On Race

Karen and I went to see the movie Selma this weekend.  It seemed to be the right thing to do for MLK Day.  At various times in my life I have looked closely at the history of the civil rights movement and have always found it to be a powerful experience.  Who can watch footage of the Freedom Rides, the sit-ins or the marches and not be awed by the courage of the participants, outraged by the hatred and violence of their antagonists and shamed by the pathetic cowardice of the ‘good citizens’.

Like every nation, our nation has a legacy of disgraceful deeds.  Slavery and our treatment of Native Americans are at the top of the list.  The sad travails of our Native American citizens are not often brought to our attention, so our misdeeds in this area are more or less hidden from view.  However, the ramifications of slavery are ever present.

For many years the legacy of slavery was expressed in clear outright unlawful treatment of blacks – segregation and the active prevention of voting being the most egregious.  The civil rights movement and the resultant legislation (Civil Rights Act and Voting Act) had dramatic impact in these areas.  Blacks in great numbers have now achieved financial success, education at the best institutions, and prominence in politics, business, sports and entertainment fields.  Most of my baby boomer friends have shed the biases of their younger years, if they had them, and the generation of my children seems to have completely rejected racial stereotypes.

Will race ever not be an issue?  Will the world ever be color blind?  I would say no, just as the world will never be blind to height or beauty or hair color.  One’s race is a human feature that is noticeable.  The best we can hope for is that the recognition of race does not carry with it stereotypes, especially not negative ones; that we will judge each person individually.

But the effects of two hundred years of slavery linger on in many ways, and these are not ameliorated nearly as easily as basic rights were.  African Americans still lag behind the rest of the U.S. in education, income, home ownership and lifespan.  Additionally, negative attributes like the breakdown of the family, incarceration rate and single parent rate are much higher in their population.  Other race issues such as racial profiling, unequal treatment under the law and more subtle forms of racial discrimination are certainly still occurring.  The problem is that all of these are generally not issues for legislative action, but rather involve a cultural evolution on both sides that is progressing very slowly and not always in a positive direction.

The recent series of police shootings of unarmed black men, along with the Zimmerman shooting in Florida, have spawned a new militancy in the long dormant civil rights movement.  There is a strong perception among blacks that the lives of their young men are somehow considered disposable or at least less important than those of other citizens.  These events have also resurfaced the nagging questions of why blacks are still looking in from outside on many of the desired opportunities in our society.  Black voices are demanding fairer treatment by law enforcement and better opportunities in education and the workforce.

Many people are sympathetic with these voices and wish that something ‘could be done’ to fix these problems, but generally don’t know what that ‘something’ could be.  Others feel that blacks are ‘playing the race card’ and using it as an excuse for their own failings.  They believe that the culprits are the breakdown of the black family, drugs and a youth culture that tends to celebrate violence, misogyny and a rejection of societal values.

The police shootings are an example of how polarized our society is in danger of becoming.  Is there hope for a slow reconciliation of these views and a positive move toward better understanding?  Is there hope that the frequency of such tragedies will decrease?

Clearly, no reasonable person wants an unarmed man to be killed by police even if they have committed a crime.  But can we say that the police are never justified in shooting an unarmed man?  No, of course not.  The policeman’s job is very challenging with a constant potential for injury or death.  Historically, the benefit of the doubt has been given to the police, though it should certainly not be done without careful consideration of the events.  It is a dual responsibility of both the citizen and the policeman to avoid situations that escalate out of control or that cause a policeman to believe he is in mortal danger.  There are certainly cases where policeman have provoked that escalation.  But there are also times when unarmed individuals have made poor choices that resulted in their deaths.

Are young black men treated differently than any other group?  Yes, probably so.  Some would argue that there is justification for this profiling, and it is also difficult to know how much different the treatment of blacks is than of any other group in a high crime area.

No law can completely dictate police behavior.  Rules of engagement are already in place and must continue to be refined.  But in the end, there is an unwritten social contract between the people and the police that must be respected by both sides.  Heightened awareness on both sides due to the recent cases may contribute to a better future result.  And certainly the continuing integration of police forces will also help.  Let us hope so.

On the subject of how much racism and prejudice still exists in our society and how to eradicate it, I must again point to how polarized the existing views have become.  Are there racial stereotypes?  Of course!  Are blacks treated unfairly in the workplace and in education?  That is a more difficult question.

There is no doubt that predominantly black schools are more likely to be less ideal for education than predominantly white ones.  Is it because they receive less funds?  Funding is provided by the school district, and certainly school districts that are poorer will have less funding.  But is this a major disadvantage?  It is likely that the vicious cycle of poverty begetting poverty is more to blame than actual funding differences. Poor families, and especially single parent poor families, have less time, resources and education than wealthier families.  Less family support and resources, more violence and disruptive behavior in the neighborhood and in the school, and all of the other crushing burdens of being poor conspire to create a very challenging environment for education.

In the area of income and job opportunities, it seems to me that the black community is again at a distinct disadvantage because of the legacy of poverty and slavery.  But social and economic justice is a complex matter that cannot be corrected with the stroke of a pen.  Every impoverished community struggles to find a way to advance out of poverty, whether white, black, Hispanic or even Asian.  It is a sad truth of our 21^st century world that the gap between rich and poor is growing even in developed nations.

Do black Americans still face discrimination?  It would be presumptuous of me to say no, and I am sure that discrimination still occurs in both direct and subtle ways.  But I do not believe that discrimination itself is the most daunting barrier to progress, and more importantly, an activism that focuses on racial issues will increasingly receive a skeptical hearing and a deaf ear from the American public.  The battle must be fought on the field of economic gains for the working class – better vocational education, more jobs and higher paying jobs.  This is an agenda that can be embraced by every American of every race or ethnic background and both ends of the political spectrum.