The two columns of quotations on the opening page represent two sides of America, not the only sides, but two sides seeking dignity for all people living within the borders of America's 50 states and its various territories. These are noble ambitions representing more than 150 years of active public debate, protests, murders, dog attacks, lynchings, rape, tar-and-feathering, and a host of minor indignities inflicted on people just because they were not of European descent.
On the left, there are the insights of African American intellectuals during this time. On the right, those of European and European Americans. Read the words carefully. While their intent is identical, they come from two different world experiences. The left arises from individuals who endured slavery and institutionalized racism. The right comes from individuals who were wealthy and faced comparable few restrictions.
I do not demean the sentiments of the Europeans and European Americans (I'm one). Their writings launched a new way for people of Europe and America to see themselves and others. Philosophers, such as John Locke, paved the way for national equality, which was not even present when the nation's founding fathers created the United States and eventually its Constitution. For example, only white land-owners had the right to vote until the early 19th century. African American men did not have that right until the later half of the 19th, and women did not get the right until the early part of the 20th century. So the voices of more than 50% of American population were ignored for the nation's first 150 years or so.
The difference between these two groups comes from how they came to equality. On the left, the authors and their "American" ancestors struggled for a mere grain of dignity, which often European Americans denied them. On the right, they assumed the right to dignity, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the nation and the states. Their dignities were protected as they should be, but those on the left, their dignities were denied--immorally, illegally, and illogically.
It is, therefore, hard or impossible for a person of European descent to understand the tribulations of person of African descent. We, meaning people pale like me, can intellectualize it, study it, vote against it, protest about it, but no matter how hard we try it's not in our marrow. The society and government we, as children, were told to honor never cheated us, beat us, kill us in the ways it has African Americans. So while we mean well, any advice may seem hollow.
For some European Americans, it is. They stand by the rights of people of color until a few black or brown families move into their neighborhoods. They become nervous about the land values. They wonder about drugs and crime. I had such neighbors, and to my shame, I rarely challenged them. In essence, I permitted the perpetuation of the very thing that I disdain.
Few are immune to this not so unique disease of humankind. We as Americans have become refined in classification of color. Whites, blacks, and browns shade the skin color of people in their own groups differently, creating a pecking order from lightest to darkest, from best to least.
Most well-intention Americans whom I've met carry these burdens. There are a few who do not, and they come into my life so rarely as to shock me.
I know two. They are my grandsons. They are African American. My son and daughter-in-law adopted for reasons that have nothing to do with this blog. The oldest, William, knows that we differ, feels more comfortable at times when there are more African Americans his age, and that it doesn't matter if he's enjoying himself with whomever. Marcus, he's another story. He's too young to notice the differences, but his lack of "racial" judgement does not one realize how much better the world would be if we all were more like him and his brother.
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