I’m going to start with my usual caveat on the topic of race: Race is an artificial construct that is used to divide people. There is only one race, the human race. However, because so many people have accepted the concept of different races amongst human beings and it drives much of our political discussion, one is forced to talk about this divisive concept of race.
As far as race goes today, we all know the history of slavery in America, and the struggle to bring and enforce equal protection under the law, in voting, in civil rights.
So many years with achievement after achievement, the narrative has decidedly pointed the opposite way. “Things are as bad as they ever were, and getting worse.” “The oppressors vs the oppressed.” “institutionalized racism” and all that jazz. Examine who is feeding the narrative and exposing what their agenda is, to divide people, to put people into identity politic boxes and feed us against each other for their own quest for power or whatever sick pleasure they are getting out of it. The narrative needs to change! The narrative is holding people back and getting people killed!
Booker T. Washington said this in 1911: "There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public… Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs… There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well."
That narrative has only gotten worse, from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to Louis Farrakhan and his ilk, with the media feeding into a permanent grievance mentality. What has that done for black folk?
Alan Keyes, in his book Masters of the Dream, said this:
“As long as people see the black identity as a purely negative consequence of external oppression, this criticism of the pursuit of black autonomy may be justified. As a negative fact, black ethnicity is defined in opposition to the oppressor, the racial enemy. Louis Farrakhan, or militant rappers like Sister Souljah and Public Enemy represent this kind of thinking. They appear to accept the ultimately self-degrading view that the only thing black Americans have in common is their heritage of oppression. This naturally leads to the belief that the only reliable passion we share in common is hatred of the oppressor.
“Hatred sustains two possible responses: avoidance or destruction of the hated object. So this negative view of the black ethnicity culminates in strategies that envisage violent conflict and, eventually, physical separation from “white dominated” American society. Of course, from a black viewpoint, both these outcomes are self-destructive delusions. If we define the enemy as nonblack American society, it is clearly an enemy blacks aren’t strong enough to defeat by violence. So the impulse stirred by the rhetoric of hate feeds black-on-black violence instead. Physical separation, even if it were possible, would most likely mean confinement to a racial ghetto with all the disadvantages of today’s predominately black urban centers, but no avenue of distraction or hope of eventual escape.
“For all their seeming militancy, therefore, those who base their actions on the negative view of black ethnicity aren’t true militants at all. The most militant approach is the one that works, not one that leads to self-defeat and self-destruction. But the negative view of black ethnicity is not the only alternative.
“In the course of this work, we have come to see the black moral identity as a positive reality, based on values that sustain both individual achievement and community cooperation. The idea of black autonomy need not, therefore, entail violence, or an effort to separate ourselves from “the enemy.” It can mean, instead, an effort to develop communities that reflect and preserve the moral character that emerged from black-American experience. In pursuing this goal, black Americans can act out of respect for ourselves, not hatred of others.”
So where are we going? Forward and unity? Or destruction (including self-destruction) and dis-harmony?
Now let’s examine the “Anatomy of a Racist. There are three common characteristics of racists:
1) They don’t see individuals; they only see groups (the collective)
2) They are unable to judge a situation fairly or objectively
3) They seek power by creating conflict and dividing people for personal gain
Now Mac1958, let’s examine your first line where you say you’re someone who “sees PLENTY of room for improvement on BOTH ends of this issue,” I suspect you’re talking about left/right; Democrat/Republican; etc., the usual simplistic two-party duopoly that’s often offered in political discussions (Correct me if I’m mistaken). The true contrasting “ends” are those who seek racial harmony and unity versus those who seek disharmony and divisiveness. But if any party has and always has been the driving force of civil rights, racial harmony and unity, yes, it’s been the Republicans. But that doesn’t fit the narrative of the dishonest government-media complex, so they name-call and twist facts, putting the blame on the helpers and healers instead of the perpetrators. It's quite a slight-of-hand trick.
As for “a national discussion on race,” yeah, often those who say that aren’t really interested in a dialogue, they’re interested in a monologue and any disagreement will result in the usual name-calling. If only there was true dialogue with open minds to hear facts and truly seek unity instead of division.
“Has anything been done to actually improve race relations?” As many have said, it’s really up to individuals to treat each other with respect regardless of racial identity. Most people I’m sure really want that. But there does seem to be an increasing number of those who don’t. People have profited from racial conflict (look at the so-called “Black Lives Matter” group, that raked in the money big-time, plus racial huckster Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow Coalition). So whatever I and my like-minded friends (Christian or not) attempt to do in loving one another and treating others with respect is constantly overridden by the narrative which justifies outrage and hatred and thefts and riots.
At the point where people put aside the false narrative, only then can racial healing take place.
A common tactic amongst the intellectually dishonest is to label somebody who is in a racial minority and doesn’t toe a particular political world view a “race traitor.” It is preposterous that a person is suppose to adopt a group-think that matches every single person in that racial category. One cannot even find a spouse who espouses 100% of your philosophy, so what makes one think that all person of a racial category are supposed to think alike? People of a racial majority do not think alike, so likewise a racial minority has diverse thoughts, even those who have been historically discriminated against. We need to break mindless group-think.
“Blexit” (Black folk rejecting and exiting the left-wing narrative) was a good start, freeing oneself from the false narrative that comes from the Democratic-Media complex and thinking for oneself. We need more of that, starve the beast of divisiveness and identity politics.
When the grievance manipulators and finally ousted from all sources of power, political, education, and the media, only then will racial harmony take place. Kill your television, demand school choice or take part in home schooling curriculum, don’t vote for racial agitators, don’t give them money, don’t even listen to them, block them, pay them no heed. Vote for unity (but I don’t mean mindless conformity), not division. Yeah we’re a loooong way from that. But remember, the journey begins with that first step. If you’re not-a-steppin’, you’re not part of the solution.
