Much ado has been made in our post-racial America about the use of code words to mask the true racial undercurrent. You know, urban and inner-city when what is meant is Black. We see it all the time and the only novelty these days is that we are now post-racial and supposedly beyond such things.
However, through it all, one word continues to fly under the radar as coded; community. Other than Dr. Andre’ Perry’s piece “Community engagement is a euphemism for “how to deal with black folk” in the Hechinger Report (http://hechingerreport.org/content/community-engagement-euphemism-deal-black-folk_16179/) there has been a dearth of discussion on this point. Can it be that the colloquial use of the word community is so benign that we are blind to its nefarious usage?
A few years ago, I became acutely aware of the hidden meaning of the word when I had to explain to a room of academicians and health care professionals that “the community” was not some “other.” That the word they were using represented people just like themselves, their families, and their friends. Nevertheless, the use of the word community continued to be used to designate those who were typically low-income, low-level education, and persons of color.
The problem with this approach is that it assumes that “the community “ has nothing to offer; that it is only concerned with aggressively pointing out that it is being harmed, about to be harmed, or being left out of the decision making regarding its future. All of which are valid points for aggressive action; albeit uncomfortable for those whose actions create such situations. Such an approach negates people’s historical experiences, which are of tremendous value to decisions being made regarding their future. It also allows for the dehumanization of whole swaths of people, who become viewed from the outset, as problematic and to be dealt with.
If people are only viewed as problems then it follows that they need to be solved. Such a position then justifies the use of “the community” to try out the latest solution (aka experimentation) be it social, academic, or scientific/health. In the extreme, such a position justifies removal, be it social (internally displaced persons following Katrina/war on drugs); academic (rampant public school closings across major American cities); or scientific/health (forced sterilization in N. Carolina).
Lightly paraphrasing President Lyndon B. Johnson stated in 1965 “[America] should be a collection of communities where every member has a right to belong. It should be a place where every man feels safe on his streets and in the house of his friends. It should be a place where each individual’s dignity and self-respect is strengthened by the respect and affection of his neighbors. It should be a place where each of us can find the satisfaction and warmth which comes from being a member of the community of man. This is what man sought at the dawn of civilization. It is what we seek today.” Apparently the message got lost in the mail.