Race Relations and Reconciliation in America

I couldn't come up with a catchy headline for this post, so I had my daughter read it and she couldn't come up with one either. She did say that I'll probably be called names and be subject to some harsh criticism from both sides of this subject. That's probably true, but I don't care. I try to be objective in my criticism, but no matter how I try, I can't make everyone happy. Case in point, I have heavily criticized Donald Trump since way before he announced his candidacy and continue to criticize him to this day. In spite of that, a Hillary Clinton supporting friend of mine unfriended me recently because my continued criticism of Clinton proved that I was just too pro-Trump for her to be friends with me. I literally laughed out loud.

So, beware. I'm going to offend somebody. I'm not trying to, but it can't be helped.

Here goes.

In case you have been living under a rock the past couple of days, an outrageous, despicable, evil, racist, hate crime was committed earlier this week. While the media has been portraying the perpetrators of this crime as just teenagers, they were all adults. Three of them are 18 and the fourth is 24. Adults. The man they victimized was also an adult teenager, 18 years of age, but he is also mentally disabled which, in my mind, magnifies the evil of the act committed.

Thankfully, all of the people involved with the attack have been arrested and hopefully will be brought to justice.

While the story is a couple of days old, the reaction to the video and the news is what I find bothersome. Don Lemon of CNN claimed that this was not an evil act, but rather, the people who perpetrated this act were not raised properly at home. It may be that they didn’t receive a proper upbringing, but that doesn’t relieve them of their conscience which is why the United States justice system will try them for their crimes, not their parents and how they were raised.

Chicago Police Department Commander, Kevin Duffin said that “Kids make stupid decisions,” when asked if the behavior of the perpetrators would be a hate crime. I agree kids do make stupid decisions, but most teenage stupid decisions don’t result in crimes being committed. Even in the stupidest teenager, conscience takes over before a crime is committed. Remember Brock Turner? Did he make a stupid decision? No he committed a crime and was found guilty, but the judge made a stupid decision and let him walk with 12 weeks’ time served and probation when 14 years was recommended.

Let’s review: Brock Turner is a criminal and his judge was stupid. These four adults committed a criminal act and I just hope they don’t get a stupid judge or jury.

I am bothered by many on the right who say that there is no outcry about this event. There are no hashtags, there isn’t wall-to-wall media coverage, and where is the outcry from the black community calling for justice? The same people who are saying there are no hashtags also haven’t created and promoted any. The media may not be covering this wall-to-wall, but if you Google “Chicago hate crime,” you will find page after page of media coverage, news, videos, images, and on and on. I can’t speak for the black community, but the person who made me aware of this crime was a black friend of mine on Facebook. President Obama spoke out about this crime calling the act “despicable” and a “hate crime.” His words, not mine. I don’t need Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson to say anything when the most prominent figure in black America calls this crime despicable and a hate crime. So, why manufacture more anger?

Another reaction to this event and the reason I chose to write on this subject is an article from an alt-right source which referred to this attack as being perpetrated by “#BlackLivesMatter Supporters.” Calling these people Black Lives Matter supporters bothers me. This is nothing more than an attempt to delegitimize some very real concerns that black people have in modern America. This is the very same thing that the leftist (and unfortunately much of it mainstream) media does when they point out that most white supremacists supported Trump for president. To defend Trump against these claims by accurately portraying Trump supporters as a diverse group of people and then to lump all black people together based on the actions of a fringe minority is, at best, hypocrisy, but more than likely, it is just racism raising its ugly head.

I will admit openly to being wary of the leadership of the Black Lives Matter organization. They are openly Marxist, have called for violent revolution, and have made absolutely ridiculous demands on the country. I will also say that the media, both left and right have sensationalized the so-called Black Lives Matter protests, which may have started out as protests, but a small group of ignoramuses and anarchists turn these peaceful protests into riots where private property is looted and burned. Let me emphasize that they are a small group—a fringe minority at best.

I have many black friends. Like the average black demographic, the majority of my black friends are Democrats, but because of the circles in which I travel, I’m pretty sure that there are quite a few more conservatives in my circle of friends than the average five percent across the black demographic. Most of my black friends, including some of the conservatives, are also supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement. None of them has promoted violence against whites, a violent overthrow of the United States, nor have they been involved in burning and looting private property.

It may be that my black friends are the exception to the rule, but I don’t think so. The majority of black Americans who support Black Lives Matter do not support the wanton destruction of property inflicted by a few idiots. Black people in the United States have some real grievances and some of that is due to white people in the United States glossing over our own history, not just white history, but American history.

I’m not saying that white people should go around apologizing to black people for slavery nor should the government do so. Bernie Sanders said that America never apologized for slavery, but I hope he was just trying to win some political points because otherwise, he displays a very dangerous ignorance of history. American politicians, including some who were slave owners have been apologizing for slavery since before the founding of the country and continued to do so long after slavery had ended.

I’m not saying that white people should go around apologizing to black people for segregation and Jim Crow, nor should the government do so. The apology for these horrible crimes against black America was made by voting for politicians who passed the various Civil Rights Acts which are still encoded in federal law and remain as a stark reminder that there was a time in America when one group of humans degraded and enslaved another group because of the color of their skin and what we know now to be a genetic difference so small that a black man and a white man have more in common genetically than they do with their own female relatives.

I’m not saying that there ought to be reparations for America’s past because many citizens of the United States, including most white people do not even have slave owning ancestors. The majority of white people living today were not even conceived when segregation and Jim Crow were a reality in America. So, I’m certainly not telling white people to be guilty for something the majority of us had no part in, but I am saying we need to be honest about the history of this country including slavery and the Southern Confederacy.

I hope it was clear from my first paragraph that I am also not saying that black people can’t be racist. They can be and that was evident earlier this week. However, for most black Americans, racism is a reality they deal with on nearly a daily basis if not every day. While slavery is only history and segregation is a distant memory for the older generation of black Americans, racism and racial stereotypes about black Americans still persist in America and the headline I referenced above perpetuates the stereotypes as well as racism.

If we are going to have real racial reconciliation, it is important for people to end the stereotypes. End the stereotypes of police who are all a bunch of racist white guys out hunting for black kids to shoot. End the stereotypes of Black Lives Matter supporters as nothing more than a bunch of whiny thugs who want to steal anything they can get their hands on and destroy everything else. End the stereotypes of all white people being racists. End the stereotype of all black people being lazy and entitled, just wanting free stuff.

The list could go on.

The way reconciliation happens is we step out of our comfort zone and out of our echo chamber and into acquaintanceships, friendships, and eventually relationships with people who look different and think differently than we do. There is a documentary that came out just last month called Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis about a black man who makes it a point to befriend members of the Ku Klux Klan. His belief is that many racists are the way they are because they have never personally met black people and gotten to know them. This is often true wherever you find any kind of animosity and was true in this case. Daryl Davis has converted, if you will, hundreds of former Klan members from racism to tolerance.

Every problem won’t be solved over night, but they won’t be solved at all if we can’t reach across the aisle and get to know people different from us. What we usually find when we open the doors of communication with people who think differently from us is that “those people,” whether they are black, Asian, Muslim, Christian, atheist, Democrats or Republicans, aren’t our opposition or even our opposites. They want the same things we do. They want to live their lives in peace, to raise their children in safe neighborhoods, to have a chance at prosperity, and enjoy life. They may disagree with us as to the means, but there will never be compromise as long as we look at people who are different from us as the opposition. There will never be reconciliation as long as we allow anyone to perpetuate stereotypes.

I’m an advocate of free speech, even speech that offends me. I am an advocate for people of all philosophies to have the freedom to spout their ideas in any forum they would like to. However, my free speech advocacy also comes with the caveat that others will have the freedom to rebut, critique, and debunk those ideas they find offensive. I will try to be constructive in my criticism, but sometimes, stupid is just stupid and there’s no other way to say it.

By the way, I figured out a title. Maybe not catchy, but at least I have a title now.