A man whom I very much admire, a man ahead of his time who sadly met a tragic end several years before I was born, once said that he dreamed of a day when a man was judged by the content of his character, not the color of his skin. The tragedy in our time is that many - too many - of those who claim to be his ideological children have laid aside his vision in favor of advancing their own political agenda.
Racism is a blight on the history of this nation. The fact that slavery persisted until the latter half of the 19th century is an anathema. The political and social repression of blacks, especially (but not only) in the South, through much of the 20th century was shameful, and the (mis)application of states' rights to defend such behavior created an unfortunate linkage in the minds of many between states' rights and institutionalized discrimination.
To say that racial discrimination does not still exist in this nation would be delusional. Many of the older generations have passed their prejudices to their children and grandchildren; longstanding disdain toward people with a different skin color or ethnic lineage still persists among some families and individuals. Sadly, I suspect that no one alive today will live to see the total extinction of racism, if it ever happens at all.
Nonetheless, to say that there has not been great progress would also be erroneous. Where schools and neighborhoods were once segregated, people of all races live as neighbors, work in the same offices, and play on the same playgrounds. Interracial marriage, once looked upon by the ignorant as "unnatural", is now common. Where blacks were once deprived of their right to vote, even in majority-white districts, blacks now serve as mayors, city and county council members, state and national legislators, and, certainly not to be overlooked, president.
One should never let the progress that has been made blind them to the problems that still exist. But one should never attempt to unravel the progress that has been made in order to make political hay of the problems that still exist. This is what is being done by some on the Left right now; it is hypocritical and it is demeaning to the very individuals whom they feign to be defending.
The case in point that prompted me to write this is a Bloomberg article entitled "House Republicans Set to Defy Obama Are Mostly White Men", which was subsequently picked up by the group Occupy Democrats (a liberal group meant to counterbalance the Tea Party) in a post entitled "Meet The Thirty-Eight White Men Holding America Hostage".
First of all, consider the hypocrisy in the titles of these articles. Occupy Democrats is one of the liberal groups that accuses conservatives in general and the Tea Party specifically of being racists. Nonetheless, a group whose rhetoric equates conservatism with racism happily resorts to blatant racism to attempt to discredit lawmakers who dare to oppose their policies. In short, they are using the very same tactic - judging someone by the color of their skin - that they are accusing their opponents of using. Who of us has never heard the old aphorism that "two wrongs don't make a right"? (Incidentally, despite the inflammatory headline, there is nothing in either the Bloomberg or the Occupy Democrats article that even attempts to support their implication of racist motivation for opposing the liberal agenda.)
Secondly, this tactic is demeaning, in this case, to President Obama. It is demeaning because it operates under the assumption (or at least the implication) that the only possible reason that this group of Republicans could have for opposing the president is the color of his skin. (This tactic has been used before; here is a letter to the editor that I wrote in 2011 in response to one incidence.)
In effect, the Bloomberg writer and Occupy Democrats are reducing the president to nothing more than his skin color, rather than a thinking human being with ideas and beliefs that can be debated and either supported or opposed. They are de facto judging the man by the color of his skin and nothing else. This is racism carried out under the guise of defending the very person it is demeaning, and it is every bit as shameful as it is for anyone who in fact does oppose (or support) Obama only because of his race. Racism is racism, regardless of the color of the skin - or the political affiliation - of the perpetrator. If it is wrong when a Republican or Tea Party member makes racist comments (as some do... it doesn't make all racist), then it is equally wrong when a liberal does (as some do... it doesn't make all racist).
America must move past this evil. As I said earlier, racism may never really go away completely, and that is tragic. But so long as some individuals, be they conservative, liberal, libertarian, or independent, see creating division among the American people according to their race as a means of advancing their own agendas - and so long as voters continue to fall for such tactics - we will have a very difficult time moving in the right direction, toward a truly colorblind society.
