Making things right (2)

Dr. King once famously said he dreamed of a day when a man was judged not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.

Speaking for myself, I can't remember a time when I "judged" a person by the color of his skin upon first meeting the person. Of course, sometimes the person's character becomes evident the minute they open their mouth and speak, or when you read the writing on his T-shirt, but I have never said to myself, "Here comes a black man. I know what he's going to be like."

Of course, I grew up in the north and MLK experienced what he experienced in the south and formed his opinions about white people and black oppression from his own experiences there. He was right. On the other hand, just because blacks living in the north in the late 1950s or early 1960s didn't have the police set dogs on them or get sprayed with high pressure fire hoses when they tried to eat at the Woolworth lunch counter didn't mean they didn't suffer humiliating treatment or otherwise experience racism. Surely, sometimes the "quiet racism" of smiling white liberal Christians must be nearly as exasperating as police dogs. That's just my personal observation; I don't have any way of knowing for sure.

So, I ask myself where "prejudice" started in the first place. Way back at the beginning of mankind, was there racial conflict back then? Because it sure doesn't seem like it started in recent history. If this weird desire to not be around each other (it probably works both ways) DOES go back for thousands or tens of thousands of years, then maybe it had its roots in some sort of instincts back then. Just speculating.

What if humans have ALWAYS had this uneasiness inside them that made them be wary of ANYTHING new, anything different than themselves. A survival mechanism. Whatever. At the very root of it all, isn't that what "discrimination" or (insert your own hate-word here) is defined as? "You are different than I am. Let me slowly and carefully check you out and see if you mean to hurt me or not."

It's a good instinct to have if you meet a bear or a lion. Perhaps it's good to be a bit wary when you meet a new person, too. Especially if that person in some way looks different than you. Maybe that's why little children when they are "shy" take a while to warm up to a stranger and make sure there is no danger before they get too friendly. In today's world, good for them.

But, after being around another group of people for hundreds and hundreds of years, it would seem only natural that you would not be wary anymore. Not at first, at least. There is obviously much more than initial instinct at work here. Modern racism is obviously (to me) learned behavior.

Article about prejudice

(continued)

Making things right (part one)

Is racial discrimination wrong? Always wrong? Political discrimination? Religious discrimination? Nationalistic discrimination?

The dictionary I am reading says discriminate means to recognize distinctions; to differentiate; to perceive differences between.

Then it goes on to say in another meaning it means "to make an unjust or prejudicial distinction in the treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, sex or age."

Obviously it is the last definition this post is talking about.

Thesaurus examples include: be biased against, be prejudiced against, treat differently, treat unfairly, put at a disadvantage, single out, victimize.

Is it possible for a government to discriminate in that sense? Is it possible for a government to correct or remedy discrimination in it's society? Is it possible to discriminate against a majority? -- or only against a minority? (Sometimes the minority has the power.)

In places like colonial India, or apartheid South Africa, where people treated unequally were in the vast majority, was that still considered discrimination?

What is "reverse" discrimination? That one seems a bit convoluted.

What should be done by a government to combat discrimination in the private day-to-day interactions of people? Or is that beyond the scope of government?

A government can't change minds but it can force people to do certain things. Apparently, when government is involved, the object is to create a level playing field rather than change people's minds? (That's a question.)

Today is MLK's birthday, and tomorrow will be the corresponding national holiday, so that's why I was contemplating this subject and wondering how far we've come and what we have really accomplished with regards to racial equality in this country. Have we simply driven racism underground for the most part? Not even that? We continue in our polarized parallel societies, it seems.

If I hate you, will you hate me back?

Since I started blogging some time ago, I have met some nice people who have become my friends, people who have patiently pried my closed mind open a few inches, people who have explained to me that my way of thinking is not the only way. My dear loyal friend A.; the always irreverent but oh-so-compassionate Ettarose; an old friend named Caroline who used to come around. People like that. These people have given me so much more than I have given them. Mostly, they have made me think. You can thank THEM for the following post.
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Are you an original version Star Trek fan? Often you can explain deeper things by recalling the early episodes of Star Trek:

In this episode, there was an alien “cop” chasing an alien “fugitive” across time and space and had been doing so for eons. As luck would have it, the fugitive beamed himself aboard the Enterprise and claimed sanctuary. I know, I know. But when the cop alien came aboard and demanded Kirk give up the fugitive to him, Kirk asked him why he was trying to bring him back to segregation on the home planet.

Here, you must remember the terrible make-up jobs in the early episodes. The two aliens had half black skin and half white skin. There was a line right down the middle of their faces starting at the top of their foreheads, running down between their eyes, down the middle of their noses, down across the middle of their lips and chins, down the middle of their necks. They were black black on one side and white white on the other side. Terrible makeup: like a mime or clown white on one side of their face and greasy black blackface on the other side of their face. Ridiculous. But it was to prove a point.When Kirk asked the “cop” alien why they were fighting, that they looked exactly the same to him, the “cop” alien was shocked at what Kirk had said: “Are you BLIND??? He’s white on the LEFT side!!!”

The Middle East is kinda like that, Ettarose. Only, substitute “Jewish and Islamic” for “black and white.” Gimme that old-time religion.
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What is “prejudice?”

Prejudice is many things, but, in the end, prejudice is hate. Prejudice is a special kind of hate that happens when someone is perceived to be somehow different than another.

Often that difference is very small, almost laughably small - like the aliens who looked exactly the same to Captain Kirk. One thing you can count on, though, and that is that the stronger of the two entities will somehow try to bully the weaker.

Maybe someone speaks English with a thick Spanish accent.

Maybe someone wears foreign-looking clothing to school.

Maybe someone wants to love someone of the same sex.

Maybe - and this is almost unbelievable - maybe someone has a different color of skin.

But, for sure, religion is right up there at the top of the list.

In Darfur, in the Sudan, as I write this, thousands of people are being persecuted: starved, raped, enslaved, murdered. Why? Because they are not Muslim, not part of the chosen ruling elite. Allah and His Prophet taught that this must be so, that the infidel may not live amongst the Chosen People. Or so they say. It is the thing Good Muslims should do. And if that is NOT what Allah and His Prophet taught, no matter.

In Kosovo, thousands of Muslims were “cleansed” by the Christian Serbs: raped, tortured, murdered, buried in shallow graves. It was the Christian thing to do. And if that is NOT what Christianity really teaches, no matter.

Prejudice and hatred for things that are different than you is as old as Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel; and as young as five minutes ago. How many wars have been fought over these small differences? How many wars have been fought in the name of religion? In the name of God or Allah?

Even more importantly, how many MORE children will be killed because someone blows himself up in a marketplace to avenge some unremembered original act? How many MORE people will have metaphorical fire hoses and dogs loosed on them because they don’t want to sit in the back of the bus or because they happened to be born with a different skin pigmentation?

I don’t have the answers. I only have questions. I only have my own set of prejudices I am carrying around.

I almost just said, “God help us.”