Years ago, at the tail end of the height of the Civil Rights movement and the end of legalized or forced segregation, the question came up as to how we'd know when equality had been achieved.
It was an interesting question then, and continues to a certain extent to be interesting even today. How do we know when the problems of the past are behind us? Particularly when the movement to resolve those problems becomes an industry until itself?
But I distinctly remember a wise old man (and since I was only 17 "old" could have been anyone over 25) saying something that stuck with me. He said - and I'm paraphrasing - "Equality won't be when anyone can get into a restaurant regardless of the color of his skin. Equality will be when anyone can get kicked out of a restaurant and no one will think it was because of the color of his skin."
The way I interpreted that statement was to mean that when someone legitimately does something that deserves censure but can't hide behind race as the reason for that censure but instead is held accountable for his actions, then we're there.
I thought of this the other day when the story popped about the booing of the First Lady, Michelle Obama, at a NASCAR race. The first thing I heard was commentators saying that was typical of NASCAR fans, booing Mrs. Obama because she was black.
Thankfully, I also heard people say that was ridiculous, that Mrs. Obama was booed because people were expressing displeasure at her politics (and, more directly, the politics of her husband).
First let me make it clear that I don't think it is appropriate to boo anybody, and I do think the office of the President deserves respect even if we don't like the politics of the man who occupies that office. And while the First Lady is a public figure, I believe the family of the president should be respected.
And I'm not stupid. I know racism still exists.
I also know for a white guy to talk about racism is just asking for trouble. As comedian Dennis Miller once said he was so race conscious that when he did his laundry, he was afraid to separate the whites from the colors.
Mrs. Obama once famously said America is a "mean, mean country" of which she never felt proud until her husband was nominated to run for President.
But we hear that this is a racist country. That, I would argue with.
After all, is there any country that has as many laws - in many cases redundant laws - that are designed to not just promote but attempt to ensure racial equality?
Yes, this country indulged in slavery. So did just about every other country in the world at one time or another. Now, just because "they" did it does not make it right that we did it. Slavery is immoral, and we should never cease to work to eradicate it where it still exists today.
But this country has done a pretty good job of working toward that eradication. Remember, it was something like 360,000 mostly white males who died in a war that was, according to popular thinking, all about ending slavery (I would argue that the War of Northern Aggression - otherwise known as the "civil war" - was about more than that) and defending that uniquely American idea that "all men are created equal."
And it was mostly white people that voted to pass things like the 13th and 14th Amendments and the Civil Rights Act.
According to the 2010 Census, blacks make up only 12.6 percent of the entire population of the United States. That means an awful lot of white people had to vote for Michele Obama's husband, Barack, for him to earn first the nomination of his party and then be elected President of the United States.
It's a great thing that a black man was elected President. Black kids need to see a black man who isn't famous because he can hit 70 home runs or sing and dance and doesn't call women "ho's" or cruise the streets at night looking for a fix.
Because white kids can look and see white men who also do every one of those things, too.
David Mamet, in his book "The Secret Knowledge," wrote: "is the American Government of today guilty of slavery? If so, are those African American members of the Government equally guilty? Or, are the American People alive today guilty? If so, which citizens? The Black as well as the White? Is the guilt heritable, or not? If so, then would not those (the great majority of) Americans whose ancestors did not arrive until after slavery be exempt from apology? Are the ancestors of the 300,000 white males who died to defeat slavery excepted from apology? If not, on what basis are the descendants of slaves entitled to it?"
Don't tell me this is a racist country.
Oh, there are racist people who live in this country. And those people and their attitudes are a source of continual opposition, not just by law but also by the increasing moral force of so many people in this country who have proven able to look past the color of a person's skin to judge on that person's actions or potential (not to mention how high they can jump or how fast they can run or how well they sing or act or dance or host TV shows).
That's why I believe those people at that NASCAR race did not boo Michelle Obama because she's black but because she represented a President whose policies many people don't agree with.
And that's a good thing - not that people don't agree with the President, but that they don't agree with the President because of the things he has done, not because of the color of his skin.
Without question, it was a huge step forward for this country to elect a black man to the highest political office in the land.
The next big step will be choosing to vote for or against a man or woman because of their politics, without anyone thinking it might be because of the color of their skin.
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