The Roots of Racism Are Deep in, yes, Ogden too.

Last year Weber State University hosted a series of community conversations on race. I forget which of the seemingly regular disastrous racist incidents sparked it -- black people being shot by police happens a LOT -- and it probably doesn't matter.

The point is, to get the problem of racism out in the open. And, yes there is a lot:  A discussion on my facebook page by a former Ogden councilman, and a current one, and several others, is eye-opening in its bluntness. I will quote them farther down, so bear with me here.

So, despite these panels, we have a long way to go.

One of the speakers on the panel last year was Ogden's assistant chief of police who said, very simply, that when his officers are approaching a situation "they don't see black or white," or words to that effect. Race, he said bluntly, was never ever a consideration.

I was sitting alongside almost the entire sociology faculty of WSU. Sociologists, you should know, study why people do what they do, and why they think what they think, and can talk for  hours about how a person who is brought up a certain way is pretty much hard-wired to think that way, unconsciously, without intent, it is just the way the world is.

(And I freely admit that, as a mere journalist, there's a lot to the phenomenon of being socialized that I don't understand. Take a course in sociology from one of the several fine faculty there to learn more.)

And in American culture, of course, we are all brought up to think of the different races is some pretty stereotyped ways. I was, you were, so was everyone else. It is who we are and to say Ogden's police are immune from this?

Well, the eye rolling from the sociologists -- one of whom is my wife -- was almost audible.

And this is not to say OPD's finest are racist. I refuse to believe they are. However, if because of how they were brought up in America means that, in their minds, a person of color is slightly more suspect, or even just slightly more capable of being suspect, than one who is white ... well, there you are.

We keep seeing daily reminders that race is a factor: As I type these the Starbucks coffee chain is preparing to shut down 8,000 outlets for a day to have training on racial awareness. A couple of black men entered a shop, asked to use the rest room, were denied because they hadn't bought anything, stuck around and refused to leave, saying they were waiting for a friend.

The manager called the cops. I guess a fair question is, would he have called the cops if two white guys came in and sat down, calmly waiting for a friend? Apparently not, because the CEO has personally apologized to the two (who were polite through the whole affair).

And I guess I have to wonder why the cops arrested them. Why not come in, look around, tell the manager "you called us for this?" and leave again. 

Again, what if they were white?

I recently linked a story on Facebook about another incident: a 14-year-old kid in Michigan slept in, missed his bus, got lost and knocked on a door to ask how to get to his school.

The kid is black. The door was opened by a white woman who screamed at him, accusing him of trying to break in. Then her husband ran up with a shotgun and opened fire. The kid was not killed only through luck.

Who told the truth? Well, the homeowners have surveillance video and everyone -- Mayor, Sheriff, everyone else -- says the kid was just asking directions.

The post brought a lot of interesting comment, including this from one friend:

"It’s a sad commentary that most white Americans, don’t or won’t see. My first marriage was to a Native American. And my beautiful beautiful mixed race children have been stopped and harassed by the police on so many occasions here in Northern Utah, it’s funny/not-funny. We just call the crime “Walking while brown.'"

That comment reminded me of a conversation I had two years ago working on the campaign of Luis Lopez, who was elected to the Ogden City Council.

While strategizing house-to-house campaigning, we were warned by former City Councilman Jesse Garcia to be careful. Right here in Ogden, he said, a person of color walking door-to-door in neighborhoods east of Harrison Boulevard will get the cops called.

My reaction was "Really? No!" But he said yes. They will call the cops. 

Our host, Eulogio Alajandre, whose house is - yes - east of Harrison, said definitely yes. Hispanics aren't seen, by many, as belonging east of Harrison. He's been working in his own front yard, he said, and had white people drive by, stop, and ask if they could hire him to do their yard too.

Jesse added a comment on Facebook too:

"Charles I remember that discussion and just wanted to prepare you and Luis for the negative encounters . I could write a lot about negative or racist encounters for the last 60 plus years . 

"For example the first time my canvassing team walked through east of Ogden. Plenty of stares no real comments but an officer drove by slowly. He said 'Oh councilman it's you.' I responded "some of those people walking in the neighborhood, huh?'

"He smiled shook his and drove off. That same campaign while at our headquarters on 12th and Monroe, some of my volunteers were yelled at with racial remarks along with go back where you came from. 

"My years on the council were pretty rough with racist calls throughout my 16 years to many to mention . My children were also targeted by one of our police officers who stated 'I don't care who your dad is if you do anything wrong I'll be watching you.'

"My years in Junior high and high school were no different. Almost on a weekly basis I would hear you should go back to working the fields because you will never amount to anything. 

"I feel hurt and angry about the atrocities against the community of color. It is my belief that these actions are much more overt now because they seem to be sanctioned by too many of our national leaders. Our media doesn't help much either. Better stop now becoming a bit upset. Trying to keep those bad memories tucked away but it is not easy."

Luis Lopez, who won that election, said he remembered that conversation, and walking the neighborhood with me, very well because of one guy who opened the door in particular.

"I remember walking the neighborhood and encountering the guy with the gun on his hip....I was actually pretty nervous...I kept thinking I wanted to leave his yard and wanted nothing to do with him."

Yeah, that guy was weird, and only two blocks from my house. As I recall, he was angry at Mayor Caldwell for something. But, yeah, he had a gun on his hip. It looked as if that was his normal dress around the house.

Lus said "I have been the subject of many racial aggressions in my 21 years living in the USA. 1) adjunct professor from WSU told me and a group of friends while in the elevator we should not speak Spanish in public. 

"2) When I used to be an HVAC installer, former boss told me not to bother wanting to start a business claiming I would never do well because people don't trust Mexicans. 

"3) UHP trooper pulls me over on the highway (I can't even remember why) and asked if my social security number is legal. 

"4) I told a woman I worked at a Middle school and she responds "are you a janitor?". 

"5) Man calls me spic at work when I used to deliver roof shingles. 

"6) Ogden cop pulled me over because my license plate was dangling off by one screw, asked me to get out of the car and frisked me without cause."

Luis said he's never been shot at. He said he feels "very sad for this young man and for any other human being who is subject to racial injustices and discrimination. We have to keep our head high and plow through, believing that society will change over time. If I keep improving my self and setting an example for my community, I believe this is the best contribution I can make."

Yes it is, but it will also help if police officers admit that, yes, in their minds they see people of color differently. Not with any bad intent, but just because -- only then can they say "OK this is happening in my mind, and it is wrong."

Until that happens, expect more of the same. 

And if you don't believe it, go find a Hispanic friend and take a walk east of Harrison Boulevard, right here in beautiful Ogden. 

Indian Fighting Then And Now: History Reported, History Revisited

The fun part of looking through old newspapers is the stories you just stumble on, and this one in a Jan. 25, 1879 edition of the Ogden "Junction" had an appealing headline:

"DESPERATE INDIAN FIGHT" it screamed.

Hey, I'm all about a good fight story. I was brought up watching TV westerns, after all.

But then I saw the subhead:

"A Victory for the Soldiers, with Several "Bucks," Squaws and Papooses Killed."

Say what?

No editor would approve language like that today. It's paternalistic, insulting, demeaning, the sort of thing racists wish they could say these days if only they weren't forced to be "politically correct."

And there it is in a headline, although admittedly one from 140 years ago.

The story reports what is actually a reasonably famous battle, part of a larger campaign that occurred in November of 1878 through February of 1879. Native Americans were struggling against advancing Americans overrunning their lands, part of  the larger decades-long "war" between the US Army and Native Americans although the term gives the Native combatants more respect that they got at the time. This was a time when there was serious debate whether Native Americans, like blacks, were even human.

In January of 1879 a band of Northern Cheyenne, led by Dull Knife, which had been forced to a reservation late in the previous year, fled north. Part were captured by the U.S. Army and returned, but a small band, 32 including 18 men and boys and 14 women and children, had to be hunted down.

On Jan. 22 they were found dug in in a ravine near Fort Robinson, Nebraska, by a company of 150 soldiers, led by Capt. Henry Wessells. The soldiers attacked and killed most of the Native Americans.

The story spares no expense to praise the heroism of the soldiers and make it abundantly clear that they are risking death every second against this band of bloodthirsty savages.

Reading through this story, you can get the feeling that 150 soldiers completely surrounding a couple dozen Native Americans in a gully really are engaged in a "desperate fight." Their valor is constantly praised, the savagery of the Native Americans constantly condemned.

The soldiers' massive advantage in manpower and firepower does not mitigate this.

The Indians are dug in in a gully, so the four companies fan around them, surrounding their position and then advance. The Indians open fire and "despite the dreadful volley poured into the troops, they steadily advanced and when within seventy five yards of the savages' position, fire was opened on all sides with dreadful effect."

Colorful adjectives make it clear who the author of this story feels is in the wrong.

Captain Wessells receives "a slight scalp would from a pistol in the hands of one of the bloodthirsty Cheyennes." His lieutenant, seeing the captain fall, carried him to safety and then "dashing to the head of his own company gallantly led them to the very edge of the washout where they fought the enemy with unabated fury."

Wessells came to his senses and tried to stop the firing after seeing the ground littered with dead Indians. "But the latter stubbornly refused, rushing the troops with their formidable hunting knives, having expended all their ammunition and determined to surrender to death only."

The language tells the tale: Soldiers are "gallant," while "savage" Indians attack with "formidable" knives. It sounds more like a turkey shoot today.  The dead Indians included 17 "bucks," not men and boys, four "squaws," not women, and two "papooses," not babies. Only three women survived unwounded.

"The Pit": Frederick Remington painted the aftermath

Three soldiers were also killed, and one wounded.

History has taken a different look at this incident. The larger story -- the whole tribe's several-month journey to escape the reservation, cost between 32 and 64 killed, 23 wounded and 78 captured. The Army lost 11 soldiers plus one Indian scout and another 9 wounded.

The incident in the story is called "The Pit," because of the geographical reality that the Indians were stuck in a gully, surrounded, and shot pretty much like fish in a barrel.

A Wikipedia article on the incident reports that General George Crook investigated the massacre. Several Native Americans were charged with murder, and in 1901 the U.S. Supreme Court denied any US Liability but called the "shocking story...one of the most melancholy of Indian Tragedies."

Up to the time the Cheyenne were fired upon, it said, "they had committed no strocity and were in amity with the United States and desired to remain so."

The Indians were struggling against being forced onto reservations by what they saw as an invading army. Who can blame them?

But it was a time of Manifest Destiny, America was spreading across the continent and anyone already there was, obviously, just in the way.

What is now known as "The Northern Cheyenne Exodus" in such books as "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," and "In Dull Knife's Wake: The True Story of the Northern Cheyenne Exodus," was seen, at the time, as just war against savages, nothing more.

When I visited the Little Big Horn a number of years ago it was good to see that, among the many monuments to soldiers of the 7th Cavalry who died, there are now a few, widely scattered, markers that show where Native Americans, too, died.

The soldiers's markers say they died serving their country, as certainly they did.

But the Native American's markers say the man killed there died "defending his homeland and the Sioux Way of Life."