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Those Who Would Be Free: Where the Civil Rights Movement Went Wrong
| Article
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13727 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1988 |
4,703 Words |
| Author
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Alan L. Keyes
Alan Keyes is currently a resident scholar at the American
Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. He was assistant
secretary of state for international organizational affairs
from 1985-87. |
From its beginning as an independent nation, the United States has been committed in principle to certain ideas about political equality and freedom and to the notion that these ideas apply to all human beings. Today, the universality of America's basic principles is something more than an abstraction. On the basis of those principles, we have created an open society that includes people from every race, religion, and ethnic group in the world. We have truly become a nation of nations, a people of many peoples.
Neither the world's history nor the present experience of other countries offers much hope that a nation composed of so many diverse elements can sustain its unity, much less preserve its freedom. National, racial, religious, and linguistic differences continue to fuel violent conflicts on every continent and in virtually every region of the globe. Apparently human beings often prefer to fight in order to maintain an unambiguous concept of their identity rather than compromise that concept for the sake of their common humanity. The passions that produce these conflicts may not be entirely negative. After all, the sense of self-worth, self-discipline, and self-respect that can result from keeping faith with one's people or one's God may be the most reliable foundation for moral action. If such transcendent moral commitment were impossible, what basis would there be for the integrity of family society, or political community? If the compromise of one's identity for the sake of common humanity means the relaxation of these essential moral qualities, doesn't one sacrifice the real for an empty dream of human community?
These questions should at least lead to the recognition that there may be good reasons for people to cling fiercely to what they regard as the basis of their distinct identity. Yet how can Americans reconcile this inclination with the assertion of universal principles that assume recognition and acceptance of a common humanity?
The Issue of Slavery
In American history, the situation of blacks has starkly posed this dilemma. If the principles of our national identity, as set forth in the Declaration of Independence, applied to all human beings, then they applied to blacks. Until the mid-nineteenth century blacks were unjustly enslaved; thereafter they were denied full participation in the political, economic, and social life of the United States. But though slavery and segregation were unjust, it was also necessary, given our constitutional principles, to respect the will of the white
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