Racial Justice Can — and Should — Start at the Table

Where mealtime is a moment for change

‘ALL’S Dinner,’ a big outdoor table to dine together with Christian citizens, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and laypeople in Rome, Italy, as an answer against all forms of intolerance and racism in June 2019. Photo: Stefano Montesi /Corbis/Getty Images

We live in a system in which a white cop feels empowered to kneel on a Black man’s neck for nearly 9 minutes and take his life. That system is held up by politicians, officers, and everyday citizens who grew up in homes with a narrow view of America — an incomplete narrative, one that vilifies Black Americans. Those in power don’t learn these behaviors in adulthood; they’re often learned in the dining room or the kitchen, where conversations can lead to stereotyping and mocking those who are different.

The uprisings in response to George Floyd’s murder and the death of many others are essential in shifting policy and disrupting flawed systems, and they are one of the most visible ways of achieving racial justice. But another way is through the more quotidian mealtimes, where people can and should be having conversations about race and systemic injustice at the table.

Historically, the dinner table is a “safe place” for racist views; people save remarks they aren’t allowed to say at school or work for dinnertime. I caught wind of one of these conversations in high school, when a white friend communicated that her mother, over the family’s favorite casserole the night before, told my friend that she was grateful that I wasn’t like “those other…