we've watched the unfolding protests in this country and around the world over the horrific murder of george floyd by a uniformed police officer in minnesota. following soon after the killing of ahmad arbery, a young black man out jogging who was assumed to be up to no good by two white vigilantes, the killing of floyd seems to have been the last straw for many who see the racism that was so long suppressed in the usa coming to the surface during the administration of donald trump. the president's thinly disguised racism has encouraged those who had been afraid to openly express their hateful philosophy to come out of the shadows. it is a heartening sign that so many have joined and supported the protests in recognition that we can no longer allow racists to bully our society.
i have been surprised at the attitudes of some people that i have great affection for. the male member of a couple with whom we play cards said the other day, as we were discussing floyd's murder, that he didn't believe that black people in this country are discriminated against, though he agreed that floyd's killer should be brought to justice and that there had been discrimination in the past. my wife and i were horrified by his statement. he has lived all of his working life in an area where there are few blacks, the same area where we now live. it seems that the black population was driven from this community in the aftermath of the civil war, and the area has a reputation as a haven for racists of the worst kind. attitudes in the town have changed radically over the last twenty-five or so years, with the black population increasing, though it is still a minuscule part of the total population. we reminded him of how out of touch with the life of blacks in this country he was and pointed out to him many instances of discrimination that still exist, though i am certain that we didn't convince him that his position was wrong.
a few days later, his daughter posted a short essay on facebook, the main point of which was that, while racism exists, it has and always will because we are all imperfect sinners whose only hope is trusting that jesus died on the cross to atone for our imperfections. she went on to say that when she graduated from high school she was unable to be enrolled in the university of her choice because of affirmative action and that her husband had been turned down for jobs because of racial quotas in companies where he has applied. she has never lived in a racially diverse community, she and her family attend churches that have few black congregants, her children attend "christian schools" that are almost 100% white. in short, she has no inkling of the black experience in this country and believes that we must ignore history and declare that we now have a level playing field where everyone has equal opportunities.
no white person in this country can fully understand what it is like to be a black person in our society. we don't appreciate what it is like to be descended from people who were forcibly removed from their homes, brought across the atlantic ocean under the most inhumane conditions one can conceive, and enslaved, bought and sold like livestock in the public square to work in the fields so that a white family could live in luxury off the fruits of their involuntary, unpaid labor. we don't have to teach our children how to act in an appropriately servile manner when approached by a police officer. we don't have to suffer the indignity of being presumed to be a criminal because of the color of our skin.
it is easy to think that because we had no part in past injustices we are free of responsibility for them. every white person in this country has participated in the oppression of black americans in some way. my forbears were slave owners. they came to this state early in its history, bringing with them their slaves who had no choice in moving here. they were my great-great-grandfather's possessions, and it didn't matter that they had to leave the remainder of their family to come with him and his family to a new and strange place. even if our families never owned slaves, we've profited off the economic enslavement of black people, though those people were ostensibly free. before desegregation, many of our children enjoyed the best of a free public education, while most black children attended second-rate schools. after desegregation, so that a predominantly white society could pay lower taxes, public schools have been starved for funds, making it easy for white americans to say that they have to send their children to segregated private schools because of the inferiority of public schools. attempts to make up for past wrongs, such as affirmative action and hiring quotas, have been derided as discriminatory to white people, and conservative politicians and judges have done everything they can to do away with such public policies, with a great deal of success.
we now see the fruits of our past actions. it is no wonder that black people and their supporters are rising up against an unjust system designed to "keep black in their place," subservient to a white majority that is increasingly a smaller proportion of the population as a whole. this fact strikes fear in the hearts of those who want to "make america great again," a code for returning to a past that made injustice and inequality part of the legal foundation of our country. if we are to be a truly great, we have to right the wrongs of the past and face our history honestly. while we can't live in the past, we shouldn't forget it either, since it informs the present state of our country.
may we truly make america great by embracing the ideals of the declaration of independence, even if its principal author didn't always live his own life in accord with those ideals. may we see that we all have to play our part in righting past wrongs, even when it is costly to us. may we be quiet and listen, learning from those who cry out against their continuing maltreatment, as we seek to understand what their experiences must be like. shalom.
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