Preserving American Values

Over the years, I have written several posts about the necessity for this country to have a serious discussion about racism in order to free not just Blacks* but all Americans from this terrible curse at long last. For example, in April 2019, I wrote a post, “We Need a National Discussion on Race and Racism” printed in this volume under Racism.

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and the nationwide protests, while the subject of racism is in the air, most of the action agenda proposed has to do with how to reform police departments. While this is much needed and will undoubtedly be helpful, it does not touch the underlying problem.

Further, this is not just a police issue. This is a national issue that touches almost everyone and certainly impacts Blacks in all aspects of their lives.

We must use the opportunity of masses of Whites coming together to protest the treatment of Blacks by police, and predominantly White legislatures responding, to focus attention and discussion on the much more difficult issue of acknowledging and undoing the continuing destructive impact of racism in America.

That is the legacy of slavery and it still impacts both Whites and Blacks. Economically, it keeps our country from maximizing its potential. Spiritually, it keeps us from achieving our full humanity.

This may be our last chance to truly transform and reenergize our country so that the statement in the Declaration of Independence becomes based in reality, not just aspirational: that, “All men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these Rights, governments are instituted among men.” Our last chance to achieve Martin Luther King’s dream that all of us will be able to join hands and say, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

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* I should note that I use the term “Blacks” rather than the possibly more politically correct “African-American” because I don’t approve of these hyphenated euphemisms. We are all Americans; that should go without saying. The hyphenated form, by qualifying people, whether African, Latino, or Asian, seems to connote a less than full American. I also capitalize “Blacks” out of respect for the defined group of millions of Americans, citizens with a powerful history and culture, that it represents.