How My Parents Gamified Racism
Our parents invented a game to help me and my brothers cope with racism
Hillenbrand Industries is the holding company for two operating businesses; Hill-Rom operates in the healthcare industry, selling and renting hospital beds, furnishings, and other hospital accessories. If you’ve ever needed to spend a night in a hospital, chances are you’ve slept in one of their beds. Hillenbrand’s other operating business is Batesville Casket Company.
Although the name is probably unfamiliar to most people, Batesville is the largest coffin manufacturer in the country, controlling nearly half the US market. Funerals may be uncomfortable to discuss, but it’s a $20 billion industry.
No matter what anyone tells you, just about everything in America has a bit of racist history just below the surface. The funeral business is no exception.
Historically, the industry was rife with racism. Even in the 70s and 80s, white funeral homes only buried white people, and Black funeral homes only buried Blacks. The companies that depended on funeral homes for business participated in the industry’s racist structure.
Around that time, my father was a salesperson for Batesville Casket Company. He was one of a dozen or so Black salespeople that worked for the company. His job allowed my family to live a better-than-average lifestyle. But as late as 1980, Batesville Casket Company did not allow its Black salespeople to sell its products to white-owned funeral homes.
Black salespeople couldn’t even make contact with a white-owned funeral home. Once when he was making sales calls in Memphis, my father visited a white funeral home by mistake. Even though he apologized and immediately left, his boss at Batesville reprimanded him. It turned out that the funeral director in Memphis called the company’s headquarters to complain that a Black salesman visited his business.