The son of a Black father and a White mother, John Blake grew up in a deeply segregated, Black neighborhood in Baltimore with a great mystery - who was his mom? Until he was 17, all he knew about her was that she was White, her name was Shirley, and her family hated Black people. Meeting her, at age 17, began a journey of racial understanding and changed his life. Mr. Blake has been writing about race and religion as a reporter for over 25 years, and over those years he has come to discover that facts don't change people, relationships do. His relationship with his mother and her sister, his father's relationships on the decks of a Merchant Marine ship, the multi-racial community he formed through church - these relationships across difference are what led to changes in racial attitudes for his relatives and for himself. Creating these relationships was demanding. Finding understanding with his White family who harbored ill will towards Black people was demanding. Yet the promise of these relationships to change hearts and move people towards understanding made it worth the effort.

This is the power of real integration. This is the power of community, It's demanding, but the promise is great, and, as Mr. Blake argues, the only way we can move towards becoming a true multiracial democracy.

Mr. Blake's story taps into all of our themes for this season. His is an incredible story teller, and his stories have the power to shift hearts. The relationships he builds through being in proximity and community with people who are different are the seeds that bloom into greater racial understanding. He calls on us to work to create spaces where Gordon Allport's Contact Theory can exist, and, we would argue, the best place for that to happen is in our public schools. And, finally, he shows us the power of hope to sustain us through hard times, with the knowledge that progress is being made, even if we don't always see it.

He chronicles it all in his memoir, More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew, and he joins us to talk about it.

LINKS:

More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew - John Blake

50 Years Ago, a White Woman Touching a Black Man on TV Caused a National Commotion - Vanity Fair

Simply Psychology on Contact Theory

Gordon Allport

Choosing Our Name - Integrated Schools founder, Courtney Mykytyn

Michelle Adams on Radical Integration

S5E16 – Revisiting Not In My Suburbs - Michelle Adams on our show

S6E4 – In Full View of Race: Elise Boddie on Integration

IntegrateNYC's 5Rs of Real Integration

S6E1-Third Wave School Desegregation: A Call for Real Integration

A More Perfect Reunion: Race, Integration, and the Future of America - Calvin Baker

Ta'Nehisi Coats on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert - 5:10 is the discussion about hope

White Supremacy with a Tan - John Blake

Rebecca Solnit

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know - Adam Grant

Send us your stories – speakpipe.com/integratedschools, or click the “send voicemail” button on the side of our website, or just record a voice memo on your phone and email it to us at [email protected].

Visit our Bookshop.org storefront to support local bookstores, and send a portion of the proceeds back to us.

Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further.

Let us know what you think of this episode, suggest future topics, or share your story with us – @integratedschls on twitter, IntegratedSchools on Facebook, or email us [email protected].

We’re proud members of Connectd Podcasts. 

The Integrated Schools Podcast was created by Courtney Mykytyn and Andrew Lefkowits

This episode was produced by Andrew Lefkowits and Val Brown. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits

Music by Kevin Casey. Additionally music provided by Blue.Session.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy