Milwaukee Lawyer Calls for Racial Justice in New Book

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Photo courtesy John B. Haydon

John B. Haydon

John B. Haydon

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I Was Wrong by John B. Haydon

Some retirees look forward to honing their golf game or taking a road trip in an RV. John B. Haydon decided to roll up his sleeves and help his community as a volunteer at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission. Working with Black folks opened his eyes to the problem of race in America. His new book, I Was Wrong, is part memoir and part recapitulation of his post-retirement studies in Africology at UW-Milwaukee.

Haydon will speak 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 16, in the UWM Student Union’s Fireside Lounge in an event sponsored by UWM’s Department of African and African Diaspora Studies. For more information, visit uwm.edu/african-diaspora-studies/2022/02/25.

I asked Haydon about the direction of his life in recent years and the evolution of his worldview.

You enjoyed a successful career as a lawyer and when you retired, you decided to throw yourself into social action through volunteering at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission. What led you to do volunteer—and why the Rescue Mission?

I didn’t consider that I was throwing myself into “social action”—social action came much later. When I started gradual retirement in 2000, I became aware of how fortunate I had been and that, somehow, I needed to start “giving back” to the community which had been so good to me. I also thought that I should not waste the extra free time which became available, but I that I needed to put it to good use. 

It also occurred to me that I wanted to be in direct contact with people whom I could help, so I could see the results of my efforts. I started a search for such an opportunity and recalled that, many years prior, I received a tour of the Milwaukee Rescue Mission and learned that its programs involved much more than food and temporary housing for homeless men. I eventually found my niche as a volunteer counselor in the Mission’s one-year residential rehabilitation program, where my experience as a lawyer could put to good use.

How did your experience at the Rescue Mission change your perspective on racism?

I confess that I had grown up in an essentially cloistered white affluent world, mainly oblivious of the plight of marginalized individuals and their communities. I had practically no contact with people that our white society often considers “other,” places them in groups, and then wrongly tends to characterize them by negative stereotypes which are assumed to apply to all individuals in such groups. 

My service at the Rescue Mission thankfully involved working with these individuals, which, over time, was life-changing for me. To quote from my book, in the Chapter titled, “The Beginning of Awareness, 2000-2016”:

“Fairly early in my meeting with men at the Mission, I came to realize that each of us is so similar to each other, including in desires (for a better life, security, opportunity), in fears (of the unknown or of failure), and in needing meaningful personal relationships (in families and with friends). But we are also so different, in opportunities, in economic level, in education and in handling relationships …   

“Isn’t it eye-opening that those areas in which we are so similar are what counts, and those areas where we seem so different are essentially superficial?

“I gained a great deal of appreciation for the differences in our respective life    experiences. It was clear that I had much to learn in order to make sense of all this …”

 My experiences led me to realize that I really didn’t understand this “other world” in which the men I was serving lived, especially those of color who were being affected every day by the scourge of racism—essentially being treated so differently due to the color of their skin. Therefore, to quote the book: “In the summer of 2016, I embarked on a new journey: (1) to learn all I could about the nature and effects of racism and (2) to work toward its elimination.” This led me to studying and auditing Africology classes at UWM, which ultimately culminated in writing my book.

By your account, you had always practiced tolerance and were by no means a militant segregationist! There are millions of well-intentioned Americans with a similar perspective. Why is that not enough?

Because that will not produce the required change. It is acquiescence in the status quo, which is essentially approving of the status quo. Very briefly, the status quo is unacceptable because it denies the humanity of considerable portions of our population, racism is morally and ethically wrong (on any standard of morality), it violates the founding principles of our country, and it is contrary to our own self-interest (in fact, the status quo is self-destructive).

I think the following may summarize the question: “What justification can there be for some portions of society to claim basic rights of citizenship, while at the same time denying those same basic rights of citizenship to other portions of society?” I challenge anyone to provide rational justification.  In fact, there is no justification.

 You would like to see an America that fully lives up to its best ideals. How do we get there?

There is no adequate short answer, in part because the tentacles of racism are so embedded in the fabric of our society and the problems are complex and interrelated. Rather than that being an excuse for non-action, it is evidence that taking action is imperative.

My book is simply one among many which offers answers to your question. It includes recommendations under the following four headings: (1) Relearn U.S. History (the good and the bad); (2) Gain an understanding of the essential facts of racism (primarily Part Two of the book); (3) Leave our comfort zones “to learn that those who appear to be different from us, at their core, really are not different” and appreciate that those of us who are white “have enjoyed the benefits of being white to the detriment of those who are not”; and (4) Take corrective action (specific action steps are described in the book).