Racism

 

The 1960's were a watershed time for me, not to mention for this country.  It gave us a vision and a path forward for healing our systemic and personal racism that had afflicted us, and indeed all humankind.  Dr. King said, and I humbly quote this great man: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!"  

We proceeded to live into this dream over this last half-century.  The 1960's led to the outlawing of systemic racism in businesses and education, and branded racism in all its forms as inappropriate to this country's founding ideals.  Although we can look into the human heart and see brokenness, corruption and evil of all kinds, and we always will until Christ comes again, nonetheless, racism became known as un-American, for which we can say, thanks be to God.  

Americans of all races sought to live this ideal.  The greatest and freest society this planet has ever seen welcomed millions of African Americans and other minorities into its burgeoning middle class, even to the extent that Whites are no longer the highest category of wage-earners, Asians are.  Working seamlessly in industry alongside all races was the norm.  Looking to the content of one’s character, not the color of one’s skin, was how we decided who would be our friend.  And, finally in 2009, we elected our first black president, something most could celebrate whether they agreed with Obama’s governing philosophy or not.   

But something else happened in the 1960’s, which was Lyndon Johnson’s “War of Poverty.”  Like the Civil Rights Movement of the same decade, it was an ideal worth striving for.  Like FDR’s “New Deal,” it set up safety-net programs that assure that the poorest in our country have necessities of food, clothing, shelter and medical care.  It has made a real and lasting difference, particularly for no-whites, but it failed to move the poverty line below the chronic 13% (or so) that it has historically been over the last half century.[1] We did not win the war on poverty, and while we were trying to create a classless society, we inadvertently created a new class- the entitlement class. It contributed to the destruction of the family unit with the government providing for families rather than fathers. 

 [1]        Census Bureau -   https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/09/poverty-rates-for-blacks-and-hispanics-reached-historic-lows-in-2019.html

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