A war without end

Enough is enough. The war between the colors has got to end.
If the United States of America is ever going to heal from the wounds of her past, then we need to stop picking at the scabs. Otherwise, the injuries suffered her will become permanent scars.
I fear that they already are.
And we only have ourselves to blame.
The issue of race has been a central topic of debate since the earliest beginnings of our nation. Founding fathers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson held universal beliefs about the fundamental rights of men and recognized the suppression of those rights via the racist institution of slavery. Many founders, including slave owners Jefferson and Washington, came to see slavery as a wrong that needed to be righted. They just differed on how that was to be done. Some, like Adams, sought an immediate end to the practice, while others felt a gradual decline in the use of and demand for slave labor was necessary to avoid severe social and economic consequences.
Washington and Jefferson both believed that a sudden stop to slavery would not only cripple the economy of the American South, but would also turn loose thousands of people unprepared to take care of themselves and their families.
This perspective was paternalistic, to be sure, but it was a widely held view of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Unfortunately, Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin dramatically changed the dynamics of slavery and set back its end about another 70 years. Had there been no invention that increased the demand for slave labor, then the practice could well have ended a half century before it actually did.
Regardless, racial debates increased as the notion of Civil War became an inevitable reality. Irreconcilable differences between North and South resulted in long-term social consequences that are still felt very strongly today.
During Reconstruction, bitter whites formed supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan to take out their anger and frustrations on former slaves and free blacks. That bitterness wasn’t just confined to the war-torn South, either. Racism spread into the industrialized North, where former slaves and free blacks competed with whites for jobs. Many white workers resented the fact that the black man was competing with them for work.
The sad reality is that black Americans found no more success up north as free men than they had on Southern plantations in bondage. Escaped slaves prior to and during the Civil War discovered that hatred and resentment toward them existed perhaps more so up north as in the south. Likewise, former slaves learned that life as free men had its share of severe consequences formidable to those in bondage.
Since the Civil War, America has made slow, gradual progress toward racial equality, beginning with Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1862, which brought an official end to slavery in the United States. An amendment was later added to the Constitution, giving black men the right to vote and participate in this great republican democracy experiment. Gains toward equality would be painfully slow after that as America recovered from the deep wounds inflicted on her during the Civil War. In fact, it wasn’t until the 1950s that racial equality was looked at seriously and significant strides were made in its name.
But since then, America has been living up to its declarative promises more so than at any other period in her history. We ought to be proud of the lessons learned and accomplishments made toward racial equality, reconciliation and opportunity.
Sadly, though, we aren’t.
At a time when Americans ought to celebrate a coming of age of their nation’s enduring promises, we prefer instead to hold onto old vices, grudges and memories out of guilt and retaliation.
Many whites harbor the guilt of past wrongs inflicted by their ancestors upon others. Likewise, many blacks and other ethnic minorities brood over past wrongs done to their ancestors.
Reliving the past is no way to get beyond it. Yet, people like the Revs. Jeremiah Wright, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson want to keep pounding the nail and turning the screw tighter.
It’s one thing to remember the lessons of the past, but quite another to relive and revive wrongs that ought to be allowed to rest in peace.
Too many minority leaders today aren’t willing to do this, because racial reconciliation and lasting peace will mean an end to their individual power and influence. Who would need the Wrights, Sharptons or Jacksons of the world if people were to let go of their guilt and resentment? No one.
And that is why race continues to be a hot topic today. The so-called voices of the down-trodden need it to be if they are to remain relevant. Otherwise, they fade into history and obscurity.
We ought to be under no illusions: Racism between ethnic groups will always exist.
Racism today cuts across ethnic lines. Because of deep-seeded resentments, minorities have come to hate both the majority as well as one another. In the inner cities, neighborhoods have been divided by race and are often pitted against each other in a power struggle for racial superiority.
Contrary to what many academic sociologists have come to believe, racism is not institutional; meaning that it is a white-only problem, because the white institution is continually regarded as the majority.
Rather, racism is a personal problem that infects the heart and the mind. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines racism as (1) “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race; and (2) racial prejudice or discrimination.”
The fact that racism is a belief confirms that it is a problem of the human heart that knows no color.
The Black Panthers were a group of racist black crusaders intent on exacting revenge on white society. The Mexican group “La Raza” also seeks retribution against the so-called American “majority” for sins of the past, including the seizure of lands in the American Southwest as a result of the Mexican-American War. Oddly enough, “La Raza” translates into English as “The Race.”
In truth, racism can never be completely extinguished, because it is based upon innate human fear of change, the unknown and of differences. For this reason, we must not ignore history and its lessons.
However, we also must not fall into the trap of pessimism and cynicism by harboring unnecessary guilt, shame, resentment and hatred toward one another for the wrongs of the past.
Some of my ancestors were Southerners, and some may have even owned slaves. But what my ancestors did in their time does not reflect on my time. I’m a different person than they were, and just because there may have been a scarlet letter somewhere on my family tree does not mean I should bear it on my branch. I harbor no guilt for slavery or racism, because I know in my heart that I find slavery offensive and the idea of racial inequality unjust.
Those whites who cling to a guilty conscience in order to liberate themselves from the sins of the past are only fooling themselves. By bearing this guilt, they unnecessarily carry the chains of regret and shame along with them. Consequently, they end up living in deep-seeded misery all their lives, making themselves feel as though they are never truly free, but rather in a constant state of moral probation.
Conversely, ethnic minorities ought to be willing to let go of their grudges held over past mistreatment and injustices. Forcing whites to relive the sins of their fathers only causes resentment in the direction of hatred.
In recent years, certain minority advocacy groups have demanded reparations of the United States government over wrongs done to their ancestors. Not only is this a classic case of people unwilling to let go of the past, but it is also pure, unadulterated greed. Make no mistake: The demand for reparations is nothing more than an effort to get money, as though money will solve our nation’s racial problems. Money is like law: It is tangible, temporary relief that simply coats the wound like an ointment, making us feel better until its soothing effects subside. Then we just coat it again and again.
Unfortunately, all we end up doing is giving ourselves temporary pain relief. But we do nothing to treat the wound and let it heal. Rather, we have picked at it, and now, the wound has become infected.
If we aren’t careful and don’t seek meaningful treatment for our injuries, then the infection will spread to the point where permanent damage can occur.
Should the Wrights, Sharptons and Jacksons have their way, the wounds of America’s decades long race war will end up claiming her life.
If there is ever to be any further progress toward racial reconciliation and a realistic end to the war, then the American people as one need to forgive and forget what has been done. When I say forget, I mean to say that we ought not hold on to bitter memories, but rather let go and move on. This isn’t to suggest that we should ignore history or forget its lessons. But certainly, there can be no forgiveness if at first a person is unwilling to forget and let go of the past.
Whites must be willing to forgive themselves and their ancestors, while minorities must be willing to forgive what had been done to their ancestors.
Without forgiveness, there can be no real, meaningful healing. There can be no peace, no armistice, no end to the war.