It has practically become a conservative trope to invoke Martin Luther King’s speech at the Lincoln Memorial and reference the line about his hope that his children would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the contents of their characters. That speech was delivered in 1963 and is as distant in time as it is from the current American reality. As we now know, the color of one’s skin is the primary criterion for most things. Although gender may be a close second. In some cases, when it comes to the complicated and ever-shifting determinants of intersectionality, gender may trump race. Or the two might be combined.
As America observes Juneteenth, it is interesting to note that black Americans, according to a Washington Post poll, are more pessimistic about race relations than in the past. In some ways, this could be attributed to the fact that everyone is more pessimistic about everything than in the past. Just the News noted that a poll by the Pew Research Center indicates that 57% of respondents said that the new focus on race will not or has not improved the lives of black people. Regarding the Washington Post-Ipsos poll, the outlet said:
Overall, 51% of black Americans say racism will get worse in America over the rest of their lives and just 11% said it would get better, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll released Friday.
Additionally, the poll also showed that 69% of black Americans said it is “more dangerous” to be a black teenager in America than when they themselves were teens.
Affirmative action is on the Supreme Court’s docket and it may be ruled unconstitutional. Campus Reform reports that Stanford professors Anthony Lising Antonio and Eujin Park are already naming “white supremacy” and “a long backlash to the civil rights movement” as potential drivers of a decision against the policy. The piece quoted Antonio as saying:
I would have to say it’s part of our country’s history of white supremacy and a long backlash to the civil rights movement. The explicit effort to address societal racism, especially against African Americans, was flipped a long time ago to focus on white citizens’ rights being infringed upon as a form of ‘reverse racism.’
Park commented:
The ‘model minority’ trope supports the story we tell about ourselves as a nation that if you just work hard enough, you can move up the social ladder. There’s this idea that our educational system is an egalitarian one based on merit, with Asian Americans held up as proof that the system works… The plaintiff is using the model minority stereotype to say this is unfair, it’s not American, it goes against our values of equal opportunity and hard work and fair play. It’s a strategy that allows opponents of affirmative action not only to evade the critique of racism, since Asian Americans are also people of color, but also to draw on racial stereotypes for their arguments.
When the George Floyd incident was reaching full flower, several upper-middle-class rural white people I used to know were furiously posting black squares on all of their social media profiles. Never mind that their personal experiences with black people pretty much consisted of a few international mission trips. They wanted to make sure that the world knew just how un-racist they were. It was a knee-jerk reaction. And “virtue-signaling.” The problem with that mentality is that there is no way to prove you are not racist. In fact, saying you are not racist and not being racist are de facto proofs that you are in fact racist. It is inherent in the color of your skin, which will, by the way, be the criteria by which you will be judged.
One of the few things more damning than claiming you are not a racist is to demand that your school-age children not be taught that they are racist or that white people live to subjugate others. Parents of all races have recognized that such an agenda is damaging to everyone involved and are increasingly being heard. But if everything is built on racism, and everyone of a certain demographic is hopelessly racist by default, then yes, the problem of race will continue to worsen. And perhaps that is by design. It may well be that people beating the drum of racism are stoking the fires not only to anger blacks but also to anger whites. After all, there is no guarantee that a narrative will fuel itself.
Related: Juneteenth, Chicago Style: Three Mass Shootings, 4 Dead, 34 Injured
Believe it or not, the concepts of DEI and systemic racism have been around much longer than most people think. When I was in college, the choir professor made plans to take the choir on a tour of churches in different states. Some of those states were in the South and at least one of the congregations let the professor know that some of their congregants might not be amenable to housing black students during the choir’s stay. The professor made note of that and the tour was scheduled to go ahead as planned. Word of the exchange got out, and there was a sit-in in the administration building, complete with pizza. Ultimately the professor was fired over systemic racism. The choir members, even the black students, said that they liked the professor and that the incident was unfortunate. They also said that the man was not racist. But he was fired for being racist.
Yes, there are still racists in the nation and the world. There is no denying that. And they come in all colors. But as the drama was unfolding, I thought back to the Freedom Riders during the Civil Rights Movement. The Freedom Riders went to the South. And keeping the tour dates in the South may have been a way to demonstrate to those still clinging to the tenets of Jim Crow that times had changed and that their thinking was barbaric. I might have been the only one to consider that, since the desired result of the protestors was achieved: a head was claimed in the name of racism. As I mentioned, the man was not a racist by the admission of his own students. And at that school, most of the professors who were not in the Business Department leaned left. But axing the guy was more expedient and made for better optics.
The way forward is in King’s assertion about character. I have known black people who were my friends, my teachers, and even confidantes. I wonder sometimes what conversations with them would be like today. Conversely, I have met white people who, when it came to character, were not worth a lukewarm bucket of tobacco spit and whose future achievements were destined to be confined to a criminal record. But to some, the way forward is to claim that everyone is a racist in the style of George Wallace. They want to look to the past as well, if only to try to claim that every white person is a closet cross-burner at heart.
Sadly, as long as there is money to be made and clout to be had, people with influence or those who crave it will continue to do everything possible to get us to lunge at one another’s throats.
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