the people caught in that cycle of endless doom look like me. I wouldn't be true to my conscience if I didn't explore both causes and solutions for their plight.

We can all debate why such problems exist. Is it the lingering vestiges of slavery? Or the fault of people making poor decisions? Are parents to blame? Or has institutional racism relegated some people to the margins of society?

I happen to believe that it's a combination of all those things.

But denying that race is still a factor in our society is like trying to hit a target while blindfolded. You may come close to the bullseye, but chances are you'll miss it every time.

I write about race because it's at the heart of so many things still wrong with America.

And it shouldn't be ignored.

This story was originally published October 23, 2014 at 10:04 PM with the headline "Alva James-Johnson: Why I write about race."