I am the first one to say that we cannot deny the racism that has been a part of this nation since its beginnings. However, I won’t be so short-sighted as cast all white people as racist or that all whites throughout history were racist. And more importantly, I refuse to let a convenient excuse like slavery be used as a constant trump card to be pulled to wash my hands of any of my individual failures. Things have changed in this country. Most people go out of their way to try and be sensitive and accommodating about differences. As I mentioned earlier, we have a Black President, which in and of itself is strong evidence of how racial divisions have healed over the years. I guess the fact that whites have suffered and died to try and reach racial equality falls on deaf ears when it is not politically or personally expedient. As I told my friend the dominant form of racism today comes from those of us who give ourselves hyphenated labels like African-American.
There is nothing wrong with being proud of your heritage. However, how will you ever see yourself as an American when you identify yourself by that which makes you different right up front? All it does is separate us by telling others, "I am different and you better treat me as such." And then everybody else has to bend over backwards trying not to offend you. If we don’t want to be judged by our racial and ethnic background then stop labeling ourselves by it! If, as Martin Luther King, Jr. "dreamed," we are to judge people by the content of their character, let us stop focusing on the color of our skin or where the roots of our family tree are buried. I was not and am not a supporter of Barack Obama. Not because of his racial or ethnic background, much of it I share. I did not like his character, his world view or those he associated with. That is the real judge of a person. It is time we started acting the way in which we want others to act.
Without rehashing the Civil Rights Movement of the early and mid 20th century, I want to bring up a point I shared with my friend about the history of the Democrats and Republicans as it pertains to Civil Rights. Most people simply fall back on the stereotypes that Democrats are for the minority and Republicans are not. Some go so far as to label Republicans and conservatives as racists, sexists, bigots and homophobes. How many people view the 1964 Civil Rights Act as a cornerstone of what the Democrats have done to advance the cause of equality? But, how many know that more Democrats voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act than Republicans? 80 percent of Republicans voted for the act while only 63 percent of Democrats did. And how many people realize that the Klu Klux Klan was an offshoot of the Democratic Party? They were formed, amongst other things, to keep blacks from voting. You won’t hear that history mentioned too often.
Being a black man, I particularly take notice of the terrible state the black family is in today. But, when my friend blames everything that goes on in the black community strictly on racism that is a dangerous cop out that could be racist in itself. It is as if blacks have no ability to change their circumstances or be responsible for their choices because of racism. The blame for the destruction of the black family, ultimately, must be laid at their own feet. For example, I have read were in 1960 the illegitimacy rate among blacks was 23 percent. Not good, but utopian compared to the 68.8 percent rate by the end of the twentieth century! Over a 45% increase in 40 years! How can that be the fault of racism when during the heat of the Civil Rights movement, when racism was overt and obvious, out-of-wedlock births were less than 25%? The out-of-wedlock birthrate in the black community is almost double the national average of 37%.
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