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Introduction: Racism: Shall We Overcome?
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20136 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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2 / 1992 |
1,195 Words |
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Nearly fifty years ago, in his monumental study of America's problem of race relations, the Swedish social commentator Gunnar Myrdal wrote of an "American dilemma"--the gap and implicit choice between the religious and political ideals of the American Creed, which called for fair and just treatment of all people, regardless of race, creed, or color, and the overt practices of racial discrimination and prejudice, directed by whites against blacks, which took place in the daily life of the American people. The country stood at a crossroads, from where it could choose to follow the existing pathway of racial discrimination and hostility, or it could make the decision to honor its best ideals and eliminate differential treatment of its people on the basis of race. The tension of this choice, declared Myrdal, existed not only between Americans of varying attitudes and persuasions, but also within the heart of the individual citizen.
In the years since Myrdal commented, much has been done to implement the American Creed. The battles of the civil rights movement were fought to enforce the constitution, and today many blacks sit in important political offices: Douglas Wilder is governor of Virginia, the seat of the Old Confederacy; David Dinkins is mayor of New York, America's largest city. Blacks occupy senior executive positions at corporations that once refused to hire blacks. An emerging black middle class-educated at the best universities and living in integrated neighborhoods-holds professional positions in every area of public life.
Yet, somehow, we have not moved very far down the road of racial harmony. We seem currently to be experiencing a resurgence of racial antipathy. This is evidenced in various forms of racial conflict and overt acts of racial hostility in communities, in schools and universities, and in the workplace all across America.
Why? For one thing, we in America are inundated with questions and problems of race. Race has become a dominant feature in American politics and a distinguishing factor in allocating social rewards. Public policy and the law have become the sources, rather than the arbiters, of interracial tensions. "Protected classes" are now largely immune from normal criteria of public debate and criticism, and especially from being fired as employees. Rather than the law serving to constrain the fractiousness of race by deciding cases based on individual grievances, it now assumes race to be a fundamental ground for determining right. In caressingly, we no longer see ourselves as individuals, citizens among citizens, but as blood and gender types. The state, formerly a
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