Let’s begin with the facts. Xenophobia, a strong
antipathy or aversion to strangers or foreigners, is and has been a fact of
life with the human race ever since the creation of life. There is no question
as to its existence. It’s in our genes. The question is how in a civilized
society we can adequately discipline ourselves to control this trait within us
in order to maintain peace and harmony in our lives—to live with one another in
peace. There can be no peace without it.
Racism, a form of xenophobia, has been prominent among
our people in America from the very beginning of our history when our original
inhabitants, the American Indians, were joined (invaded if you will) by “the white
man” who subsequently introduced the slavery of “black people” from Africa in the
early seventeenth century. I believe it was Alexis De Tocqueville who wrote in
his book “Democracy in America”,
published around 1835, “They murdered the Indian and enslaved the Black”. Then
there were the Hispanic and Latino Americans.
The status, or state, of racism in our nation today is
currently a major issue, in the press, on television, and on-line. Especially today, one year after “Charlottesville,
the question naturally comes to the forefront. What’s happening? What is causing
the current eruption of our racial problems—the hate, the vitriol? Is it being
exacerbated by our current president, Donald Trump? People want to know. So,
before I go any further, please allow me to put one thing behind us—Donald
Trump’s part in this.
As you are aware, Donald Trump is not my favorite person. However, that having been said, our President Trump has absolutely nothing to do with our
current problem of racism in our United States. We should put that behind us
and go on with solving our problem—what is really wrong with our nation’s
racial relations.
I’ll be blunt about this. We the people will never
solve our problem of racism in our country until we want to. As long as we
continue to point our finger at “the other side”, we will continue down our
path of disunion and self-destruction. As has been said by John Dickinson in
his pre-Revolutionary War song, “Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all, by
uniting we stand, by dividing we fall!” We fought a Civil War over this matter.
We amended our Constitution to resolve it (The Fifteenth Amendment). Yet we the
people, for the most part, turned our backs on the solution. We ostracized the
blacks from our society. We refused them adequate employment, we barred them
from voting; and, worse of all, we refused them adequate education. It took one
hundred years until we passed the Civil Rights Act in 1965 in support of their
needs. And now, today, fifty three years later, we continue to inadequately
provide them with education of a quality to enable them to achieve gainful
employment.
Let’s understand this dilemma. If you, as an
individual or as a people, are raised in abject poverty; if you are inadequately
educated; if you are unable to live a life on par with others in your society;
and, to add insult to injury, if this lifestyle is forced upon you, as a
people, for three hundred-plus years, you are destined to be an inferior person
or people relative to others in your society. We have been doing this to you
for three hundred years and are insisting on continuing down this same “road”,
expecting you to compete on an equal level. What’s wrong with this picture?
There are always those who are able to rise above those kinds of obstructions
in life; but, I’m not one of them. For the most part, I doubt if you are
either.
From a different prospective. What I have said above,
notwithstanding, there can be no solution to the problem of racism without mutual
respect and trust by and for all. To this end, I’ll make the following
observation: I don’t like using these terms, but I must. I must be perfectly
candid that there be no misunderstanding. No matter what color (black, white,
brown, etc.) or ethnicity, there are what we term “low class” or underprivileged
people among all. We must help these folks to change their lifestyles for the
better, their manners, their language, their respect for and treatment of
others, and their obedience to law and order. Gangs, drugs, and so-called nasty
lifestyles must not be tolerated. And what do you get for your trouble in doing
this? Jobs, higher standard of living, social acceptance, fulfilled living, happiness,
and respect, i.e. a better life. Of course, nothing is ever guaranteed, but….
I submit to you that, unless our nation will provide
adequate levels of education to our people—all of our people, enable the
enhancement of our lifestyles and standard of living, and guarantee equal
opportunity to all, we will not solve our problem of racism.
These are my views. I’m interested in yours.
Ronald Miller
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