Race and racism remain a big issue in 2024.

America has experienced a turbulent racial history.  Blacks endured more than two hundred years of chattel slavery until freed by a bloody civil war.  They continued to suffer legal and de facto discrimination for another hundred years.  But that all changed during the past sixty years. Great progress has been made.  I believe we were well on our way to improved racial relations, trending toward a virtually color-blind society, until far left militants, aided and abetted by the Democratic Party leadership, began using charges of racism as a tool in their pursuit of power. As I stated in a previous post, rather than combatting racism, they are creating racism; and, in the process, they are attacking the very fabric of our society. 

The recent case of Claudine Gray is an excellent example of how the charge of racism is misused.  As President of Harvard University, Gray had reached the pinnacle of academia.  She received accolades and honors and was respected for her achievements by almost all Americans, white and black.  She had married a white man who was also a respected academic.  Gray and the presidents of two other Ivy League schools came under severe criticism for their insensitive response to anti-Jewish demonstrations that erupted on their campuses following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, a war prompted by a vicious assault on Israeli civilians by Hamas terrorists.  In testimony before Congress, Gray and the other college presidents, both of whom are white, trivialized or downplayed genocidal anti-Semitic statements by Hamas supporters in their schools.  There were calls for these college presidents to resign.  One of them did, but Gray refused to resign until it was later discovered that her scholastic work evinced plagiarism and improper source citations.  At that point, Gray also resigned.  But Gray and many of her supporters blamed her ouster on racism.

I contend that racism had little or nothing to do with Claudine Gray’s removal as President of Harvard University.  It was wrong of her to make such a charge.    

It is also wrong for agitators to blame the higher incarceration rate for blacks on racism.  Instead,  consider the higher crime rates among blacks.

Racism!  Racism! Racism!  This is always the charge.  But is it true?  Certainly there are racists among us, but I know that most white Americans wish blacks well and judge them by their actions, not by their color.

White or black, take responsibility for your conduct.

And love one another!