I subscribe to the most famous, in my opinion, of Sir Edmond Burke’s quotes, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
I feel compelled to speak up.
I have discussed this with friends and family, both black and white. With current, past, and retired Law Enforcement Officers; some civilian and some military. Pastors, church goers and non, and those that never say and I don’t ask. And with liberals, conservatives, and moderates. Though, I am not sure what a moderate is. Middle of the road seems boring and lazy to me. It always leaves them with an easy way out of the hard important issues.
One thing which I have known for a long time, has come more into focus. On the issue of race, in this case black and white, there are few moderates. Yet few willing to budge or listen. Logic, and facts seem to be a mutual enemy. Both sides claim the other side is incapable of understanding the issue. And both may be right. But so far, this excuse is not producing anything useful for either side.
As long as that attitude remains deeply chiseled in stone, both sides will never truly meet and constructively work to a solution which benefits human kind as a whole.
Sides. Us. Them. You guys. Those people. And, well, other less polite, more cutting hurtful words, and phrases, I refuse to use here. Not because I fear the misunderstanding of my intent in this blog, but because I was raised better, and, well, God is watching me, and I don’t want to disappoint Him.
Sides. Why does there have to side? Sides is what got us into this mess in the first place. It reminds me of West Side Story, when the gangs square off, point fingers and shout “They began it.”
The English enslaved the Irish, deported them to the Americas. China sent over thousands, The Spanish raped and robbed the New World. Blacks enslaved blacks and sold them to the West. The… Well you name the country old or new, and they did something to someone, and in far too many cases, are still doing it.
Sides. I keep saying that. It runs around in my head, screaming at me. Sides. Five small letters. If you stop and think about the word, it is the worst of the hate words known to man.
America, “The great melting pot of the world.” Right, Chinatown, Germantown, Reservations, Little Havana. Entire regions of Swedish descendants, or German or French, or Irish, or Spanish/Latino, Italian, or Greek. The list is as long as there are nations.
Sides. Such an ugly word. Outside of sports, it is a word that should not be used in polite civilized company.
Our past is our past. We cannot change it. We are not responsible for something that took place before we were born. Nor are we owed anything for the injustices of the past. We, who are alive now, are not perpetrators of slavery, nor is anyone a victim of slavery. Unless someone was born prior to the Civil War, and lives on today unknown to all. And even then, it means nothing. What more could they do to change the past, than we ourselves? Nothing.
Sides. Oh for the Love of God, and all that is right and good, we must stop using that word, and all its synonyms. We must stop the ad hominin attacks of those that disagree with our point of view. We. All of us agree on some parts of the issue. It is a place, the only place to begin. Can we sit down, remain calm, put away the hate, and a past we can’t change, and work from there? Can we at least try?