Issue 82 Are we past race May 22, 2013

Short answer is no. We will never be passed race. While Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made great strides in removing the racism in our American culture, it has not disappeared. Rather race appears and disappears depending on what is going on.

How far have we come?: We are so much better than before. There is very little discrimination in respect to race itself in the negative sense. Instead, we are dealing with what has been coined as reverse racism. In this, we give people of certain races deference when it comes to employment such as Black Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans (this is known as affirmative action). They get hired sometimes even if a white individual is better qualified for a position simply due to skin color. Sometimes a black person will be hired over a Hispanic or an Asian person due to quotas. This happens a lot in government and even in the private sector because people fear looking racist. However, I question the logic behind these "reverse racism" practices as in truth it is out and out racism for you are basically saying that they can't achieve higher employment or education with out the white mans help. People add the word "reverse" in front just to make themselves feel better doing it. Many believe we are past this issue, but until such practices end, we will be caught in the death spiral of race based on color.

Racism is not just about color: Originally, racism was based around specific physical traits like skin color, but unfortunately Hitler changed that. He used the principles of eugenics (a defunct science) to deem people of the Jewish faith as an entirely different race. As a result over time religions and discrimination of people who worship in those faiths has become a form of racism. Eugenics has also played the same role in making it racist when people of a certain ethnic background are discriminated against. Overall, it is not about skin color any more, but about a common bond shared amongst a group of people that is being used to put them down in some way shape or form.

Racism is everywhere: Yes, we still suffer from racism in the U.S. This is a given due to government and private entities using things like affirmative action. It is also because we have hate groups on all sides as hate groups like the KKK, the Neo Nazis and even groups like the New Black Panthers preach some form of hate. But racism is also used to justify genocide even in the 21st century. No, I’m not talking about the Holocaust, but the genocide in Sudan. It is Arab Muslims who control the government killing African Muslims in the province of Darfur. They consider the African Muslims inferior to the Arab Muslims and have committed numerous atrocities in the name of cleansing the world of an inferior race. This as many would agree is out and out disgusting. But unfortunately simple differences in race are used to justify killing and discrimination all over the globe. This is not an isolated incident, but an epidemic of hate. No man should kill another for any reason save protecting themselves and there families from harm by another individual or group.

Conclusion: We all have work to do. Racism is a perversion of the world. It violates Gods teachings and I'm sure it violates the very principles of atheists as well. The tolerance policy by governments has done good. We tolerate each other as we attempt to co-exist, but tolerance is not enough. I do not want to just tolerate you being near me and working with me. It is time to take the next step, by accepting and finally understanding who we all are and what we have in common. Yes, two more steps, acceptance and understanding. We are all one race, the Human Race. We share so much in common and if we understood that, the disagreements will be pale in comparison. Our bond as a united people is in what we all share. We are human, we love freedom, we want to give ourselves and our families a happy healthy life, we all believe in something, and more. How can we all be right and yet all be so wrong at the same time? Surely we all have a role to play in destroying racism. Yes, people will be used as scapegoats when it comes to times of pain and torment, but we can and will get past this eventually. Just remember one thing, we have all been oppressed and we have all been an oppressor at one time or another in history and sometimes we are both at the same time. Once we understand that we are both victims and victimizers then maybe we can get past the hate passed from one generation to the next and move on to a brighter future.