Growing up in a White World
Sister Henrica Albrecht, OP
 Could there be anyone in the world who grew up more sheltered than I was from an awareness of the struggles of racial minorities? I was raised in Carrolton, Ill., and until I began teaching at St. Patrick School in Springfield, Ill., in the 1980s, I taught almost exclusively in rural white communities. I had very few encounters with anyone whose skin color did not match mine. I remember listening to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a Dream” speech in the summer of 1963. I remember wondering why he would have to speak so forcefully for what I understood to be the human rights of every American. I remember thinking, “What is it about his experience that is so different than mine?”
These memories came flooding back to me when I joined the Anti-racism Task Force. I recall feeling sick to my stomach as the realization dawned on me that, by virtue of nothing more than the color of my skin, I am part of a system that oppresses black people and other people of color. I inherited racism, in a sense. I didn’t’ choose it. But I also know now that my own ignorance of the issues allows me to be part of the perpetuating cycle of racism.
My work on the Antiracism Team has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my religious life. It has helped me come to grips with the questions I asked when I heard Dr. King speak those 43 long years ago. It has helped me to realize that I can begin to break the cycle of institutional racism by educating myself and working within my congregation to change the structures that keep people of color – and that keep me – from the fullest expression of our common human dignity.
Sister Henrica lives at Sacred Heart Convent in Springfield.
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