The issue of race and racism requires a good bit of background work before we can assess where we are now as a society on race and how best to move forward to where we want to be – a place where people are judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. So, I will use this and perhaps an additional 500 word post to lay the groundwork before I attempt to show why the MAGA approach – to demonize and ban CRT , rather than embracing it (when CRT is properly defined), is a bad idea and does not comport with Jesus’ teaching.
Perhaps I went a bit overboard in Part I by implying that God designed us to be racists. Maybe God originally designed us to all love and respect one another regardless of distinguishing physical characteristics and that dastardly first couple, Adam and Eve with Satan’s help, screwed up God’s perfect design and we have had this selfish tribal “us” versus “them” bent ever since. Who knows? But clearly the bent is there and left unaddressed, we are not going to change for the better.
Before considering what is necessary to move forward positively, let’s consider how far we have come and at what great effort and cost it took to get to where we are. The European colonizers of America developed a system of slavery that was unparalleled in human history for its cruelty. What set “our” system apart was that slavery was inheritable; humans were born as slaves. The Europeans were all Christians, right? Why would they do such a horrible thing? Because enslaving black people was so profitable and so feasible. The Africans were much more capable than any other race (e.g. native Americans or whites) at doing the necessary labor to make the Europeans rich. In such a situation the Bob Toburen adage: “Seldom do men see evil in enterprises from which they prosper” applies. The reason it was uniquely feasible is because the Africans had their easily identifiable black skin and initially, there was no viable place where they could go to escape. Their native land was an ocean away. In order to maintain this system and to justify to themselves and others that what they were doing was ok, slave owners went to great lengths to prove that blacks were inferior to whites or were perhaps a sub-human race. (It became a crime in some states to teach slaves to read.) In the last post I mentioned T Jefferson challenging future scientists to prove blacks’ inferiority. The pseudo-science of phrenology was the first to answer the call and then Darwin’s “Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life” provided just what the racists wanted.
Through fours years of terrible death and destruction, America ended the enslavement of black people. However, they were by no means accepted as equals in American society. Afterall, the science of the day showed that whites (later termed “Caucasians”) were the superior race and other races were inferior by degrees with blacks ranked at the very bottom of the human spectrum. That was not just the mindset of the former Confederates; it was a nationwide perspective.
In the decade that my father was born, there were two US Supreme Court cases that make this abundantly clear. As now, people from all over the world wanted to immigrate to the US. The Americans then only wanted to allow the best to become new citizens. Consequently, our immigration laws restricted citizenship to “whites only”. In 1922 Takao Ozawa’s application for citizenship was heard by the SCOTUS. He was from Japan, had become a successful businessman in CA, spoke perfect English and was a Christian. He argued that he should be allowed citizenship because his skin was whiter than most “whites” living in America. In a unanimous decision, the Court said NO. It is not simply whiteness that matters, you must be a “Caucasian” to become a US citizen. The following a year, Baghat Thind, who was from Punjab, who also had white skin, appealed for citizenship on the basis that he came from a region near the Caucasus Mountains – that he was therefore more “Caucasian” than most white Americans. Sorry said a unanimous SCOTUS; you may technically be a Caucasian, but most Americans looking at you would see that you don’t appear white.
Can you imagine such decisions by our Supreme Court today? The key point here is that we have invested a huge amount of effort and come a long way from where we began. However, there is still more work to be done. Banning teaching how we have gotten as far as we have come is not going to is not going to get us to where we want to be – a society that embraces the radical concept that “all men are created equal.”
Most Relevant Comments
Mike Norton I would be more amenable to the teaching of CRT if it was comprehensive and accurate in its teaching. I agree that the slavery in America was more harsh but I would like people to know that 95% of slaves in the America’s were imported by the Spanish and Portuguese and only 5% of slaves made their way to the British colonies where views were very mixed hence the move by Brits and many Americans to make it illegal, I also want noted that the slavery in the US as evil as it was far less harsh than in South America where conditions were so brutal that most slaves lived less than 10 years. Also that Africans became very rich selling slaves as well as using them. Slavery has a long history in Africa especially in the Muslim nations. By 1850 as the West and Europe had or were rejecting slaves, there were actually more slaves in Africa than in the Americas. In fact, as we speak, nearly 10 million slaves exist in Africa. This makes slavery no less terrible here but it does provide a more accurate view that never makes its way to the schoolroom. Interestingly there is a new and very entertaining film, The Woman King, in theaters which highlights early 18th century Dahomey. A nation that, at the time was 5 times richer than Britain on the basis of slave trading as well as indigenous use of slaves on Dahomey plantations. It also highlights the famous Akoji women warriors. In the film, it depicts Viola Davis as their leader actively opposing slavery but in reality the Akoji were ectermely violent and a terror in capturing nearly a million native Africans and enslaving them. In fact, the British eventually blockaded the Dahomey ports to try to shut down the slave trade that was so profitable to the Dahomey tribes.
David Treppendahl Mike Norton remember that the people who owned the slaves in North America were not only Christians, they were the ones who said the core belief of their new nation was that “all men are created equal”. I don’t think that concept ever occurred to the Ruling class in South America in the 18th or 19th century.
Also, my theme here continues to be What approach should followers of Jesus take regarding mitigating racism The US today?
For CRT to make a positive difference it is essential that it be taught truthfully and appropriately. If it is simply about making whites feel guilty, then I am against teaching it.
Mike Norton i would prefer the whole concept race be abolished. Skin color should be treated like hair or eye color. An attribute.
Bob Kirby Mike Norton Morgan Freeman said it best to Mike Wallace when referring to Black History Month “Freeman elaborated: Black history is American History, and so shouldn’t be delegated to a single month where we pay attention to it. Wallace pushed back: how’re we supposed to end racism without it? Freeman responded, “Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man. And I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.”
Paul Peters Bob Kirby , very good post
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