17/10: A Few Notes Regarding Race in America
Category: Race in America.ii
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
Herein lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here at the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader; for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.
More than a century later, the problem of race in America continues to present the most daunting, toxic, and seemingly intractable cultural dilemma of our age. I am convinced that we cannot go on as we are.
We are irreversibly pointed toward a re-evaluation of racial politics in America. In the simplest terms, our current cultural standard rests on according preferences to descendants of victims of past racial discrimination and abominations at the expense of other Americans increasingly less different from the protected class and more and more unconnected to the sins of the fathers. Such a system cannot survive the coming reconciliation with basic principles of American justice and equality.
In brief, here is what I believe:
1. There is no place for discrimination based on race.
Quoting John Roberts: "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”
I do favor, however, discrimination based on merit, experience, potential, personality, character, previous personal history, commitment, fortitude, integrity, and attitude.
Having said all that, we are all imperfect and saved solely by grace. We do well to view our own actions and motivations with deep skepticism.
2. No person should face disproportionate punishment within the justice system based on race. No person should escape justice in America because of race.
We should accept that some black people actually commit criminal acts. Moreover, not all white sheriffs, district attorneys, and judges are racists. However, we should also accept that some members of the white power elite are racist (some overtly and some subconsciously), which leads to race-tainted injustices. We must approach individual cases with fair and open minds and then carefully weigh the facts to discern the truth in each particular situation.
Blunt assumptions and rushes to judgment are not constructive on either side of the racial divide.
3. No person should face public or personal harassment because of race. But racial slander is never a just provocation for violent reprisal.
There is no place in our culture for racially charged symbols designed to intimidate and/or humiliate. However, we are better served when we deal with hateful speech in a proportionate and reasoned manner. An "eye for an eye" is inarguably the "less excellent way"--but an “eye” for a harsh word is completely unacceptable.
4. We should not pre-judge people whom we do not know based on race. Having said that, sensitivity based on our knowledge and experience is a valuable component of our social skills set.
We should apply the Golden Rule and Christian charity in all our interactions.
5. We should not accept racial lunacy from our peers, friends, relatives and/or community leaders. Certainly, we can disagree without being disagreeable, but we should not allow destructive, erroneous, broadly crafted, conspiratorial rhetoric to go unchecked. We have the duty to stand up for truth, justice, and the American way.
Last thought:
Go out with that faith today. Go back to your homes in the Southland to that faith, with that faith today. Go back to Philadelphia, to New York, to Detroit and Chicago with that faith today: that the universe is on our side in the struggle. Stand up for justice.
Sometimes it gets hard, but it is always difficult to get out of Egypt, for the Red Sea always stands before you with discouraging dimensions. And even after you've crossed the Red Sea, you have to move through a wilderness with prodigious hilltops of evil and gigantic mountains of opposition. But I say to you this afternoon: Keep moving. Let nothing slow you up. Move on with dignity and honor and respectability.
Godspeed.
W.E.B. DuBois, 1903
More than a century later, the problem of race in America continues to present the most daunting, toxic, and seemingly intractable cultural dilemma of our age. I am convinced that we cannot go on as we are.
We are irreversibly pointed toward a re-evaluation of racial politics in America. In the simplest terms, our current cultural standard rests on according preferences to descendants of victims of past racial discrimination and abominations at the expense of other Americans increasingly less different from the protected class and more and more unconnected to the sins of the fathers. Such a system cannot survive the coming reconciliation with basic principles of American justice and equality.
In brief, here is what I believe:
1. There is no place for discrimination based on race.
Quoting John Roberts: "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”
I do favor, however, discrimination based on merit, experience, potential, personality, character, previous personal history, commitment, fortitude, integrity, and attitude.
Having said all that, we are all imperfect and saved solely by grace. We do well to view our own actions and motivations with deep skepticism.
2. No person should face disproportionate punishment within the justice system based on race. No person should escape justice in America because of race.
We should accept that some black people actually commit criminal acts. Moreover, not all white sheriffs, district attorneys, and judges are racists. However, we should also accept that some members of the white power elite are racist (some overtly and some subconsciously), which leads to race-tainted injustices. We must approach individual cases with fair and open minds and then carefully weigh the facts to discern the truth in each particular situation.
Blunt assumptions and rushes to judgment are not constructive on either side of the racial divide.
3. No person should face public or personal harassment because of race. But racial slander is never a just provocation for violent reprisal.
There is no place in our culture for racially charged symbols designed to intimidate and/or humiliate. However, we are better served when we deal with hateful speech in a proportionate and reasoned manner. An "eye for an eye" is inarguably the "less excellent way"--but an “eye” for a harsh word is completely unacceptable.
4. We should not pre-judge people whom we do not know based on race. Having said that, sensitivity based on our knowledge and experience is a valuable component of our social skills set.
We should apply the Golden Rule and Christian charity in all our interactions.
5. We should not accept racial lunacy from our peers, friends, relatives and/or community leaders. Certainly, we can disagree without being disagreeable, but we should not allow destructive, erroneous, broadly crafted, conspiratorial rhetoric to go unchecked. We have the duty to stand up for truth, justice, and the American way.
Last thought:
Go out with that faith today. Go back to your homes in the Southland to that faith, with that faith today. Go back to Philadelphia, to New York, to Detroit and Chicago with that faith today: that the universe is on our side in the struggle. Stand up for justice.
Sometimes it gets hard, but it is always difficult to get out of Egypt, for the Red Sea always stands before you with discouraging dimensions. And even after you've crossed the Red Sea, you have to move through a wilderness with prodigious hilltops of evil and gigantic mountains of opposition. But I say to you this afternoon: Keep moving. Let nothing slow you up. Move on with dignity and honor and respectability.
Martin Luther King, Jr., 1957
Godspeed.
Evrviglnt wrote:
Look at some of the words uttered Farrakhan recently. First, about Michael Vick:
"I know our brother broke the law. God himself is displeased, because he has given us dominion over his creatures and he doesn't want us to abuse them for sport," said Farrakhan, before coming to a near whisper. "But they didn't have to come down on the brother like that. He is young, black and super rich. And all of those white children were wearing his jersey. White people were losing control of their children to black sports and entertainment figures, and they can't take it."
About successful blacks:
High-profile examples of success like Oprah Winfrey, Sen. Barack Obama, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice give blacks a false impression of success, Farrakhan said.
As a result, middle class black America has gotten too comfortable with the trappings of the American dream, he told the approving audience.
"A life of ease sometimes makes you forget the struggle," he warned. "It's becoming a plantation again, but you can't fight that because you want to keep your little job."
The success of a few is negated by the continued poverty of millions of blacks in America, Farrakhan said, adding that now is the time to stop the cycle of poverty and violence.
"It's time for you scared-to-death Negroes to bite the dust," he said. "Our people must be free. This peaceful coexistence with the murder of our people has to stop."
The rally of thousands of black Americans in Jena, La., last month was a wake-up call, Farrakhan said.
"We should let the world know that we're tired," he said.
But then he says this:
"I want to talk to my gang-banging family," he said. "You make it very difficult for me. In the '60s we knew who the enemy was. But in 2007 you are the enemy. How can I do what is right by you while I watch you do wrong by one another?"
And in calling for blacks to withdraw from the mainstream culture of America, he goaded them with this:
"Politics and the racial environment is threatening the human family," Farrakhan said. "But black males, in particular, are endangered. Our attitudes, our ignorance, our savagery are all lending to a plan -- a conspiracy to make the black man, not endangered, but extinct... If God doesn't intervene, we will be extinct."
Race plays a part in every culture, America is not particularly evil, or prone to racism. This is the most racially diverse nation to ever have existed in the history of man. Will there be problems - the fallen nature of man promises that there will be. But Black Americans are conspiratorial because they are angry, and when those conspiracies work to disempower them by making education a "white system of oppression" or policemen "racist pigs" in communities that are ravaged by criminals that happen to be their own color - it all colludes to gut the community of the strength to fight back against indecency. They deserve lives full of promise and hope - but as long as they follow leaders that tell them their problems are caused by "the hairy, hidden hand of white machination," then nothing will change.